Through my own writing, especially my novels, I have discovered the importance of thorough proof-reading. No-one's work is foolproof. Reading and re-reading your own work, over and over, is mind-numbing and can induce a kind of 'word-blindness'.  Having someone else, me, to check it, is the answer.

No matter what the source material, I begin proof-reading the same way, covering the basics such as spelling and grammar, and then move on to more in-depth checking.

General checks

  • Spelling
  • Grammar
  • Punctuation
  • Repeated words - Detecting repeated words but also checking if they are as intended.
  • Copy and paste accidents - Not just repeated text but accidentally including things that shouldn't be there, or forgetting to edit a name in a section, for instance.
  • Missing / Mixed-up sections - Passages of text can be accidentally left behind when being moved during editing, or sometimes a copy can be incomplete, with the end of a sentence missing.
  • Formatting - Are headings, fonts, spacing and colours all used consistently? Table contents aligned? Paragraphs indented properly? Checks also include looking for visually distracting items such as rivers, widows and orphans.

Advanced checks

  • Language - Even if English is your chosen language, foreign words still are used regularly and must be checked for spelling, punctuation and accented or special characters.
  • Regionalisation / Localisation - Or should it be regionalization? "Color" or "colour"? And is "... between one and ten..." the same as "... one thru ten..."?  I can check date and time formats, and spelling variations based on the locale of the intended readership.
  • House style - If you are a company, and this is a press release or promotional material, I will check that it follows your house style or style guides - if you have one.
  • Slang - Slang and incorrect language usage creeps into everyone's speech these days.  I can highlight this for you and allow you to approve or not.
  • Jargon - Too much technical jargon?  Or not enough?  And is it pertinent, or accurately used?  My technical IT background can help in this area.
  • Table of Contents / Indexes / Page-numbering - Checking that indexes are working, and any cross-references to in-text figures or illustrations or tables are also correct.
  • Brand-names - Do you need to avoid brand-names or commercial trademarks?  I can help spot these.  Do your own trademarks need to be tagged with the correct symbols?
  • References - I can ensure references to information or documents elsewhere are included if necessary.
  • Abbreviations and Acronyms - Should it be "NASA" or "Nasa"? Both are valid, in the right context.  And should they be defined on first usage?  Should "UK" be "U.K."?
  • Emojis / Web syntax - Checking emojis and shortcuts such as "LOL" and "OMG!", or ;) are as required, and also checking monikers such as twitter hashtags for accuracy and relevance.
  • Readability - I can offer my opinion on word and phrase usage, how readable your text is, and provide suggestions for improving clarity.
  • Flow - Does the document flow correctly?  For instance, it introduces a topic properly before assuming the reader knows something?  Or jumps around too much?
  • Tools - If time is extremely tight, I will use various tools to make a quicker but perhaps less in-depth analysis, such as Hemingway or Ginger.

Proofreading Marks and Symbols

If I am proof-reading a hard-copy of a document, I can - if you wish - use standard proof-reader's marks to indicate issues.  For online or electronic copy, which is the vast majority of material these days, I use simpler highlighting tools such as the "Track Changes" feature in Microsoft Word.

Additional on-request checks

  • Re-writing - If there is a need for significant re-writing, this is a separate service that I can provide on request.
  • Fact checking - I will also undertake Fact Checking - which can be a time-consuming task - on request.
  • Layout / Device Checking - On request, I can check that text and formatting flows correctly on various devices and at different screen widths.  For example, does simply orienting a screen to landscape mode break the text flow?  Is hyphenating working?
  • Screen-readers - Sometimes text is semantically incorrect for screen-readers, and text can often be 'hidden' in unreadable graphics, rendering the site unusable for some people.