[Guest post] 9 Tips to Become an Expert Proofreader
If you’d like to stay in the business of words but don’t want or can’t make a living off of your own words, you may want to work on other people’s books. Here John Stuart, working on behalf of essaywritingserviceuk.co.uk in outreach and content creation, guides you through the job of proofreader with 9 helpful tips. John creates engaging content that help businesses connect with their audience and stand out from the crowd.
An excellent proofreader has a keen eye for details, can stay focused for hours and possesses impeccable language and grammar skills. Since you don’t need special formal training to become an expert proofreader, it’s up to you to hone your skills, establish a good reputation and be merciless with grammar mistakes, typos, misspellings and erroneous punctuation.
Even if they are innocent mistakes, they undermine the credibility of the writer. It is the job of the expert proofreader to identify and correct all of these mistakes.
Working as a proofreader is rewarding and offers flexibility. However, competition in the field is fierce and you need an appropriate set of skills to stand out from the crowd. We’ve hand-picked the most important tips to help you become an expert proofreader and set you on the path of offering academic proofreading services.
1. Decide If You Want to Invest Time and Effort into Becoming an Expert
Before you start advertising your services and taking your first job as an expert proofreader, make sure you fully understand what proofreading involves and that you’re up to the task. Proofreading implies reading texts and identifying a wide array of errors ranging from obvious mistakes (like grammar, spelling and punctuation) to more complex errors (like sentence structure and choice of words). An expert proofreader will go beyond this and also detect errors in style, font and alignment choices.
With this in mind, ask yourself if you want to invest time and effort into becoming a master at pinpointing errors. Do you see yourself reading texts, underlining mistakes, looking up words in dictionaries, double checking spellings, and reaching out to other professionals for grammar advice on a daily basis? If the idea of going through a material with a fine toothcomb several times appeals to you, then you are cut out to become an expert proofreader.
2. Concentrate and Cancel out Distractions
The ability to concentrate is crucial for an expert proofreader. Regardless of the distractions that might surround you (noisy neighbors, a dark room or gloomy weather), you have to be able to isolate yourself and focus solely on the task at hand. Bear in mind that phone notifications are your worst enemy and might make you sloppy or careless even for a split second. This is enough to overlook a significant error and compromise the entire material.
3. Keep an Eye Out for Homonyms
Homonyms are extremely easy to overlook, especially when you are tired or distracted. These words can either share the same spelling and have different significances or just sound similar. There are three types of homonyms:
- words that look and sound the same: “borrow money from the bank” and “a bank of thunderclouds”;
- words that sound the same but look differently (homophones): “course of action” and “coarse hair”;
- words that look the same but sound differently (homographs): “lead the way” and “made out of lead”.
4. Look out for Apostrophes and Possessive Pronouns Mistakes
These are some of the most common mistakes you are bound to encounter in any given material. Apostrophes errors can be the result of inattention or a typo. Frequently mixed up pairs are “it’s” and “its”, “you’re” and “your”, “they’re” and “their”. Even if they are innocent mistakes, they undermine the credibility of the writer. It is the job of the expert proofreader to identify and correct all of these mistakes.
In the same vein, writers often commit blunders when it comes to possessive pronouns. Bear in mind that the apostrophe serves the purpose of showing possession and is never used in plurals. As a result, the correct forms are “yours”, “hers”, “ours” and “theirs”. On the other hand, nouns can take the apostrophe, in which case the correct forms are “dog’s” and “Mary’s”.
5. Don’t Gloss Over Dates and Numbers
An expert proofreader will thoroughly check out dates and numbers in order to ensure consistency and coherence within the text and within a series of materials. To avoid a catastrophic misrepresentation of facts, carefully check the dates. Europeans tend to write the day first and the month second so January 15, 2018 will look like this: “15.01.2018”. However, in other parts of the world, writers put down the month first and the day second so the same date will look like this: “01.15.2018”.
You should always double check numbers since they weigh heavily in any text or essay. Pay attention to the zeros in numbers, check the years, percentages, fractions and other special symbols. Stay consistent in style and make use of any glossaries, terminology files or style guides that you may have received from your client.
6. Use a Spell Check Tool
Review every recommendation and only apply the correction after you are sure of it.
A spell check tool will act as a second pair of eyes. Spelling mistakes are the most frequent errors in texts but the good news is that they are easy to pinpoint and correct with the help of advanced tools. Bear in mind that a spell checker can’t discern between homonyms and, as a consequence, it can’t identify the mix up between “who’s” and “whose”. It’s also important to note that spell checkers are not 100% accurate. Review every recommendation and only apply the correction after you are sure of it.
7. Create a Proofreading Checklist
This is an excellent aid for both new and seasoned proofreaders. There is a very wide range of errors you can find in a text and it might prove difficult to analyze all of them at once during a single reading. A proofreading checklist will help you pay attention to frequent mistakes, subtleties and other particularities. Your list can include common errors divided by category (grammar, punctuation, spelling etc) as well as any guidelines from your client.
8. Take Your Time with Double Letters Words
If you’re rushing over a text, you might overlook recurrent mistakes that any writer is bound to make either from inattention or as a typo. When you come across words with double letters, slow down and make sure the spelling is on point. Commonplace misspelled words are “apparent”, “accommodation”, “omission”, “occurrence”, “dumbbell”, “millennium”, “questionnaire”, “necessary”, “incidentally” and “broccoli”.
The reverse also tends to happen. Writers often misspell words that don’t have double letters. In this case, recurring misspelled words are “preferable”, “coliseum”, “labeled” (American English spelling), “procedure”, “pedaling” (American English spelling).
9. Adjust Your Proofreading to the Correct Style of English (American vs British)
Most of the times, your client will choose the style of English you have to abide by, which can be American or British. If this is unclear when you take on the task, it’s essential to clarify it with the client as soon as possible. Never mix the two styles in the same text as this will sabotage your credibility and make you seem careless and unprofessional.
There are numerous differences between the two styles and the same word can have different spellings. For instance, “endeavor” and “endeavour”, “gray” and “grey”, “toward” and “towards”. Make sure to use a suitable spell checker and dictionary that were created with the specific style of English in mind.
