Techniques to Proofread Like a Pro
Patricia W Iyer MSN RN LNCC
Legal Nurse Consultant Business Coach | Podcast Host | Editor I I work with legal nurse consultants to help them grow their businesses, gain more cases and clients, and avoid expensive mistakes.
1.???Proofread when you are fresh. Is this when you first wake up? Right after dinner? So, do this work when you are most alert and able to focus.
2.???Don’t proofread until your vision gets blurred and commas look like semicolons.?Whenever possible, walk away from the pages and look at them again the next day.
3.???Print it out.?Some editors believe this is essential. some proofread better on a computer screen where they can increase the type size if necessary. See what works for you.
4.???Look at it in stages. For example, you might first read the body of the text for typos that spell check does not catch. You know those pesky ones, like int he,?form versus from, and trial versus trail.
5.???That is my next point. You may habitually make the same mistakes. Therefore,?look for the words you commonly misspell.
6.???After looking at the body of the text,?look at the headers. Make sure you are consistently capitalizing the major words in your headers. If you use subheads, the first word of the subhead is capitalized.
7.???Look for consistency. One of the common errors I have seen is writers’ inconsistent writing of dates. Pick one method and stick with it. Either write out the month in letters or use numbers, but don’t use both systems in one document.
8.???Look for what I call idiosyncratic?capitalization. I illustrated this is comparing the president of a corporation to President Biden.
9.???Consult online sources. When in doubt, look it up.
5 Grammatical Mistakes in LNC Reports
After proofreading thousands of LNC reports, I prepared this list of 5 grammatical mistakes in LNC reports. This is a list of common offenders.
Do you want to present yourself as a well-qualified communicator, one who understands how attorneys scrutinize every word in a report?
Here is what NOT to do.
1. Don’t confuse possessive and plural
Not sure when to use an apostrophe? Plurals mean you are referring to?more than one.?Possessive means you are describing?ownership. I know many people who can’t figure out the difference between these two.
Wrong:?“She was responsible for restocking the intensive care units equipment.”
Right:?“She was responsible for restocking the intensive care unit’s equipment”. If you can rephrase it as “the equipment of the intensive care unit”, it is possessive. If you are referring to several intensive care units, you’d type, “the intensive care units’ equipment. The apostrophe goes after the s in the plural “units”.
Don’t add an apostrophe to a plural word unless you are using the possessive form. It is incorrect to type, “Margaret Taylor was the manager of several intensive care unit’s.”
2. Don’t mix up hyphens and dashes in your legal nurse consulting reports
LinkedIn Live Events – Mark Your Calendar
??????????Do you face writing barriers that keep you stalled?
??????????Do you hold back on sharing your knowledge, wondering if you are the right person to write about a topic?
??????????Does the idea of facing a blank screen make you anxious?
Join Pat Iyer, author of 63 books, and Renee Rosenberg as we pinpoint common fears, frustrations, and challenges related to writing, such as fear of rejection, being vulnerable, and failure.
You will receive tips on how to get through writer's block, deal with perfectionism, and overcome imposter syndrome. Additionally, you’ll learn how to use AI writing tools to facilitate your writing – and how to avoid AI traps.
Join Pat Iyer and Renee Rosenberg on August 22 at 12 noon Eastern for a live chat on LinkedIn on these secrets.
Take Care of Yourself! Japanese Secrets to Increase Health and Well-Being??
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Caregivers are so busy taking care of others that they sometimes forget to take care of themselves. Renee Rosenberg traveled throughout Japan where she learned simple and ancient well-being exercises and beliefs. As a mental health counselor, she incorporated these concepts into the work she does with her clients to help them increase their health, well-being, and happiness.?She shares several of these concepts to help you as a caretaker increase your health and well-being. Discover how you can incorporate them into your work with your patients.??
In this program you will discover?
Join Renee Rosenberg and Pat Iyer on August 29 at 12 noon Eastern for a live chat on LinkedIn on these secrets.
Book Corner
Many LNCs, especially new ones, are worn out by the time they finish writing their report, blog, or email series.?If you’re one of them, you might be saying, “I don’t know how to edit something so long. I know that first draft is a mess, and I have no idea how to get it into shape.”
That’s why Pat Iyer wrote Painless Editing and Proofreading: A Step-by-Step Guide for LNCs. As an author of 63 books, a book coach and editor, she knows the challenges you face and how to solve them. This book will guide you through the editing process and proofreading stages. You’ll get step-by-step procedures to follow.
You’ll learn how to:
·??????Take the pain out of editing
·??????Look at the big picture
·??????Make the visual appearance attractive
·??????Add and subtract text
·??????Fine tune and proofread
·??????Make your prose lean
·??????Fact check
·??????Do an overall review
You can do this. You’ve shown that you have what it takes to complete that work.
With Painless Editing and Proofreading: A Step-by-Step Guide for LNCs, you’ll edit your LNC material with ease. Get it today at LNC.tips/creatingseries.?
Free eBook: Writing Rules and Wrongs
Is this you? You want to master the writing process so you feel confident. You want to attract clients, overcome common grammatical errors. You need to shut up the inner critic who questions your ability to write.
Get Pat’s fast read: The Writing Rules and Wrongs: 12 Tips to Make Your Writing Sparkle. This eBook reminds you of writing rules you either forgot or never learned. Polish your writing with these tips, and silence that nagging voice.
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Pat Iyer MSN RN LNCC established a highly successful independent legal nurse?consulting?business in Flemington, NJ, in 1989. Pat testified as an expert witness for 25 years as a liability expert for medical surgical cases and expert fact witness.
After growing this multi-million-dollar business, Pat sold the company and now is a business?coach assisting LNCs to grow their businesses.?She provides books, courses, and online?training?to help LNCs make more money, get more?clients and avoid?expensive mistakes.?Get all the details at LegalNurseBusiness.com.
Pat served on the Board of Director of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC), including one year as President.?She is a Legal Nurse Consultant Certified.?
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