Poor spelling creates a very poor impression to readers. Even if your ideas are original and your story is excellent, errors will make it very difficult for your work to achieve credibility. While spell check can obviously help in this regard, it is not flawless and doesn’t function in programs such as PowerPoint or Excel. The last thing you want in a big presentation is for all your hard work and great insights to be ignored because of minor mistakes.

These simple mistakes are why it is so important to get professional editing assistance. Rather than spend hours reviewing familiar material, get a professional proof-reader to subject your work to scrutiny to iron out those little errors. Proof-readers are trained for and experienced in working with the nuts of bolts of texts, and will thus spot problems that you have not. They will also be able to advise you on structure, layout, and organization, and give you points for style and tone. The time you save yourself will more than pay back the expense incurred, and you can be perfectly confident that your writing or presentation is of the most polished standard possible. As they say, you can’t put a price on peace of mind.

An excellent resource to eliminate spelling errors is online dictionaries. An abridged version of the Oxford English Dictionary is freely available (at www.oxforddictionaries.com), as is the case with most other major dictionaries. If, for example, you are unsure whether the word you want is ‘glutinous’ or ‘gluttonous,’ you can go to the definition of glutinous from Oxford Dictionaries Online, and you’ll have your answer in no time at all. In fact, Google’s search engine is itself a pretty handy tool in this respect, too. If you’ve come across a word you don’t understand, say ‘traduce,’ and want to get a quick idea of what it means (without needing to know etymology and so on) simply google it; nine times out of ten the first few results will be definitions. (The top entry on this particular search was Traduce – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

Nevertheless, such procedures can be time-consuming, and if you’re already trying to get some other things done, you are unlikely to have the time to do these. This is why I earlier said that hiring an editor will more than pay itself back regarding time saved: you are free to meet the various pressing deadlines and demands you need to, while someone makes sure your work is at the highest possible standard. FirstEditing employs editors proficient in every field and can ensure that your document will be worked on by someone conversant with the terminology and standards of your industry, ensuring that you make the best possible impression when you need to. You never know what might be riding on your next presentation or submission; hire an editor, and make sure you never miss an opportunity to shine.