For a number of reasons, authors may choose to write multiple articles quickly, but this risks excessive typos. If you’re a bit obsessive-compulsive, you’ll find the experience frustrating. Of course, the spell checker is the obvious answer, but the spell checker doesn’t catch many misspelled words.
Here are 7 tips for better spelling and fewer typos:
1. Improve your own spelling skills. If you feel this is hopeless, make a list of your frequently misspelled words and keep them in a notebook or computer file handy. Is it embarrassing or embarrassing? But embarrassing? List the correct spelling for quick reference. You may also want to purchase a spelling reference and refresh your memory regarding basic spelling skills. (Remember “i after e, except after c, or when it sounds like a, neighbor, or weight”?)
2. Write your articles in a word processor and then post them online. Your word processor can be set to correct your spelling as you go, or alert you to questionable spellings. Seeing your words in a different font with different spacing also helps, so your eye doesn’t miss familiar phrases or words.
3. Be aware of common words used incorrectly. As you compose in your head, words that sound the same can end up being misspelled, and the spell checker won’t catch it. Pay close attention to their and they, you and you, you and you, you and yours, right and writing, naked and bear, beak and peek, brake and rest.
4. Do not send your articles immediately. Before you submit an article, perhaps write another one, then come back later and reread the first one, when it’s not as close to the material you’ve written. Your eye is much more likely to catch an obvious mistake. Re-read your articles at least twice, preferably in different settings. Also, be careful with duplicate letters such as i and l – they are hard to see and therefore easily missed. I just had to correct the ‘settings’ myself.
5. Take a break periodically. The mind becomes insensitive to errors when you write too much. You may be able to compose more efficiently if you take a 5-10 minute break between articles.
6. Improve your typing skills. Touch typing is undoubtedly the fastest way to compose and can be learned with conscious effort. In just a few months, you can improve from 20 words per minute (wpm) to at least 50. Force yourself to write correctly. Slower practice with fewer mistakes will eventually lead to faster, more accurate writing. Sloppy writing will lead to sloppy spelling.
7. Write about what you know. If you always have to search for things, more errors will appear. Do not use words you are not sure of; this will inevitably slow you down and lead you to make mistakes.
The above is what I do to write articles quickly. If I don’t have to research what I’m writing, a 400 word article can be completed in 30-40 minutes. That’s only 10 to 15 words per minute, allowing a bit of time to think between words. I type in gushes, finishing one thought, then pausing until the next one forms in my mind. I try to have at least one complete sentence in my mind before I start writing a sentence, so I don’t have to go back and correct the words. It also allows more flexibility to change your mind without going back and correcting something.
Copyright 2010 Cynthia J. Koelker, MD