It’s almost impossible to proofread your own work, but you also want to submit the best copy or article (or report to your boss) that you can.
Here’s how I get around that:
If I have an assignment due Tuesday morning, I take one last look at it Monday night, then sleep on it.
On Tuesday morning, I open the Word doc and immediately change the size and type of the font.
If I wrote the article in Verdana, I change it to a serif font like Times, then bump it up two sizes.
I may even switch the text to blue, green or red.
This tricks my brain into reading the piece as if for the first time.
Inevitably, I notice a typo, factual error, overused word or awkward sentence…
