Saturday, June 1, 2013

How To Do Academic Proofreading

By Rena Hudson


Academic proofreading is not just about editing the spelling and grammar of a paper as it is crucial for these kinds of written works to be as near to perfect as possible. That is why proofreaders are expected to be able to go through a process in which they edit these works. Of course there are a lot of things to look at and take note of when doing this kind of activity.

It is always best to have a general idea or overview of what the paper looks like before even attempting to fix anything that is wrong with it. By taking a look at it from a far angle, one will be able to get a small idea on how the format looks like and what parts of the formatting should be fixed. So get an overview of what it looks like first then go to the written content.

Do not do any editing yet as the first step is to simply go over the paper as a whole in order to get an idea on what to edit. So once the scanning of the format is done, then the next thing to do would be to go over the entire text of the paper. This will help the proofreader know what the writer is trying to say so that he will have an easier time making changes.

So after going through these things, now would be the time to check the paper if there are any mistakes in content and formatting. So start with the first sentence and check if the spelling, word usage, and grammar are all correct. If there are mistakes, then use special indications and markings that will help the writer be able to know where he made mistakes and errors.

Another thing proofreaders should watch out for would be sentences that have absolutely nothing to do with the written work. Sometimes without realizing, writers put some extra phrases or sentences that do not really need to be there. It is the job of the proofreader to spot these things and be able to correct or remove them.

While one is doing this, then he must also pay attention to the formatting of the paper as well. If there should be extra indentations or spaces, the proofreaders should put an indication on where the mistakes are. The font should also be consistent without any mistakes in size, color, and font family.

The last thing to look at would be the bibliography, footnotes, and the presentation of sources. Of course academic works will need a list of sources that will be written in a separate part of the piece of work where people can use as references. It is important that one know which format to use like MLA or APA and one must also be able to know how to use them properly.

So if one is planning to become a proofreader, then these are the things that he must actually do. Academic proofreading is actually the hardest type of proofreading there is because of the process. Since academic papers need to be perfect, then a proper process must be done.




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