You’ve been working on your document for ages. You are finally happy with it. You might even have had it edited by someone. Then you make some last minute changes.

Changes made at the last minute can be more likely to have mistakes for several reasons. You have not looked at these words as often as other parts of the document, and you may be making changes when you are tired, stressed or rushed.

Here’s what to look out for with last minute changes:

• If you change a date or spelling in one part of the document, check you have changed all occurrences throughout the document.
• If you re-arrange a sentence or a list, check the punctuation to ensure the full stop is not left out or duplicated.
• If you add a dot point to a list, check it is in the same style as the rest of the list and has the right punctuation.
• If you change a heading, check your capitalisation is consistent with other headings of the same level.
• If you change the tense in a sentence, check all the verbs have been changed and are consistent.
• If you change from plural to singular (or vice versa) in a sentence, check all verbs are consistent with the change.
• If you add or delete a table or figure, check any cross-references and numbering are updated.
• If you add an extra word, sentence or paragraph, check the spacing and pagination of the document. Does the text still fit? You may need to re-do the table of contents.