If you are a writer at a newspaper, or a freelancer, you are increasingly on your own. Your editor is likely to be a harried wretch without time or attention to give your work more than a quick swipe before publication. There will probably not be a copy editor like me to check your texts for spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage, factual accuracy, and clarity. You are working without a net.
You will need to do for yourself what people like me used to do for you. Here are some suggestions. They are not particularly novel, but they work.
Get to the point. I advise the students in my editing class to envision the reader as a man in a recliner with a beer in one hand and a remote control in the other. You do not have very much time before he clicks on to something else, so you need to show him immediately why he should keep reading. If it takes you eight paragraphs to get to the point, he's not going to get there.
Check your register. Are your vocabulary, syntax, and tone appropriate for your subject, your publication, and your reader? Where on the continuum of formal to colloquial have you chosen to write, and is it the best choice?
Read it aloud. When you have finished a draft or the final text, put it down. Go away from the keyboard for a smoke or a cup of coffee. When you come back, read your text aloud to yourself. If what you hear sounds awkward, stilted, or unclear, the reader will probably have the same response. This little exercise will help you identify where you need to revise.
Check your facts. Look at every name, date, and statement of fact, confirming to yourself that each is correct and you can identify the source of the information. You are responsible for verification.
Do the math. Do the totals add up? Check the percentages. Are they correctly calculated? You have the base numbers, right? If you're writing about an opinion poll, you have the information about margin of error, etc., don't you?
Always use the spell-check. The spell-checker on your machine is only as good as the contents of its electronic dictionary, but it is helpful for certain things. It will flag inconsistent spellings of proper names and obvious typographical errors. And if you're working on your own machine, you can customize the word list.
Be cautious about the grammar-check. I use Microsoft Word at home, and the grammar-check function invariably flags things that are perfectly OK. If you use a grammar-check function, you'll need to understand why it flags certain passages before you can decide on making changes.
Learn your homonyms. Spell-check does not recognize the wrong word correctly spelled. If you write lead (noun, heavy metal element, pronounced "led") for led (past tense of verb lead, pronounced "leed), spell-check won't catch it. I commend to you Alan Cooper's Homonym List online. Familiarize yourself with it.
Watch for bias and legal jeopardy. If someone in your text is accused of bad behavior, have they been given an opportunity to respond? Are assertions adequately sourced? Have you gone beyond privileged statements? Are there points at which you are vulnerable?
Read it again one last time. Do you do all the things above? Did you overlook something? Does something occur to you at the last minute? Are you sure you are ready to publish? Do one final spell-check.
And if you have the good fortune to be working with a copy editor … do all these things anyhow. Clean copy engenders respect. And the more a copy editor has to change things in your text, the more that copy editor is going to identify you as a writer whose work needs changing.