Proofreading, or ‘copy checking’, originally referred to newspapers, where an editor would take typeset paper and check the text for errors against an original manuscript.  These days, even in newspapers and magazines, which often have their sub-editors proof on screen, it’s all done digitally.  Two printed resources are rarely checked against each other.  The notion of the activity itself is designed to address both issues of content and visual consistency.

In terms of student work, one takes an overall view.  Proofreaders haven’t studied the subject themselves so trust that the author has composed their arguments having been given the correct teaching, has understood the subject and disseminated the information correctly in response to the question, brief or task.  There are various reasons for employing a proofreader.  A great deal of the work I complete is submitted by foreign students and, frankly, they’re all pretty clever, otherwise they wouldn’t have been funded or sponsored by their families, government or educational institution to even study abroad.

But, as anyone learning a foreign language will tell you, the differences between written and spoken language are vast.  If a student has a poor command of written English they may have a full understanding of the spoken language.  As such, even if they speak English perfectly, they may lack the skills to compose an essay, thesis or dissertation with the requisite flow or command of the English language.  On the other hand, even if they have difficulties speaking English you may get a beautifully written piece that simply needs a minimal edit.  At times, I’ve talked to clients and complimented them on their spoken English skills then received a mess.  Or sometimes I’ve struggled to understand what they need over the phone or over email and then received a piece of work full of life and ideas that needs simply shaping.  In short, there’s no way to predict what work is coming at you and the author’s spoken English skills may be misleading.

Proofreading is a rather under-the-radar industry.  Most people don’t realise that we even exist, or that it’s a job at all, and if they do consider that proofreaders exist it’s often assumed that we’re rewriting entire pieces of work, or even writing them from scratch, and it’s our voice that the lecturer hears when marking the piece.  While there certainly are students getting so-called proofreaders (it’s in the title, or we’d be called proofwriters!) to write their assignments for them, the practice is rare and I’ve personally never been asked to do it, though I do know it goes on.  The line of acceptability is for each person to decide upon but, personally, I wouldn’t accept a complete rewrite job. I’ve had pieces that need a little edit, just for grammar, spelling, context, flow, structure and so on.  But I’ve also had pieces where the student clearly understands the subject, and their ideas are present, but they simply don’t have the colloquial and written skills to convey their opinions, which is where I step in.

When you’re presented with a piece of work there’s an overall aim that you’re trying to achieve.  The obvious stuff goes first: double/incorrect spaces, poor spelling, correct use of citations and quotations, and visual consistency – this means that the headings, subheadings, paragraph spaces, line spaces, formatting, and so on, should conform identically on each page.  Sometimes you’re working to a set of rules, such as Harvard referencing, or the somewhat similar  MLA referencing, or even, if you’re writing within a social sciences field, APA referencing.  These reference guides cover both the main content and how to write the references/bibliography.  Personally, I enjoy proofing the references at the end and am always a little disappointed if there aren’t any!

Then, of course, there are international differences within the writing itself.  A fair amount of the work I do is in British English, with its colours and favourites. Then there’s American (and Australian) English with its colors and favorites.  There are an infinite number of options, combinations and styles that often vary not just within the author’s remit but also from university to university, or college to college.

As such, the reasons for employing a proofreader are clear to see.  Firstly, one cannot check one’s own work.  Before becoming a full time proofreader I was an office manager for two organisations – an adult magazine and a design agency – and on both occasions proofreading was a large part of my remit.  I learned my trade over a period of 10 years and, let me tell you, given the subject matter that’s been past my gaze: I’ve seen it all.  I’ve proofed thousands of pieces of student work, a chick-lit book, a ghost-written footballer’s autobiography, marketing plans by the ton, email newsletters, menus, posters, financial reports, brochures, interviews, reviews, news, and erotica.  But I learned very early on that you cannot proofread your own work.  You simply won’t see the errors when you’re the author.  In those days I was proofing on paper, with a pen, imagine that!  It was rather old school and I was able to develop my craft comparing printer’s proofs.  With such endless practice, and learning under a renowned editor with 25 years experience, my eyes simply adapted and trained themselves to spot discrepancies.  Which brings me to another issue about proofreading – no, not everyone can do it!

I’ve lost count of the amount of clients who have told me that, even though they’re employing me to do the job, it shouldn’t need much work doing on it because one of their mates had already proofed it.  Without fail, I’m greeted by a piece of work that you would never guess had had a checker before I started. Aside from the fact that you need a natural gift for English, there are endless factors that must be taken into account.  Certainly, someone can be taught to proof, take courses, gain qualifications, but there’s no way to learn the feel for words or the extreme eye for detail.  You don’t just need proofreading because you’ve written it and you won’t be able to see the errors.  You don’t just need it because getting a mate to do the job isn’t enough.  You need it because the people who do this for a living know what they’re doing and have done thousands of pieces before, of all kinds, of all competencies and on all subjects.  After the work is submitted one can’t help feeling happy and satisfied when a client emails back saying they can’t believe the difference, they can’t believe that they didn’t employ a proofreader before and that their arguments, ideas and thoughts and have emerged from the mist in a way they didn’t think was possible.

