I am skilled in working through the detail of texts, focusing on clear communication, suitability of tone and style, correct spelling, grammar and punctuation, and a coherent structure with appropriate formatting and layout. Whether you’re an author planning to publish a book or journal article, a business wishing to convey internal messaging to its employees, a charity or society updating a booklet for its members, or a student wanting a final check over their thesis or dissertation, a professional copyedit or proofread will enhance your written content: clear and consistent, error-free and fit for purpose, allowing the author’s voice to communicate with, and impact, your readers.
If proofreading your work I will undertake the following:
- check spelling, grammar and punctuation, and ensure correct use of capitalisation and hyphenation
- advise on minor changes for sense, and rewrite
- check headings, subheadings and page numbers are placed correctly and follow the table of contents
- check tables and illustrations are consecutively numbered and placed correctly, and that headings and captions correspond and are consistent with the text
- check references, citations and index are correctly formatted
- identify textual, typographical and design inconsistencies, and query or correct as appropriate
- clearly identify all queries for your attention
- follow your brief, and apply your house style, ensuring consistency of presentation of text.
If copyediting your work I will, in addition to the above, undertake the following:
- advise on changes to flow and tone of writing, ensuring consistency of style and rewriting unclear sentences
- raise questions of factual accuracy
- mark up the structure (headings, paragraphs, boxed text, quotations, tables, lists, references, etc), ensuring the text is logical and consistent
- number tables and illustrations, and check content against text
- format references, citations and index into chosen style
- flag up potential legal issues such as copyright and libel
- edit according to your brief, and apply your house style or create a style sheet for you, ensuring consistency of presentation of text.
The tasks, detailed above, are not an exhaustive list, and can vary according to the type of document, the level of editorial intervention required and the particular requirements of the client.
If it would be helpful to discuss what your written material needs and your specific editorial requirements (there are differences between copyediting and proofreading), please feel free to get in touch.
Marking up your document
I work in Microsoft Word, Adobe Reader for PDFs or on hard copy. In Word, I use Track Changes so you can easily view my corrections, also comments and queries. On PDFs, I annotate using the comment tools or British Standards Institution’s (BSI) proof-correction marks, according to your preference. I handwrite comments or BSI proof marks on hard copy.
Throughout the project, I will keep in regular contact with you to resolve queries that arise in the editing process.