Quick Tip: My favorite way to polish a draft

Read it out loud.

That quickly reveals any awkward phrases or run-on sentences.

To me, reading out loud is the absolute best way to revise a white paper draft.

But it can be awkward to read a draft to yourself and try to make changes at the same time.

There’s a simple solution…

Did you know that Word can read your drafts back to you?

If you have Microsoft 365, go to the Review Ribbon in Word, then click Read Aloud.

The software starts reading in a robotic voice from the cursor.

You can control the voice by clicking the gear icon on the right.

My favorite voice is Samantha.

And I always adjust the speed to be a little faster than the default.

I find those two tweaks give the most natural-sounding voice.

This feature has been available since Office 2019, but many writers still don’t know it’s there.

So if you’ve never tried Read Aloud, check it out today.

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