Detailed overview
The course begins with an introduction to the world of proofreading and the role of the proofreader. You can download this free introduction module today.
This is followed by five modules, each of which is divided into units that focus on a specific topic. Units have explanatory text, examples and a number of carefully designed self-test exercises.
You are not just thrown in at the deep end. The course has been carefully constructed so that new concepts are introduced gradually, with each unit building on what has gone before.
In total, there are more than 550 pages of materials, including 21 exercises.
When you enrol on Proofreading Today, you will also receive a free copy of Rediscover Grammar, a book that provides invaluable guidance on many grammatical issues. You can use it either as a short self-study course or as a reference while you work through Proofreading Today.
Assignments
There are four assignments that you need to complete and return to us. Your tutor will mark each assignment and return it to you with feedback. The marks from these assignments will form the basis of your final grade.
Tutor feedback
When your assignments are marked you will also get personal feedback from one of our experienced tutors. You can also contact your tutor during the course if you need guidance on particular aspects or problems.
A recognised course
Proofreading Today has been comprehensively reviewed by the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP). Consequently, successful completion of this course contributes training points for SfEP members who wish to upgrade their membership.
Pay as you learn
Our pay as you learn scheme means that you can sign up for each module one at a time, rather than committing yourself to the entire course at once. Under this scheme, Module 1 costs £95 and each of the subsequent modules costs only £50. You can read more about this scheme on our enrolment page.
Added benefits when you complete the course
Once you've completed the course, if you're planning to offer your services as a freelance proofreader, we will help you get started:
- You will be entitled to a free listing on www.edittrain.co.uk/freelancers, giving details of your qualifications and experience, and the services you offer.
- You'll be able to pick one of our free website templates and start advertising your services online on your own website. If you take up this offer, you will just need to pay the registration fee for your chosen domain name (typically less than £10 a year) and £60 a year for hosting. We'll give you the facility to update the content on your pages and to switch between templates whenever you choose.
- If you'd prefer a website that's specifically tailored to your tastes and needs, we also offer a fully customised website design service. This normally costs £500, but former students on Proofreading Today pay only £400.
Course content
Introduction
- How to use the course
- Your working environment
- Where the proofreader fits in
- The production process
- What an editor does
- Typesetting, design and layout
- What a proofreader does
- Changing workflows
Module 1: The basics of proofreading
- Type, fonts and measurements
- Points, picas, en/em rules and other measurements
- Tracking, kerning and ligatures
- Type specification
- How to read proofs
- Types of proof
- Proofreading techniques
- BSI symbols and marking up proofs
- How the editor uses the BSI marks
- How the proofreader uses the BSI marks
- Proofing colour codes
- Correction charges
- Insertions
- Single insertions
- Multiple insertions
- Inserting large amounts of text
- Inserting horizontal spaces, including fixed and narrow spaces
- Inserting vertical spaces
- Deletions and removals
- Deleting characters
- Deleting spaces
- Deleting large amounts of text
- Substitutions
- Substituting characters
- Changing to and from bold, italic, underlined text and capital letters
- Dealing with punctuation
- Marking up standard punctuation characters
- Marking up rules and hyphens
- Errors and queries
- Blind proofreading
- Assignment 1
Module 2: Style and position
- What's a style?
- House style
- Editor's style sheet
- General style guides
- Creating your own style sheet
- Headings and codings
- Rules
- Hyphens
- En rules
- Em rules
- Aligning and moving text
- Column alignment
- Indents
- Moving page elements
- Paragraphs and sentences
- Numbers
- Typical styles
- Superscript and subscript
- Using punctuation
- Comma
- Semicolon
- Colon
- Quotes
- Apostrophe
- Bullet lists
- Spelling and word-breaks
- Editorial choice
- Lines and word-breaks
- Assignment 2
Module 3: Types of text
- Parts of a book
- Notes and references
- Footnotes and endnotes
- Standard systems for citing references
- Bibliography
- Coloured and illustrated documents
- Graphic elements
- Diagrams
- Tables
- Photographs
- Captions
- Different types of publication
- Fiction
- Poetry
- Educational books
- General non-fiction books
- Academic books and journals
- Newsletters and magazines
- Children's books
- Business documents
- Promotional and marketing material
- Assignment 3
Module 4: Dealing with electronic files
- Electronic workflow
- Types of electronic proof
- Issues with electronic proofs
- Proofreading on-screen
- Computer setup
- Making changes on-screen
- Adobe PDF files
- PDFs and the publishing workflow
- PDFs and the proofreader
- Marking up a PDF
- Using paperlessproofs
- Websites and CD-ROMs
- How to proofread web pages
- Communicating errors
- Checking CD-ROMs
- Online test
Module 5: The professional proofreader
- The proofreader's judgement
- Widows
- Orphans
- Collating multiple comments
- The proofreading brief
- Schedules
- Supporting documents
- Taking a brief
- Taking a job
- Checking the job
- Assessing the content
- Drawing up a checklist
- Working through the job
- Returning the job
- Invoicing
- Building a career
- Finding the market
- Trade publishers
- Outside the trade
- Advertising and the web
- Making the approach – contacting potential clients
- The first job
- Maintaining contact
- Managing yourself
- Professional development
- Assignment 4
Appendices
- Reference and information
- The BSI symbols
Online resources
Once you have enrolled, you will be given a username and password, so that you can log in to the student area on this website. This allows you to:
- keep track of your assignment scores
- download extra copies of the exercises
- see exactly when we receive and mark each of your assignments
- access extra resources on proofreading that complement the course materials
- complete the online test that forms part of Module 4.
