Tips on preparing documents for proofreading and copyediting

If anyone is thinking about writing their memoirs, write a book or a university essay in the future, here are some tips that may help when you consider whether you may need a proofreader and/or a copyeditor.

Remember that the proofreader is the last person in the chain prior to publishing (particularly books) who will check for any spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, and also consistency, among other things. Copyediting includes checking and making suggestions around sentence structure, tense, jargon and redundant phrases

To help streamline our client and proofreader or editor relationship, it is really appreciated if the document can be sent in a form that makes it easier for the proofreader or editor to work on straight away. This means you, as the client pays less, as you will then only be paying for the proofreading or editing process, not the time that it takes the proofreader or editor to ‘fix up’ the document before we can get started, allowing us then to spend the time making suggestions in order to improve your writing. Check with your potential proofreader or editor to establish whether they are happy to carry out formatting or not.

As a guide, it is really helpful if:

• You send the proofreader or editor an academic piece of writing (eg: university essay, dissertation or thesis) where the following details have been attended to prior to sending:
• Double spacing is ideal (or 1.5 spacing is ok), making it easier for me to add comments etc without the work appearing too cluttered.
• Ensure you understand the different types of editing and what level of editing your writing might require. Note that in the case of manuscripts and books in particular, a proofreader is the final link in the chain prior to publishing. Some editors offer copyediting only. If you require developmental or structural editing, it pays to double check while making enquiries and obtaining quotes.
• Check that you have written any academic piece using the correct style (eg: APA sixth edition). Doing this ensures that any citations within the text should be correctly formatted.
• If you are asked by your university supervisor to write assignments (or essays), it is a good idea to clarify with them whether you are required to simply include citations within your text, or whether you are expected to add a References list (in correct style, of course). Please note that in order for me to check that references are correctly formatted will take up more of my time.
• Ensure that you let me know whether your document is required to be written in UK or US English. Language does matter – you don’t want to write in US English (usual language setting on electronic devices), only to find that actually it is supposed to be written in UK English. Those spelling differences do matter, as consistency is a key point in being able to produce a professional document.
• It is great if you can learn how to indent correctly yourself and insert page breaks correctly. It saves your proofreader or editor time. Either ask someone to help you, or make use of the Help function within the word processing programme you are using.

By paying attention to these ‘housekeeping’ matters yourself ensures that you get good value for money by ensuring I spend my time purely on improving or correcting content.

Stefany Knight

New Zealand based professional, qualified proofreader and copyeditor 

See Knight Editing for more information or contact Stefany here.