From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Proofreading
Proofreading
proof-reading)
Proofreading (also proof-reading is the reading of a gal- as: in a hole [thump] he said the address was digits 1 2 3 4
ley proof or computer monitor to detect and correct [thump] central [thump] buluhvuhd [thump] comma and
production-errors of text or art. Proofreaders are expect- to hurry bang. Mutual understanding is the only guiding
ed to be consistently accurate by default because they principle, so codes evolve as opportunity permits. In the
occupy the last stage of typographic production before above example, two thumps after buluhvuhd might be ac-
publication. Proofreaders may also query items for con- ceptable to proofreaders familiar with the text.
firmation. reading.
Double reading A single proofreader checks a proof
in the traditional manner, but then passes it on to a sec-
Professional proofreading ond reader who repeats the process. Both initial the
proof. Note that with both copy holding and double read-
ing, responsibility for a given proof is necessarily shared
Traditional method by two individuals.
A proof is a typeset version of copy or a manuscript page. Scanning,
Scanning used to check a proof without reading it
They often contain typos introduced through both hu- word for word, has become common with computeriza-
man error and bugs in programming code. Traditionally, tion of typesetting and the popularization of word pro-
a proofreader looks at an increment of text on the copy cessing. Many publishers have their own proprietary
and then compares it to the corresponding typeset in- typesetting systems,[1] while their customers use com-
crement, and then marks any errors (sometimes called mercial programs such as Word. Before the data in a
line edits) using standard proofreaders’ marks. Thus, un- Word file can be published, it must be converted into a
like copy editing, proofreading’s defining procedure is to format used by the publisher. The end product is usual-
work directly with two sets of information at the same ly called a conversion. If a customer has already proofread
time. Proofs are then returned to the typesetter or the contents of a file before submitting it to a publish-
graphic artist for correction. Correction-cycle proofs will er, there will be no reason for another proofreader to re-
typically have one descriptive term, such as bounce, read it from copy (although this additional service may
bump, or revise unique to the department or organization be requested and paid for). Instead, the publisher is held
and used for clarity to the strict exclusion of any other. It responsible only for formatting errors, such as typeface,
is a common practice for all such corrections, no matter page width, and alignment of columns in tables; and pro-
how slight, to be sent again to a proofreader to be duction errors such as text inadvertently deleted. To sim-
checked and initialed, establishing the principle of con- plify matters further, a given conversion will usually be
sistent accuracy for proofreaders. assigned a specific template. Given typesetters of suffi-
cient skill, experienced proofreaders familiar with their
Alternative methods typesetters’ work can accurately scan their pages with-
Copy holding or copy reading employs two readers per out reading the text for errors that neither they nor their
proof. The first reads the text aloud literally as it appears, typesetters are responsible for.
usually at a comparatively fast but uniform rate of speed.
The second reader follows along and marks any pertinent Style guides and checklists
differences between what is read and what was typeset. Before it is typeset, copy is often marked up by an editor
This method is appropriate for large quantities of boiler- or customer with various instructions as to typefaces,
plate text where it is assumed that the number of errors art, and layout. Often these individuals will consult a
will be comparatively small. style guide of varying degrees of complexity and com-
Experienced copy holders employ various codes and pleteness. Such guides are usually produced in-house by
verbal short-cuts that accompany their reading. The spo- the staff or supplied by the customer, and should be dis-
ken word digits, for example, means that the numbers tinguished from professional references such as The
about to be read aren’t words spelled out; and in a hole Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Stylebook, The Elements of
can mean that the upcoming segment of text is within Style, or Gregg Reference Manual. When appropriate, proof-
parenthesis. Bang means an exclamation point. A thump readers may mark errors in accordance with their house
made with a finger on the table represents the initial cap, guide instead of the copy when the two conflict. When
comma, period, or similar obvious attribute being read proofreaders are required to learn a style guide in order
simultaneously. Thus the line of text: (He said the address to initiate changes on a proof instead of programmatically
was 1234 Central Blvd., and to hurry!) would be read aloud following copy and its own mark-up, they arguably take
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Proofreading
on the responsibilities of copy editors. (See Proofreading readers. Such tools of self-preparation have by and large
vs. copy editing.) replaced formal workplace-instruction.
Checklists are commonly employed in proofrooms Proofreader applicants are tested primarily on their
where there is sufficient uniformity of product to distill spelling, speed, and skill in finding errors in sample text.
some or all of its components to a list format. They may Towards that end, they may be given a list of ten or twen-
also act as a training tool for new hires. Proofreaders may ty classically difficult words and a proofreading test, both
need to clarify with management their degree of respon- tightly timed. The proofreading test will often have a
sibility for items not on the checklist. maximum number of errors per quantity of text and a
minimum amount of time to find them. The goal of this
Qualifications approach is to identify those with the best skill-set.
