ful to avoid euphemisms and long words. In other words, my writing got
better by my learning the correct level of proofing.”
Level One proofing usually includes the following:
1. Can your readers easily understand what you’re asking them
to do?
2. If 100 percent of your readers aren’t familiar with your technical
terms and industry jargon, have you defined them?
3. If 100 percent of your readers aren’t familiar with your
acronyms, have you explained them?
4. Have you confirmed that all numbers included in your communication
are correct?
5. Have you avoided long or complicated sentences and sentence
fragments (explained in Chapter Five)?
6. Are you certain that you’ve maintained noun/pronoun and subject/
verb agreement (explained in Chapter Seven)?
7. Is your punctuation correct?
8. Are words capitalized properly?
9. Have you used your spell checker?
10. Have you reread your communication to catch missing words
or phrases?
Level Two: Clarity, Grammar, Organization, and Completeness
Andrea, owner of a small insurance consulting firm, says, “My industry
is pretty conservative, and I’m pretty traditional myself, so I use E-mail
sparingly. Mostly, I write letters and send out proposals on letterhead.
“My letters are on a variety of subjects, from a letter of agreement to
a cover letter accompanying a proposal. My proposals tend to focus on
one project at a time and run about five to ten pages. I decided to see if
I was proofing my letters and proposals carefully enough—or if I was
overdoing it.
“Using the assessment to evaluate a letter of agreement to a new
client, I was pleased at what I found out. My scores were as follows.”
1. Your communication will be distributed only within your
organization. 1