The Top 10 Consistency Mistakes
Inconsistency in writing has a major impact on readers. Reports, proposals and articles that suffer from inconsistencies are more likely to be rejected.
If authors and editors are to improve consistency in their documents, they need to know what sort of errors to look for.
So we used PerfectIt – the Microsoft Word Add-in– to check 2400 documents for consistency errors. PerfectIt provides a powerful way to compare the frequency of inconsistencies because it automatically checks for the worst errors in several different categories right from MS Word, including:
Numbers in sentences
Spelling
Bullet punctuation
Each of the 2400 documents we tested was over 1000 words and was downloaded from the internet using the search term "final report".
Automate your consistency checks for error-free documents
The first line of defense against consistency errors is simply being aware of them.
The Top 10 errors listed below give authors and editors a reminder of important things to check before documents are published.
However, the best way to improve consistency in documents is to run PerfectIt. The program quickly locates consistency mistakes throughout the text. Instead of painstakingly looking for each error, PerfectIt scans an entire document in seconds, leaving you more time to focus on the things that matter most: your words and their meaning.
Counting the errors
There is no established way to count the frequency of consistency errors.
For example, if the phrase 'decision-making' appears in three locations and 'decision making' (without the hyphen) appears in ten locations, should that count as one, three or ten errors?
To overcome this problem, we simply measured the proportion of documents that contained at least one consistency mistake in each category.
This approach allowed us to compare the results for different categories and identify the most common errors without favouring any particular kind of error.
The top 10
Table 1 shows the ten most frequent errors and the proportion of documents in which they appeared.
Table 1: The ten most common consistency errors
The results illustrate how much room there is for improvement in almost all published documents. Every single error tracked in Table 1 appeared in more than 10% of the documents tested. That's an astounding proportion of documents with errors.
The clear winner (or should that be loser?) is inconsistency of capitalization. Almost 80% of documents over 1000 words suffer from inconsistent capitalization. Lots of those documents actually have far more than one phrase that is inconsistently capitalized. In the sample we tested, some 300 documents had more than ten capitalization inconsistencies.
The results also show that 6 out of 10 documents published online have inconsistent hyphenation. Perhaps even worse is that 4 out of 10 documents have bullets/lists punctuated inconsistently. If you bear in mind that not all documents contain lists, the proportion that have mistakes in punctuation is staggering. Authors need to do better.
The false positives
Of course, not all inconsistencies are errors – some will be 'false positives'. For example, in terms of capitalization, there are reasons why a phrase might be capitalized in one place but not in others.
Some authors put the word 'university' in lowercase when it's describing universities in general, but write 'University' when it's replacing a name. However, a quick manual check suggests that relatively few of the inconsistencies highlighted by PerfectIt in Table 1 are false positives.
Dr Hilary Cadman, a leading science editor, says:
"PerfectIt doesn't replace the editor's judgement. It does pick up occasional inconsistencies that are not actually errors, but the proportion is low. And that's not a problem anyway because the program gives me control over the changes I make".
Grammar Checker vs. Consistency Checker
Grammar checkers aren’t the same as consistency checkers.
A grammar checker flags issues with grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation. Meanwhile, a consistency checker helps you catch inconsistencies in how you present information across a document.
For example, a consistency checker can flag:
Inconsistent spelling: Using “email” in one section and “e-mail” in another, or using “center” in one section and “centre” in another.
Inconsistent capitalization: Referring to the same department as “Client Services” in one section and “client services” in another.
Inconsistent hyphenation: Using “decision-making” in one section and “decision making” in another, or writing “follow-up” in one place and “follow up” in another.
Inconsistent acronyms: Using “CSR” before defining it as “clinical study report,” defining the acronym more than once, or using it without ever explaining what it means.
Inconsistent number formatting: Writing “six participants” in one part of a document and “7 participants” in another, when the same number style should apply throughout.
Inconsistent bullet punctuation: Ending some bullet points with full stops while leaving others without them.
These issues usually go unnoticed even when every sentence is grammatically correct. A consistency checker helps you catch them.
Since grammar checkers and consistency checkers catch different types of problems, you may need both when editing a document.
PerfectIt checks consistency and house style in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Along with the issues above, it checks that tables and figures are titled consistently and appear in numerical order.
It also helps you enforce your house style, which is the set of editorial rules your organization follows. You can build your preferences into PerfectIt so it checks details such as preferred spelling, terminology, and capitalization consistently across documents.
PerfectIt doesn't check grammar or rewrite text. It flags potential issues for you to review, so you stay in control of every change. This way, you spend less time on repetitive consistency checks and more time focusing on the overall quality of your content.
Conclusion
The first line of defense against consistency errors is simply being aware of them. The Top 10 errors listed in Table 1 give authors and editors a reminder of important things to check before documents are published.
However, the best way to improve consistency in documents is to run PerfectIt. The program quickly locates consistency mistakes throughout the text. Instead of painstakingly looking for each error, PerfectIt scans an entire document in seconds, leaving you more time to focus on the things that matter most: your words and their meaning.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are consistency errors in writing?
Consistency errors occur when a document uses different forms of the same word, term, or formatting convention without a good reason. Examples include using “email” and “e-mail” in the same document, capitalizing a department name differently in different sections, or mixing US and UK spellings such as “center” and “centre.”
How do you check a document for consistency?
PerfectIt helps you check a document for consistency faster than reviewing every detail manually, especially when you’re working with long documents. It flags issues such as inconsistent spelling, capitalization, hyphenation, acronym definitions, number formatting, and bullet punctuation. It also checks your document against your house style, helping you apply your organization's preferred spelling, terminology, and capitalization consistently across documents.
What is the difference between a consistency checker and a grammar checker?
A grammar checker helps you catch errors in grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation. A consistency checker like PerfectIt helps you find inconsistencies across a document and enforce your house style. It doesn't check grammar or rewrite text. Instead, it flags potential inconsistency issues for you to review each one and decide what needs changing.
Can a consistency checker replace proofreading?
No. A consistency checker like PerfectIt helps you find potential inconsistencies across a document, but it doesn't replace proofreading. It flags issues for you to review because some differences are intentional. For example, “university” might appear in lowercase when referring to universities generally but with an initial capital when used as part of an institution's name. You still need to review the flagged issues and decide which changes to make.