What I do

Proofreading is the last stage of the editorial process before publication. I’ll carry out a thorough review of your material in its final layout by:

• checking grammar, spelling and punctuation
• ensuring consistency of style (eg capitalisation and hyphenation)
• ensuring consistency of layout (eg line spacing and indention)
• checking chapter headings and page numbers against table of contents
• checking position of artwork and that captions match the text
• checking cross-references
• querying repetitive, contradictory or ambiguous text
• flagging anything that needs further action.

Proofreading is the last chance to fix errors that have slipped through previous rounds of editing. It isn’t a substitute for editing.

Formats

I’m able to proofread in the following formats:

• on screen using Track Changes in Microsoft Word
• on screen using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC for PDFs
• on paper using BSI proof-correction marks.

Style Sheet

I create a style sheet for each project I proofread. A style sheet is a record of style choices, and it’s used to ensure consistency within a text or across a series of texts. If you have your own style sheet, I’ll work with this.