In the world of freelance writing and journalism, what you write is representative of you as a professional. Every topic you choose and each sentence you create can reflect on both your integrity and professionalism. If you do not take the time to check your grammar, sentence structure, spelling and word usage, your credibility will begin to dwindle.
We live in a time where micro-blogging and texting are king. Character usage is at a premium when considering you may only have 140 letters and symbols you can use. Unfortunately, this style of writing is spilling over into lengthier texts and is assisting in creating some decidedly poorly written works.
On the other end of this spectrum, there are those writers who struggle with proper grammar, syntax, spelling and sentence structure. The English language is one of the most difficult languages to master. As such, it is no wonder that mistakes occur and quite frequently. This having been said, there are thousands of English-speaking freelance writers and journalists who may not have the language skills down pat but have some brilliant stories and ideas.
The key to writing well and properly can be found in the tools you use. Nearly every computer owner these days has access to some form of text editing software. Microsoft Word, MS Wordpad, and OpenOffice Writer are just a few programs that either come automatically installed or are freely available online. A decent, quality text editing program will alert you to any spelling errors at a minimum. Some of these programs may even have add-on software to check for sentence and syntax errors.
Going even further, you can now find tools online that will not only check your spelling but also sentence structure, word usage, syntax and even plagiarism. One highly recommended tool found online that combines all of this plus a "WordBooster" (synonym suggestions) is EssayRater. This site will thoroughly scan your written work and alert you of any grammar, punctuation or word usage errors and offers suggestions on how to improve the quality of your written work. The best part of EssayRater is its ability to check against millions of other written pieces on the Internet to ensure that no unwitting acts of plagiarism have been committed. There are dozens of web sites similar to EssayRater available on the Web that will help you check and correct your work. All it takes is a quick search.
It is worth the time and effort to comb through your written work before submitting it out to the viewing world. Just as you would never return to a restaurant that prepared and presented its food horribly, countless readers can be lost by not caring enough to ensure that you put out quality work. Your written work speaks volumes about you. Do not let the message be that you cannot be bothered to check your work.
About Renee Hendricks Freelance author specializing in web hosting, web development, computer and internet products, and social media.
