Online proofreading programmes put to the test. Can they replace the human kind?

By the human kind I mean someone like me of course. I’m sure you can already guess that I am going to fight for my little place in humanity as a proofreader and editor, but as they say ‘the proof is in the pudding’. So let’s see if online programmes can replace us humans! With proofreading being such a critical element of business communications, I wanted to put some online programmes to the test and see the results. As you can see from the image below, getting the details right are so important.

I think an online programme may not have picked up this error…

Although I was highly doubtful that these programmes could replace us human proofreaders, there was a slight moment of trepidation before I embarked on my test!

Which programmes were tested?

I tried a variety of different programmes, which all claim to be able to highlight spelling and grammatical errors amongst others. I won’t mention names, but most of the bigger online proofreading services were tested. I also included Word, for a more complete picture, although from experience I knew that not all errors could be detected.

How did I approach the test?

I used an article that I had recently written for a parenting website and littered it with errors. I’ve included the test article below for you to take a look at…I think the errors are quite plain to see.

The importance of art…can it help ADHD children

What the benefits of art?

I have always been very interested in art and drawing, and when I had my little boy for some he was just not interested in art at all – that’s all changed but more on that later!

Art is an incredibly powerful for children and has heeps of benefits, here are some:

• It develops their fine motor skills as well as muscle tone in the upper body;
• They can express themselves creativly and there is lods of research that shows the art helps stimulate language – it is a type of language which helps them to talk about their world;
• Art helps children to discover and learn – think about colours, shapes, textures and cognitive thinking to name a few;
• Art is a great emotion release;
• The physical movement of art can bee very calming.

There has also been a lot of research in to the other benefit of art…

• Early exposure too visual art, music or drama stimulates brain activity;
• Art helps children understand other subjects more easier;
• It encourages inventiveness, helps with development of selfesteem, selfdiscipline, co-operation and self motivation;
• It help them to creatively problem solve.

Art and ADHD

Very often children who are active minded, for example an ADD or ADHD child, struggle to concentrate or sit still for drawing, but there are ways to encourage art.

Art can help a child to concentrate, slow down and stabilise. As weve mentioned earlier it is a good emotion outlet and helps with stabilising mood and building self-esteem. My little boy is active minded and did not like art for the first 5 years his life…and I didn’t know how to encourage it. What often happens is once they realise they can draw, and feel proud of themself, they are off like rockets. It was amazing to see ny little boy going from zero to hero…he is now proud of his art that he carries his art books everywhere with him. With these active little minds they really need a non-competitive area of master, and art is often the answer. Art is used for so many therapies and has a very calming effect.

10 Tips to encourage your little artist…

If your children are not interested in art, here are a few tips to encourage them to get drawing!

1. First start small and simple and make sure you work with child;
2. You might find that initially, especially if they are quite active, that they are disinterested, restless and questioning the time. If this is the case make sure you give lots of attention and sit with them while they drawing;
3. Find what interests your child – often children have particular interests…start with a particular and let them colouring in first and then you can move to drawing. For example boys might love pirates or cars and girls might like Barbie! Work with what you no;
4. Children love to work with new things…so if you have new materials the time this will often spark a creative interest. I use egg boxes, cereal boxes, lids of wipes, leaves, foil…anything that I can lay my hand on;
5. You can let them stand, lie on the floor or neel if they struggle to sit still and make sure they can have break if they need to;
6. Compliment, compliment, compliment and build pride – praise is fantastic for a child’s self-esteem. Tell them how great the drawing and if they are old enough get them to talk about it with you. Try not to ask what it is as this can sometimes leave them feels like they haven’t accomplished anything.
7. If  your child has just done a pencil drawing, try and encourage them to add extra for example colours.
8. Build pride in their work – once it is completed, hang it up somewhere and make fuss about the art. This will encourage them to do it mor.
9. NEVER throw their art away – if you do this, you can be guaranteed that they won’t want to do it again!

Good luck!

What were the results?

• All the programmes highlighted the glaring spelling errors;
• None of them, besides Word, picked up the spelling errors that were grammatically incorrect, for example where I have used ‘too’ instead of ‘to’;
• None of the programmes picked up the fact that there are only 9 bullet points.  At the beginning of the list I clearly state ’10 Tips…’;
• None of them picked up ‘…it is a good emotion outlet’, where it should quite obviously be ‘…it is a good emotional outlet’;
• Some, but not all, highlighted the punctuation errors.

Although this list may seem small and inconsequential, these are the absolute basics of proofreading and editing – spelling, grammar, punctuation and consistency. Get these wrong and you have wasted your time and effort. I have only highlighted some of the results to give you an idea of the general theme of the tests.

So, can these programmes replace us?

Happily no, no, no, no!!!! Yes humans, we still have a very important role to play. Proofreaders and editors – 1. Technology – 0!

If you need any help with proofreading or editing, please feel free to contact me at anytime.