Maybe after reading the above you will understand what proofreading actually is and why it’s an important step in writing (or indeed publishing) any written material, from dissertations/theses to business white papers, or that manuscript you’ve been pouring your heart into.  Proofreaders know their stuff and want to help you produce written material that captures the mind of your reader, even if that’s a professor marking your dissertation.

Send us your document today.

Related posts:

1. What is the Difference Between Editing and Proofreading?
2. Dissertation Proofreading and Editing
3. The Difference Between Editing and Proofreading

Editing is much more than this as it combines proofreading together with revisions that should improve the flow and structure of your work to maximise the impact of the piece.

Some may disagree as Nabakov (he of Lolita fame) once said "By editor I suppose you mean proofreader." Indeed, editing is often referred to as the "butcher's trade".

Editing requires a thorough grasp of English whereas proofreading requires an ability to simply spell. It is also fair to say that editing requires the exercise of the little grey cells to a far greater extent as they will be actively considering the subject matter and how well the piece will communicate with the prospective reader. This contrasts with simple proofreading which is a more mechanical process.

For instance, I try not to proofread a piece immediately after I have completed it. I personally find that if some time elapses between completing the draft and going back to correct the grammar and spelling errors, then I am able to focus my attention on the words rather than the ideas and ensure greater accuracy. If I proof a document as soon as I have finished, I usually end up becoming immersed in the ideas and subject matter which leads to proofreading errors and ultimately, a few spelling mistakes sneaking into otherwise finished product.

Editing courses exist on the internet that will help you deal with the issues involved but for many, editing as a profession is in decline which is technically known as "not a good thing". Modern day editors simply do not have the time to edit, and the sharp suits have taken over with their eye on the cost and bottom line rather than the quality of the work. This doesn't simply affect literary pieces but commercial copy as well as editing is the ultimate peer review you can have.

I read a piece in the Guardian which dealt with the decline of editing and relayed a story concerning Tom Wolfe (not the Bonfire of the Vanities author but the other one) and it made me smile.

Our Tom Wolfe was a prolific generator of words - so exceedingly verbiose in fact that I was instantly reminded of the Michael Douglas character in the film, Wonder Boys when he plays an English professor with writers block and a penchant for smoking dope. His editor, Maxwell Perkins advised that he was going to take the book away from Tom and indeed he did so after receiving a manuscript some two feet high containing 450,000 words. Eventually this was whittled down and published; something that would not have happened without an editor though Ernest Hemingway (who also used Perkins as his editor) proclaimed, "It's 60% shit!"

For many, the editor is a bully boy, larger than life character and their use of the pruning shears on your work can leave it completely altered beyond any recognition. The reality is if you are lucky enough to have someone who will edit your work, build that relationship, devote some time to it and this will pay dividends with your work.

T S Eliot once was asked if editors were simply failed writers to which he replied:

"Perhaps - but so are most writers."

Related posts:

1. The Difference Between Editing and Proofreading
2. Dissertation Proofreading and Editing
3. What is Proofreading?

By now, you are probably thinking "What?" or yawning. For the curious, click on the links above and they will take you to Wikipedia for a brief overview.

This assignment is not totally uncharted territory for me; I hold UK life insurance professional qualifications so grasping the general view and identifying the issues did not mean I was stumbling around in the dark.

My research took me first of all to Google - inputting search terms that related to the topics produced the usual, incredibly long list of results and in both cases, Wikipedia was featured on the top page of my queries.

Now this is one time when you really need to question the value of an online resource such as Wikipedia. Equally, you could be using some other voluntarily compiled reference work such as DMOZ, but my point is, you must question what you are being told by your source no matter who is providing it.

Wikipedia in this instance provided an excellent jumping off point for researching the Massachusetts healthcare legislation, and 90% is my guestimate of how much of the material presented was actually used by me to support my work. In particular, dropping down to the references at the bottom of the listing provided a wealth of additional source material that allowed me to directly access summaries from the lawmakers themselves. Far more valuable than the published press stories and reviews which are loaded with opinion rather than actual hard fact.

Turning to Solvency II and a new European Union Directive in the making, Wikipedia was almost next to useless. The entry has virtually no material, within the entry or the footnotes to help with getting the facts straight for publication to a target audience of senior insurance professionals across the globe. As I lurched around Wikipedia for more information, it became clear that some of the information that was available suffered from a very serious defect - in some instances, material was presented as factual whereas in reality, it was clearly opinion.

If you readership are looking for your work to help them reach a decision on a few billion pounds of investment and assets, be clear, they are the ones that will be exercising opinion, they are only looking to you for some facts.

