Friday, October 24, 2014

Quality Proofreading Is Similar But Different Than Editing

By Dominique Martin


You have just written some copy or an advertising piece you think will get interested people to your website. It may be a white paper or an article that must have wide distribution, including potential investors and or large purchasers. It has to be right and it must not be seen as an amateurish piece. Someone who has quality proofreading skills should be involved with it after you have all of the pertinent information written down.

There are two categories of review processes that can be used at this point. One of them is the proofreader. It is their skills that will ensure everything that is written makes sense and is punctuated properly. They will only work with the information presented in the piece, not insert any other data. That task is for an editor.

Editors are those individuals who know the material you are writing about. This is because they are in the same industry and or are writing for the same promotional purposes. They will have additional information, often data sets, you do not have or have missed in your research. They will check your grammar as well as spelling, however, their focus is on adjusting, not just correcting your work.

Proofreaders will have the responsibility to know all of the appropriate grammar and spelling rules. They must know the difference and the use for the words that sound alike yet are spelled differently. They will have a mastery of the comma rules and semi colons vs colons. They will strive to make your piece look and read properly. It should be easy to find such a proofreader in San Diego, CA.

A very good thing they can do for you is to ensure the proper tenses are maintained throughout your written piece. Writing something and getting into the act of writing will often cause you to change point of reference. This means you will begin with a second person singular and switch, at some point, to a third or first person plural without knowing it. This is confusing for your readers.

You will also know that some writing will need, or is accustomed to be, in certain formats. For example an article is a little more formal than a blog. A white paper is usually in a third person, very formal, just the facts, type of writing. A blog is very much less formal and often will leave some information out to bait the reader into clicking in on the next blog for an explanation.

Many times, a proofreader will make some discoveries of things written that do not mean what the original writer wanted to say. They will find improper use of words, misplaced or illogical live links in some pieces and very humorous comments in inappropriate places. Most of the problems they find, especially on websites, are in already translated copy from a different language to one they are familiar with.

Looking at the type of writing you do and the number of problems you have, you can decide whether you need an editor or a proofreader. A proofreader can do most of the job and many of them will do more than some of them will. Have a conversation with them, in person, to determine what they can do for you to make your business presence better.




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