FAQs
1. What is proofreading?
The purpose of proofreading is to remove barriers between the author and the reader.
All good writing requires revision and redrafting. Proofreading is fundamental to this process. Every author, from the casual amateur to the seasoned professional, will feel the benefit of the expert proofreader who will detect any lingering mistakes in his or her finished work. Computer spellcheckers and grammar checkers are fine, but they can’t do half the things a human proofreader can.
Whether it is a book, a dissertation, a report, job application, blog, poem or online article – a text that has been proofread will speak clearly, while one that has not will cause confusion and consternation in those you hope will pay attention to it. Why risk upsetting the reader, who is spending precious time on your words? You may not get a second chance to get your message across, and if your creation is thrown aside because of avoidable errors and inconsistencies, the cost to you could be high.
A proofreader is trained to a professional level to scrutinise a document for errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary. Other inconsistencies detected will include
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The use of names – people, places and things
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Numbers
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Capitalisation
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Repetition
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Terminology
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Formatting – including pagination, titles, headers and footers
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Fonts
Proofreading is the last mile in the journey. Some may think it’s a luxury, but those that do usually offer up their work marred by more errors than they might have thought possible. And if it lands on the publisher's desk in this condition, there is only one place it is heading: the bin. I have personal experience of this. Having spent years writing my PhD thesis in literature, I was ready to submit my beautiful creation for binding and submission, without bothering about proofreading. Luckily, a friend of mine in the publishing business cautioned me to run it by him first. The number of mistakes in spelling, grammar and formatting he found was sobering! One high quality proofreading pass later, I submitted my work in the knowledge that it was free of the highly embarrassing errors that would have turned my examiners attention away from my profound ideas!
Which leads me to the question. . .
You may be thinking ‘I can proofread my essay myself, no problem’, but it is unlikely that you will be effective, for one simple reason: you are too close to it. Whether short or long, your work is the product of hard work and detailed thought that places you, the author, at its heart. As such, you cannot see it as it will appear to someone approaching it for the first time. Only a proofreader, with a trained eye and a perfectionist’s concern for fine detail and absolute rectitude, will be able to see where the text is repetitious, where punctuation or grammar has gone awry, or where formatting errors and other inconsistencies are lurking.
A proofreader brings a fresh eye to your book, dissertation, blog post or online article, and has developed a crucially different reading technique. Nearly every ‘ordinary’ reader will read a text for its meaning, and will skip along the line without looking closely at each individual word. The brain interpolates many of the common elements of a sentence as a person reads, so that errors that may be present will not register in the mind at all. A proofreader has learned to meticulously scrutinise each word, each element of punctuation (and so on) in the execution of his or her craft. In this way, the errors that most readers ignore will be picked up by the proofreader.
So, where can I find a qualified proofreader?
Looking for online proofreading services? Look no further! I am a professional proofreader, a doctor of literature and a writer in my own right. I am available at a far lower rate than most traditional editing agencies. Whether you need
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An essay proofreader
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A dissertation editing service
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Manuscript editing (paper or ‘hard’ copies)
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Book editing services
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Proofreading website services
I can help at the mighty word . I will polish your work to the very highest standard, keeping your distinctive voice while removing the kinks and errors that persist in almost every document that has not been professionally finalised.
Can I proofread my own work?
2. What is line editing & copy-editing?
It is important to be aware that copy-editing is intended for documents that are well advanced, needing only small corrections, minimal editing and final formatting. Their purpose is to check and finish a project. If your work is less advanced, take a look at the following FAQ on content editing.
As explained in the previous FAQ on proofreading, this final stage is really important and you neglect it at your peril. Not only does a copy-edit identify those numerous little errors that are as tenacious as ticks on a bovine rump (that can drag a noble beast to its ruin). A copy-editor, bringing fresh eyes to a project, can ‘push it over the top’ with a few killer amendments and suggestions that you, the author, couldn’t see, being so close to your treasured work and having stared at it for so many gruelling but rewarding hours.
Traditional copy-editing
In the publishing world, the copy-editor’s role is to take the author’s finished work and prepare it for the typesetter to transform into ‘proofs’ that are very nearly the work in its final form. These proofs will then be checked by a proofreader, sent to the author for approval and, when everyone is happy, the towering achievement is printed, bound and unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.
What does the copy-editor do with a typescript (or, rarely, manuscript) exactly?
He or she will look for all the same errors as a proofreader but will also make changes a proofreader would not. Where the author’s grammar, word choice, use of factual information or organisation of his text is flawed, the copy-editor will make amendments. This involves a mixture of expertise and instinct. The copy-editor does not want to alter the work so much that is loses the author’s distinctive ‘voice’. He wants to improve its clarity, its accuracy and its structure in the service of a final version that is the best it could possibly be.