Wikipedia seeks to counter criticisms that it is not a reliable, objective source of factual information (such as Brittanica or other encyclopedias) by use of NPOV procedures for resolving opinion disputes. In Wiki jargon, NPOV or Neutral Point of View policy requires that articles are written from an objective viewpoint with "no stand taken on the issue". Therein lies the rub, as many contributors are opinionated, some deliberately and some inadvertently.

NPOV disputes abound on Wikipedia, often representing nothing more than childish sibling-type rivalry.

Wikipedia using the term "articles" for their product should also set some alarm bells ringing; articles are not encylcopedia entries. Remember how often Michael and I, along with the rest of the article writing world advise you to be opinionated in your writing? Don't be fooled into believing that just because you see it in print it is in fact, correct!

Caveat Emptor is a Latin phrase which means "Buyer Beware", and as a buyer of the information you are being sold, no matter what your research resource, always question what is being provided.

Wikipedia is a great resource, but as with everything else in life - check the small print!

Related posts:

1. The Internet: The Biggest Resource on the Planet?
2. Copyright – A Must For Internet Safety
3. Strunk & White – The Elements of Style

Prewriting, Writing, Proofreading, Editing and Submitting

That’s another variation. Of course, if you look through books and websites you’ll find quite a few other variations. But the bottom line is there is some confusion, the difference between Proofreading and Editing.

Why are there two different steps in the writing process that mean the same thing?

Well, they don’t really. A Supaproofreader will cover both steps. All you have to do is submit what you have written and we’ll take it the rest of the way to the Publish or Submit part.

But, proofreading and editing are different. They are actually two different sides of the same coin, but they have two different purposes. Let’s take a closer look.

Proofreading

Proofreading is actually the tougher of the two in my book. When you look your paper over after writing it, you should look for better ways of writing. You have awkward sentences that need some touching. You have words that don’t quite fit and you could make decisions about replacing them with more effective words.

You’re not just looking for errors in awkward sentences and weak words. You should look for places where you could be clearer. You should try to find places where you could make a stronger argument. Add sentences where explanations need to be. Proofreading is about tightening up your work and making your writing that much better.

Editing

Editing is where you look your work over for the actual grammar and spelling errors. That’s when you look through your document for all the “Red” squiggly lines – I can’t imagine anyone doing it with a typewriter anymore, but I do believe some old schoolers still exist. Just don’t consider every red squiggly line an error. “Supaproofreader” from a few paragraphs up and “schooler” in the last sentence technically are errors. But, I’m not changing them. I meant them just the way they are.

Don’t forget to look at grammar errors too. Subject and Verb agreement, Punctuation, Capitalization…those are the errors you catch when you are editing.

Yes, proofreading and editing can overlap. Let me put it this way, if I find a spelling error while I’m proofreading I’m not going to let it go. But, that’s the difference and now you know. Like the Justice League used to say all the time… “Knowing is half the battle.”

Related posts:

1. What is the Difference Between Editing and Proofreading?
2. Dissertation Proofreading and Editing
3. The Writing Process

Humans do not necessarily read every letter separately, but process the word as a whole. This produces quite astounding results! For the sentence above, we processed it correctly because we noted the first and last letter of each word. Had we taken an effort and read each word out aloud, we might have been able to catch the errors more obviously. Proofreading accurately requires you to concentrate on each word that you are reading, and in the case of longer words, you have to look more intently. The motto is – to look at each word and not just glide over it!

Always try to remember that your mind works faster than any pen, typewriter, or computer. The following tips might prove useful to you for mastering the art of proofreading. They will also make you realize that proofreading is not as easy a job as you thought it would be! So, don’t hesitate to take the help of professional proofreaders if the need arises. In the meantime, you can try your hand at it – no harm there! But be careful – if you’re going to walk the long, difficult path of learning proofreading, you’re going to be reading stuff a lot slowly from here on!

While proofreading, it doesn’t hurt to have the attitude of a detective! In other words, it is more than acceptable to have doubts in your mind while you are trying to proofread. You have to doubt each word in order to catch the mistake and rectify it correctly. In fact, checking once is just not enough. Double-check for those types of common errors which you tend to make repeatedly.

Another cue is never to go through the page in a hurry. You’ll never catch all the mistakes that way. If required, read the passage out loud. You’ll be able to catch errors more efficiently this way. Read one word at a time and don’t just check for spelling and punctuation errors - look for possible errors in the writing style and the formatting as well. Take nothing for granted when it comes to proofreading.

Proofreading your own work is much more difficult than someone else’s. So, have someone else proofread your work before you submit it. A proofreader analyzes your work with impartial eyes, and is sure to point out mistakes that you’ve made with much more accuracy than you would!

Supaproofread offers a range of proofreading and editing services to students, businesses and website owners.

Related posts:

1. Cooking for Writers: A Recipe for a Great Paper
2. The Difference Between Editing and Proofreading
3. The Five Most Common Errors