The educational-level of proofreaders in general is on par A contrasting approach to testing is to identify and
with that of their coworkers. Typesetters, graphic artists, reward persistence more than an arbitrarily high level of
and word processors are rarely required to have a col- expertise. For the spelling portion of the test, that can
lege degree, and a perusal of online job-listings for proof- be accomplished by providing a dictionary; lengthening
readers will show that although some specify a degree the word-list conspicuously; and making clear that the
for proofreaders, as many do not. Those same listings will test is not timed. For the proofreading portion a suitable
also show a tendency for degree-only positions to be in language-usage reference book (e.g., The Chicago Manual
firms in commercial fields such as retail, medicine, or in- of Style) can be provided. (Note that knowing where to
surance, where the data to be read is internal documen- find needed information in such specialized books is it-
tation not intended for public consumption per se. Such self an effective component of the test.) Removing the
listings, specifying a single proofreader to fill a single po- pressure of what is essentially an ASAP deadline will
sition, are more likely to require a degree as a way of re- identify those applicants with marginally greater reser-
ducing the candidate-pool, but also because the degree voirs of persistence, stamina, and commitment. At the
is perceived as a requirement for any potentially pro- same time, by mooting the need for applicants to make
motable white collar applicant. Experience is discount- use of a memorized list of difficult words and a studied
ed at the outset in preference to an academic creden- knowledge of the more common grammatical traps (af-
tial, indicating a relatively low starting wage appropri- fect, effect, lay, lie), applicants learn that their success de-
ate for younger applicants. In these kinds of multitask- pends primarily on a quality at least theoretically avail-
ing desktop-publishing environments, Human Resources able to anyone at any time without preparation.
may even classify proofreading as a clerical skill generic Formal employee-testing is usually planned and an-
to literacy itself. Where this is the case, it isn’t unusual nounced well in advance, and may have titles, such as
for proofreaders to find themselves guaranteeing the ac- Levels Testing, Skills Evaluation, etc. They are found in cor-
curacy of higher-paid coworkers. porate or governmental environments with a large
By contrast, printers, publishers, advertising agen- enough HR staff to devote to preparing and administer-
cies and law firms tend not to specifically require a de- ing the tests.
gree. In these professionally demanding single-tasking Informal employee-testing takes place whenever a
environments, the educational divide surrounds the pro- manager feels the need to take a random sampling of
duction department instead of the company itself. Pro- a proofreader’s work by double-reading selected pages.
motion is rare for these proofreaders because they tend Usually this is done without warning, and sometimes it
to be valued more for their present skill-set than for any will be done secretly. It can be highly effective, and there
potential leadership ability. They are often supervised will certainly be times when such re-reading is justified,
by a typesetter also without a degree, or an administra- but care must be taken.
tive manager with little or no production experience who There are two basic approaches. The first is to re-read
delegates day-to-day responsibilities to a typesetter. It a proof within its deadline and in the department itself.
follows that such listings tend to stress experience, offer Thus the manager will read from the same copy that the
commensurately higher rates of pay, and include men- first reader saw, and be aware of any volume and dead-
tion of a proofreading test. line pressures the first reader was under, and can directly
observe the individual in real time. This approach can al-
Proofreader testing so be followed as a matter of routine. The goal then is not
to confirm a specific suspicion of poor job-performance
Applicants.
Applicants Practical job-training for proofreaders has
by a particular reader, but rather to confirm a gener-
declined along with its status as a craft, although many
al assumption that the proofreading staff needs ongoing
commercial and college-level proofreading courses of
monitoring.
varying quality can be found online. There are also avail-
The second approach to informal testing is to wait for
able numerous books that instruct the basics to their
some days or weeks and then, as time allows, random-
ly select proofs to re-read while outside the department.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Proofreading
Such proofs may or may not be accompanied by the copy familiar and new. Where this procedure is followed, man-
pages that the proofreader saw. Here the re-reader is ex- agers can expect consistently superior performance.
amining the proof from the perspective of typographical However, re-reading focuses responsibility instead of di-
and formatting accuracy alone, ignoring how many oth- viding it (as double-reading and copy holding, both de-
er pages the first reader had read that day, and had yet scribed above, do) and obviously requires extra effort
to read, and how many pages were successfully read and from proofreaders and a measure of independence from
how many deadlines were met under a given day’s specif- management. Instead of managers controlling deadlines,
ic conditions. deadlines control managers, and leeway is passed to the
proofreaders as well as commensurate pay.
