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““The Essential Qualities of a Good The Essential Qualities of a Good Proofreader Are to Love Reading and Proofreader Are to Love Reading and Pointing out the Mistakes of Others.” Pointing out the Mistakes of Others.”

Danny Marcus © 2003

The Editorial ProcessWriter puts words on

paper

Text is edited

Text is designed

Text is set into type Text is proofread

Corrected text is sent to printer

Proofreaders Fulfill the Function of Editorial Quality Control

• Proofreaders check the work of the typesetter

• Proofreaders check the work of the copy editor

• Proofreaders check the work of the designer

Some Proofreading Is Specialized

• Financial

• Foreign languages– Foreign alphabets

• Math and other technical material

• Legal

– Court Reporters

• Music

• Braille

• Maps

• Check the words and everything about them

• Check consistency• Check overall appearance

– This is not a check of design specifications

Check the Words and Everything About Them

• 100% responsibility for• Spelling

– Consistency of spelling– Incorrect spelling

• Missing, or wrong, or extra letters, or letters in the wrong order

• All the correct letters but something else is wrong

• Hyphenation

• Less than 100% responsibility for– Grammar– Punctuation– Word usage– Interpretability

• Less responsibility than

above for – Factual correctness

• of Spel1ing • of Punctuation• Of Format• of Style• of Layout• of Factual statements

l

lc

Check Overall Appearance

• Text shouldn’t run into artwork

• Text shouldn’t run into the next column or off the page

• Too short a line in the middle of a paragraph

• Differently sized text in an odd place

• Uneven spacing between words

• Lowercase letter L in place of number 1

• “Dumb” quotes in place of “smart” quotes

Books and Work Tools• Dictionary

– Specialized– Foreign language– Speller/divider

• Usage guides– Prescriptivist– Descriptivist

• Style guides• Reference books

– Almanac• Atlas

– Grammar

• Erasable pencil– Carmine Red is best

color

• Big block eraser• Self-sticking notes• Straightedge• Calculator

– Proofread math

• Magnifier• Type scale

Sample Proofreading Marks

• Typographic symbols • Punctuation symbols

delete

insert

Close up

Insert period

Insert comma

Insert apostrophe

Danny Marcus

Print and electronic formatsTeacher of Proofreading

62 Washington Street, Suite 2Marblehead, Mass. 01945-3553

781-631-3886/ emildanelle@yahoo.com

Copy Editor Proofreader

Danny Marcus Word Worker 781-631-3886

The End