Vanity -- What is the best editing/proofreading software?

June 20, 2009 | Ronin

[Ronin]

I have been working as an independent professional rewriter and editor for many years and have recently began upgrading my resources and skills to handle science and medical technical papers, etc.

I have heard some good things about Stylewriter, but I have also heard it takes a long time to get used to and the settings are difficult to manage. I have also seen online advertisements for a product called White Smoke, that seems much easier to use, but I have no idea of how capable it actually is.

I know Free Republic has a great number of writers and editors and am wondering which products they use and which they stay away from.

Your thoughts, please.

[cranked]

"I have heard some good things about Stylewriter, but I have also heard it takes a long time to get used to and the settings are difficult to manage." Indeed, I paid for and used Stylewriter oh for about 2 weeks before I gave up on it. I needed critical input, suggestions, and corrections as it related to my graduate papers. From my perspective, Stylewriter failed me; it may be fine for and with others. I resorted to sending my papers to undergraduate professors I once had and had them give me their input, suggestions, and corrections.

[dano1]

I use an excellent and inexpensive text-to-speech program called TextAloud for proof reading as well as for many of my other reading tasks. I find that my ear very often will catch mistakes my eye has missed. Here’s the link:

http://www.nextup.com/TextAloud/

[Andyman]

I’m with you there. I’m a writer, and I find that if I read the text out loud to myself I catch all kinds of stuff. Reading the text backwards also helps catch items otherwise missed. That is, read the last word, then the second to the last word, etc.

[ElayneJ]

You might try Writer’s Workbench. It’s designed for nonfiction writing but I’m not sure how it would be for scientific or math-oriented work. It’s quite accurate and thorough. The “errors” I’ve found are in matters of style and preference, and I haven’t seen many of those.

[ElayneJ]

Andyman, clever tagline! :)

[jla]

"What is the best editing/proofreading software?"

Texass Industry's Humbledit 'n Gunnerproof 1.0 - We Worship Good Grammar

just a little levity, hg

[humblegunner]

Texass Industry's Humbledit 'n Gunnerproof 1.0 - We Worship Good Grammar

Buy a copy early, and often. ;-)

[Ronin]

Another good tip is to do your final proof on paper. Maybe its just because that is how I learned to edit from the beginning, but I find I catch a lot of stuff on paper that slips by if I just read text on screen.

[Andyman]

100% behind you there. Also, if time allows, don’t read it for a couple of days, then go back and give it a once-over.

[Ronin]

Bump - hoping for more input.

[Liberty Valance]

LOL!