Economics of proofreading
Proofreading cannot be fully cost-effective where vol- Proofreading vs. copy editing
ume or unpredictable work flow prevents proofreaders The misperception that proofreading is related to editing
from managing their own time. Examples would be ther- is a common one, and the term proofreading is sometimes
mographic trade printers of business cards, network used to refer to copy editing, and vice versa. But the
hubs, and newspapers. The problem in each of these en- two should never be confused. As previously noted, un-
vironments is that jobs can’t be put aside to be re-read as like editors, proofreaders work with two sets of informa-
needed. In the first and third example, volume and dead- tion at the same time. Proofreaders typically lack inde-
lines dictate that all jobs be finished as soon as possible; pendent editorial or managerial authority, having only
in the second, jobs presently on-site at the hub are hur- the option of querying items but not correcting them, al-
ried, regardless of their formal deadline, in favor of pos- though this may not be the case when proofreaders are
sible future work that may arrive unpredictably. Where held responsible for conforming a proof to a style-guide
proofs can programmatically be read only once, quality that takes precedence over copy. Regardless, copy edi-
will never be superior on average. Instead, it will ran- tors (and customers) see the copy before the typesetter
domly but persistently fall below expectations. Even the or word processor does. Proofreaders see it last. There-
best and most experienced readers will not be able to fore they necessarily cannot be held responsible for cer-
consistently push the margin of accuracy far enough to tain kinds of errors in the copy itself. Depending on the
justify premium pay. nature and context of that copy and its deadline, this lee-
Production technology can also moot the need to pay way can include obvious facts, the accuracy of sums in
a premium for proofreading. In the example of thermo- numerical columns, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and
graphic business-card printing, even when there are no even basic spelling. Thus proofreaders may often safely
reprints, there is considerable wastage of paper and ink ignore the very items that a copy editor must not.
generated in preparing each of the press-runs, which are With the increasing dominance of word processing,
separated by color. When (as often happens) there is un- the expansion of desktop publishing, and the decline of
used space available on the plate, there is no increase craft-based distinctions between skills, copy editing and
in production cost for reprints that use that space. Only proofreading are increasingly done by the same person,
when reprints are so numerous that they push but the distinction remains a valid one. To clarify matters
production-staff into significant overtime would they in- at the outset, some want-ads come with a notice that the
crease costs. But significant overtime is usually the result job advertised is not a writing or editing position and
of a high volume in new orders using up the eight-hour will not become one. The lesson is that creativity and
day. In such industries proofreading need only – and can critical thinking by their very nature conflict with the
only – make a marginal difference to be cost-effective. strict copy-following discipline that commercial and gov-
As for the customers, many will never return even when ernmental proofreading requires, that proofreading and
their jobs are perfect, and enough of those who do need a editing are fundamentally separate responsibilities.
reprint will find the retailer’s cost-saving price to be sat-
isfactory enough to tolerate a late delivery.
Only where workload volume doesn’t compress all
Self proofreading/copy editing
deadlines to ASAP and the workflow is reasonably pre- Primary examples include job seekers’ own resumes and
dictable can proofreading be worth a premium wage. In- student term-papers. Proofreading this kind of material
flexible deadlines mandate a delivery time, but in doing presents a special challenge, first because the proofread-
so they necessarily don’t mandate delivery before that er/editor is usually the author; second because such au-
time. If deadlines are consistently maintained instead of thors are usually unaware of the inevitability of errors
arbitrarily moved up, proofreaders can manage their and the effort required to find them; and third, as finding
own time by putting proofs aside at their own discretion any final errors often occurs just when stress levels are
for re-reading later. Whether the interval is a few sec- highest and time shortest, readers’ minds resist identify-
onds or overnight, it enables proofs to be viewed as both
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Proofreading
ing them as errors. Under these conditions, proofreaders • River (typography)
will see only what they want to see. • Society for Editors and Proofreaders (in the UK)
There are numerous websites offering detailed advice • Style guide
on how authors should check their own material.[2][3][4] • Typographical personification
The context is that of a one-time effort, neither paid nor • Typographical syntax
deadline-driven. Some tips may not be appropriate for • Writing circles
everyone, e.g., read upside down to "focus on typology",
read backward, chew gum, listen to music, and don’t use
fluorescent lighting.[5]
References
[1] See 1983, http://www.bowne.com/about/
timeline.asp
In fiction [2] "Editing and Proofreading," The Writing Center,
Examples of proofreaders in fiction include The History of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
the Siege of Lisbon (Historia do Cerco de Lisboa), a 1989 nov- [3] "Proofreading," The Purdue Online Writing Lab
el by Nobel laureate Jose Saramago, and the short sto- (OWL)
ry "Proofs" in George Steiner’s Proofs and Three Parables [4] "Proofreading," Virginia Tech
(1992). Under the headline "Orthographical" in James [5] "Proofreading & Editing Tips", LR Communication
Joyce’s novel Ulysses, Leopold Bloom, watching the type- Systems, Inc.
setter foreman Mr. Nannetti read over a "limp galley- [6] "Ulysses - James Joyce - Google Books".
page", thinks "Proof fever".[6] Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/
books?id=8iS04PaSssQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=uLYSSES&hl=en
See also Retrieved 2011-11-30.
• American and British English spelling differences
• Copy editing
External links
• Distributed Proofreaders • The Importance of the Proof-reader by John Wilson
• ETAOIN SHRDLU • Merriam-Webster’s Proofreader Marks Page
• Fact checker • Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
• Galley proof • Society for Editors and Proofreaders (UK)
• ISO 5776
• Obelism
• Printing press check
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Categories:
• Proofreading
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