I was wondering if anyone rushes through proof reading their documents as quickly as I do? I have a really hard time writing and reading documents at work. It's get annoying because I'll write a document and then proof read\"skim at a high level <!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="" style='width:12pt; height:12pt'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:DOCUME~1loubLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml11clip_image001. gif" o:href="http://www.addforums.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif"/> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]-->:)<!--[endif]-->" that I miss all kinds of misspellings, missing words (the, we, and, etc) and then I hand it to someone to read and it comes back with all kinds of corrections. I think a lot of it has to do with me wanting to please people and get praise from them for finishing the doc, but I know I should slow down but I have such a difficult time doing.

Anyone have suggestions on techniques that work for them? I have ADD and I'm pretty sure that's what it is and I'm on Adderall it helps but I still have such a hard time doing it. I've gotten to the point where I try my hardest to stay away from documentation, but I'm in the computer field and it's required that I write things down

Try

1) Reading the entire document aloud (every single word).

or

2) Reading the document out of order (e.g. start at the last paragraph).

These two steps have helped me.

EZ

I ALWAYS missed typos, etc. before I was on Adderall. After I got on it, I was able to proofread correctly. I catch everything. Even typos in the newspaper, magazine articles, etc. But that wasn't right away - it was a few months after getting on it that I noticed my proofreading skills improved so much.

How long have you been on the meds?

I do the same,i think it is bordom and the words all run together for me any how.

Bellmandude, Get the book on CD from Brian Tracy that has a section on Power Reading. He teaches how to read a document, book, newspaper, magazine....whatever you want in a couple of stages to get out of them what you need and still even get the detail without getting bogged down.

I have ADD and one of my job functions is a content reviewer and editor for training materials. I have no problem picking up on the small details. I reserve my "perfectionist" mood for that work and not everything else. I can be messy on posts here, and everything else.... I don't care.

Do it where it matters. Make a challenge out of it. Make it a determined effort to find the language errors, technical errors, spelling or punctuation errors in everything you read. You would be amazed at how poorly most published material is edited.

If none of that works see if you can find it on audio. There are online training courses that are narrated, there are books on CD for just about everything these days.
Maybe you're one of those people who has to hear it.

As far as your own writing goes.....use a GOOD word processor and make it do most of the proofing and spell checking work for you.

I have learned to ALWAYS have at least one other person read my paper, articles, letters...whatever it is. Its a great double check for me, and my wonderful spelling, grammer, and just general making sense!

Have any of you heard of "proof listening?"

I use Microsoft's free speech syntheses engine to read my documents for me. Even though the voices sound really strange, I find a lot more errors when I listen to my documents being read than when I just read them.

You can find out details here:
http://www.jat.org/jtt/itsujiprooflist.html (http://www.vector.co.jp/download/file/winnt/art/ff174155.html)

- Uminchu

Uminchu,
I downloaded and tried to install this and got errors.
The readme file is written in Japanese so I can't tell what I may have done wrong.
Any idea where it might be available in an English version?

Is this actually made by Microsoft or is it a 3rd party add-on?

Thanks!

I've actually been looking for something like this that really works. So far I've just found disappointment.

FB

I downloaded and tried to install this and got errors.
The readme file is written in Japanese so I can't tell what I may have done wrong.

I'm sorry, I put in the wrong link. That was the link to the download page.

The link to the article that describes the procedure is here:
http://www.jat.org/jtt/itsujiprooflist.html

Any idea where it might be available in an English version?

The program itself is English, just the download page is Japanese.

Is this actually made by Microsoft or is it a 3rd party add-on?
The speech engine is a Microsoft product. You have to download it, as described in the article above. Then "Say Hello" should work fine: you just copy and paste text into the window and click "Speak," or you open a text file and play that.

The final caveat is that, as stated in the article, you have got to have the visual basic runtime. Most computers should have that, but if it still gives you problems you may need to download that as well (the link is in the article).