Proofreading: What Works For Me

This is one I developed for myself that I've found to be very effective. There's two ways to do it:

IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A PRINTER:

1. Print out your story.
2. Circle all nouns (persons, places, things) on EVERY reference.
3. Circle all names and titles and such on EVERY reference.
4. Circle all statistics and numbers on EVERY reference.
5. Circle the entirety of every quote.
6. Then, go through your notes. As you double-check each circled item and make sure it's correct, put a slash through each circle.
7. Then, look up each circled item on the Web to make sure what was in your notes was correct in the first place. As each is confirmed, put a backward slash (making an X) through each circle.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO A PRINTER:

1. Get out a blank piece of paper.
2. Write down all nouns (persons, places, things) EXACTLY as written in your story on EVERY reference.
3. Write down all names and titles and such EXACTLY as written in your story on EVERY  reference.
4. Then, go through your notes. As you double-check each line item and make sure it's correct, put a slash through each item.
5. Then, look up each line item on the Web to make sure what was in your notes was correct in the first place. As each is confirmed, put a backward slash (making an X) through each circle.
6. Don't waste time writing down all quotes, but do double-check them word-for-word against your notes to ensure absolute accuracy.

This system is simple and doable in a real-world setting and I cannot tell you how many times on stories I had eyeballed and spell-checked and was sure nothing was wrong I found a misspelled third reference too a last name or a transposed number or a quote where one word was slightly off.