Proofreading basically entails painstakingly going through a document
for the purpose of correcting a wide range of errors. A cross section of such
errors include typographical errors (typos), spelling errors, grammatical
errors, punctuation errors, wrong use of capitalization, wrong use of
italicization, wrong use of foreign words and the use of meaningless phrases.
Formulas and other technical write-ups are assumed to be accurate and will not be edited.
.
Copyediting goes beyond proofreading. In addition to correcting the errors which proofreaders look out for, the editor will also look for and correct other errors. A number of such errors are explained below:
·
Inconsistent reporting
Take
a look at this sentence: ‘The average height of the first group (1.4m) was more
than the average height of the second group.’ The average height of the second
group was not given making the report inconsistent.
·
Inconsistent sentences
Take
a look at this sentence: ‘There were five people in the house, namely, Mr.
Johnson, Dr. Nelzine, Ms. Nikky
and Prof. Thompson.’ The author stated that there were five people but went
ahead to mention only four.
· Formatting errors: The format of a write-up refers to its general outlook; formatting errors include inconsistency in spacing, fonts and paragraphs. Others are the wrong alignment of topics and other components of the write-up.
In addition to
proofreading and copyediting, journal specific editing entails editing a
manuscript in accordance with the style guide (authors’ guidelines) of the
journal the author intends to submit his manuscript to. A journal’s style guide
spells out specific requirements which must be adhered to by the author.
Examples of such requirements include whether the journal prefers UK or US
English and their referencing style.
This involves offering
professional advice, covering various issues, to clients at very minimal costs.
An example of such service is ‘journal recommendation’ (suggesting suitable
journals to authors to publish their works).