So, the copy-editor will edit for sense, clarity, economy and structural coherence. He or she will also apply a consistency of style, according to his or her judgement, or in line with a publisher’s ‘house style’. This includes: standardised spelling (UK or US spellings? ‘ize’ or ‘ise’?); the use of numbers (spelt out in words or given in numerals?); setting punctuation such as dashes, hyphens and quotation marks correctly (single or double quotation marks?).
The copy-editor also performs the task of ‘marking up’ the typescript for the typesetter to lay out the finished text for printing, which includes coding the various headings and sub-headings, making sure quoted passages appear correctly, alongside flagging up lists and illustrations so that the typesetter will lay them out on the page in line with the style policy.
How will you edit my work?
3. What is developmental editing?
If you find yourself having made significant progress with your project, and can see that it is rich with good ‘meat’ but now you find yourself stuck – that is when you need developmental editing.
Unlike proofreading or copy-editing, developmental editing (sometimes called 'content editing') is a dialogue between author and editor.
Many writers – professional and non-professional – thrive in the presence of a good intermediary between themselves and their work. Having someone to comment, advise and encourage them on their way to completion is an essential (and often overlooked) ingredient in their success. It can mean the difference between a work that is half-baked – or even left unfinished – and a work that brings itself into full bloom, with all its qualities brought out and displayed in their best and brightest light.
A good developmental editor is often an adept and experienced writer, and will bring their own talent to your text. But – importantly – the developmental editor must also be gifted in the art of restraint, and will not in any way be interested in imposing their own style. It is the developmental editor’s task to work empathically with the text – reading, commenting and suggesting changes that will aid in the author’s task of improving and completing his or her own work.
No good developmental editor will seek to 'improve' a person’s work in ways that stifle the unique voice held within the text. The effective – and ethical – developmental editor will offer a critique revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s text. Knowing what needs developing, knowing what needs cutting or repositioning, knowing whether an argument or storyline is working: with this knowledge the author gains the perspective he or she needs to put the work into its best shape.
If you have a piece that you are stuck with, get in touch.
It could be a short piece – a report, an essay, an application, a non-fiction text, an artist statement or any kind of online content.
It could be longer – a novel, a non-fiction work, a dissertation, a poetry collection.
Because the condition of documents varies widely, and the care and attention required will differ, I will need to view a sample of your text to give you a firm quotation.
Alongside all the Chapterhouse proofreading and copy-editing protocols, the mighty word will also look at your document’s argument or narrative, reading it for logic and coherence, structure, thematic or conceptual form, character development, dialogue consistency, imagery & metaphor, authorial voice, originality.
Remember – an experienced eye could make all the difference to your work, and could mean the difference between the well-deserved, luminous smile of success . . . or the stormy, doom-laden scowl of disaster!
Your document may take different forms. For this reason, the mighty word offers 2 main options.
Line Editing – If you are writing content for your website; if you are writing a job application, a ‘person spec’, a biographical blurb or a report; if you are writing an essay or a short story; if you are writing anything like this and are confident that your work is in good shape and doesn’t need anything in the way of layout or formatting, then the mighty word can ‘line edit’ for you. This is copy-editing of the linguistic material: all the smaller errors that a proofreader will identify are covered, with an extra layer of scrutiny brought to bear that will improve word choice, clarity, problems with clichés, consistency, repetition, sentence construction and fact-checking.
Copy-editing – If you have a book, article or document that you are preparing to self-publish or submit to a journal, in print or electronically; if you are an editor or publishing house looking for a trained freelance copy-editor; if you have a dissertation that needs editing for content, layout and formatting; if this is your situation, and you feel that your document is in good shape, with all of its content at an advanced stage, then the mighty word can copy-edit to the professional standards of Chapterhouse Publishing and as detailed in the industry ‘bible’ Butcher’s Copy-editing (Cambridge University Press, 2007). All the traditional tasks described above are covered. The result will be a document that is polished, error-free, elegantly structured and presented with all its formatting (titles, headers, pagination, fonts) in the right place.
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Next up – ‘Developmental Editing’ – Is your work nearly finished but in need of a motivating push to get it over the finish line? Are on your way with your great work, but need a helping hand? Are you looking for a friendly, experienced editor and consultant to help develop your writing? Have you got a lot of ideas down but find yourself stuck? Does it feel like you are wading through treacle? Then, dear reader, forge onward, ever onward. . .
More FAQs to follow...
Lots more helpful stuff to come - watch this space!