We are confident this course will provide you with the skills you need for either a part-time or full-time career as one of the growing army of proofreaders, whether as a freelancer, or in your workplace.
Be assured that there is a huge need for proofreaders these days. And, that need is expanding daily because the number of publications and documents is expanding daily.
There has never been a time in history where there are so many magazines, newspapers, newsletters, webpages, reports, brochures and documents that need checking. The possibilities are enormous.
Once you have mastered basic proofreading skills, you should stand a good chance of finding work. Most of our students do.
This course is for novices. It does not matter if you have never proofread before. And, even if you have had some proofreading experience, you will still find the course useful. It will help you revise and enhance your existing skills.
While this course will train you to spot and correct mistakes in text, it does stress the use of British English. It helps, therefore, to know the difference between British English and American English spellings.
You may wonder why we live next door to neighbours, while our friends across the pond have neighbors. Or why our sky is grey, while theirs is gray. The answer is that British English has generally maintained the spelling of words absorbed from other languages, whereas American English has become more phonetic (ie spelled the way it sounds). Here are a few differences to watch out for:
- Words that end in a vowel and an “l”: in American English, “travel” becomes “traveled” or “traveling”, but, in British English, it becomes “travelled” or “travelling”.
- Words containing the vowel combinations of “ae” or “oe”: in American English, they’d write “maneuver”, but on this side of the pond it’s “manoeuvre”.
- Words that end in “-ize” or “ization”: using a “z” rather than an “s” is sometimes acceptable in British English. Check the style guide and maintain a uniform spelling throughout. Watch out for international bodies (such as the World Trade Organization) whose official name is the Americanised version. Please note, the GSG says: “not -ize at end of word, eg, maximise, synthesise (exception: capsize).”
- Words that have become universally Americanised: in British English, you program your computer but you still watch a TV programme.
A final point is to make sure your computer’s spellcheck is set to British or UK English, rather than American English, for this entire course, unless you have made prior arrangements to use US spelling.
While you shouldn’t rely on the spellcheck to find errors, if it’s not set to the correct language you may skim over some subtle but crucial mistakes.
See our proofreading course