Editorial Proofreading Course

Lesson 1 • Types of Documents and Media

Surveys the range of content proofreaders encounter across industries. Prepares students to adapt their approach to different document types.

Lesson 2 • The Editorial Workflow Overview

Maps the stages a document passes through before publication. Shows where proofreading sits and how it interacts with upstream and downstream roles.

Lesson 3 • Defining Proofreading and Its Purpose

Clarifies what proofreading is, what it is not, and why it matters. Anchors the chapter by distinguishing proofreading from editing and copy-editing.

Lesson 1 • Spelling, Homophones, and Word Choice

Addresses frequently misspelled words, homophones, and commonly confused terms. Trains the eye to catch errors that spell-checkers routinely miss.

Lesson 2 • Punctuation Rules and Common Errors

Covers commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, and apostrophes in depth. Directly equips students to catch the punctuation errors most common in submitted manuscripts.

Lesson 3 • Capitalisation and Italics

Establishes rules for proper nouns, titles, and emphasis through capitalisation and italics. Ensures consistent application across varied document types.

Lesson 4 • Parts of Speech and Sentence Structure

Reviews nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech in context. Provides the grammatical vocabulary needed to diagnose sentence-level errors.

Lesson 1 • Core Style Rules Across Guides

Identifies rules that appear across multiple guides and where they diverge. Builds transferable style knowledge applicable regardless of which guide is assigned.

Lesson 2 • Introduction to Major Style Guides

Surveys the most widely used style guides and their primary use cases. Gives students a map for choosing and navigating the right reference for each project.

Lesson 3 • Creating and Maintaining a Style Sheet

Teaches students to build a project-specific style sheet from scratch. Connects directly to consistency checking covered in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • Track Changes in Word Processors

Teaches the Track Changes feature for inline editing and commenting. Prepares students for the most common digital proofreading environment in professional settings.

Lesson 2 • Marking Hard-Copy Proofs Accurately

Applies traditional marks to real proof scenarios with precision and legibility. Reinforces the marks learned in the previous section through guided practice.

Lesson 3 • Digital Annotation with PDF Tools

Covers comment, highlight, strikethrough, and replacement tools in PDF software. Translates traditional marking conventions into the digital workflow.

Lesson 1 • Formatting and Visual Consistency

Trains students to spot inconsistencies in fonts, spacing, heading levels, and lists. Ensures the document presents a uniform visual identity throughout.

Lesson 2 • Factual and Numerical Consistency

Covers cross-checking names, dates, figures, and statistics within a document. Builds the verification habits that prevent factual errors from reaching publication.

Lesson 3 • Continuity in Long-Form Documents

Addresses continuity challenges unique to books, reports, and multi-chapter documents. Extends consistency skills to large-scale projects requiring systematic tracking.

Lesson 1 • Building a Personal Proofreading Checklist

Guides students in creating a reusable checklist tailored to their error patterns. Synthesises all techniques covered in the chapter into a practical workflow tool.

Lesson 2 • Slow Reading and Active Attention

Teaches deliberate reading strategies that override the brain's tendency to auto-correct. Establishes the attentional habits that underpin all effective proofreading.

Lesson 3 • Reading Backwards and Isolation Techniques

Covers non-linear reading methods that disrupt meaning-based reading and expose errors. Adds specialised tools to the student's technique repertoire.

Lesson 1 • Proofreading Corporate and Business Documents

Covers reports, proposals, and internal communications with a focus on brand consistency. Connects house style skills from Chapter 3 to real corporate contexts.

Lesson 2 • Proofreading Books and Long-Form Narratives

Applies continuity and consistency skills to fiction and non-fiction books. Extends the long-form strategies from Chapter 5 to narrative-specific challenges.

Lesson 3 • Proofreading Academic and Scholarly Texts

Addresses citation formats, discipline-specific terminology, and abstract conventions. Prepares students for the precision demands of academic publishing.

Lesson 4 • Proofreading Marketing and Web Content

Focuses on headlines, calls to action, URLs, and SEO-sensitive text. Addresses the unique accuracy and consistency demands of digital marketing materials.

Lesson 1 • Giving and Receiving Feedback

Addresses how to communicate corrections diplomatically and receive editorial feedback constructively. Strengthens the collaborative relationships essential to professional proofreading.

Lesson 2 • Managing Proofreading Projects

Covers scoping, scheduling, and tracking proofreading assignments from intake to delivery. Builds the project management habits that support reliable professional output.

Lesson 3 • Self-Editing and Error Auditing

Teaches students to review their own marked proofs before submission. Reduces the risk of missed errors or incorrect marks reaching the client or editor.