Proofreading is the final stage we take on prior to publishing words to an ever-more discerning audience. It presents us with a last opportunity to potentially revise and correct any anomalies within text, and perfect it prior to release. It may seem perfunctory, but even the world’s most popular media outlets seemingly fail on occasion to take proofreading seriously.
As proofreaders we compare the versions of a manuscript, including all the headers, formatting and page numbers, as well as spellchecking and correcting any errors in punctuation according to the correct writing style guide for the client, whether that’s in the US or UK format of the English written word.
By the time we receive a document for proofreading, the content should be well organised, well-written and simple to understand. It’s not the job of proofreader to rework content in order to ensure it meets its goals, this falls under the remit of a content editor.
Proofreading is all about finding errors and eradicating that. After it’s been through the proofreading stage the document will be final. This means it’s free of grammatical errors, punctuation issues, incorrect tense and typography problems. It is less extensive than the process of content editing, but it is of equal importance. Proofreading provides the polish that ensures readers will not be subjected to errors that could both damage your credibility as a source of knowledge, but also confuse the audience. It makes it ready.