Basic Proofreading

Basic Proofreading is the last check before you submit. It is meant for a manuscript whose argument, structure and wording you are already happy with, and which now needs someone to catch what you can no longer see after many rounds of revision.

A proofreader reads every sentence and corrects errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation and typography. They do not rewrite sentences that are already correct, and they do not reorganise paragraphs. If a sentence is grammatical but awkward, it is left as you wrote it. This keeps your voice intact and keeps the number of changes small enough that you can review them in one sitting.

A large part of the work is consistency, which is hard to check in your own writing:

• Spelling variety: US or UK spelling throughout, never a mix of "analyze" and "analyse".
• Hyphenation and capitalisation: "decision-making" or "decision making", "Table 2" or "table 2", used the same way everywhere.
• Abbreviations: each one defined at first use and used the same way afterwards.
• Numbers and units: numerals versus words, spacing before units, decimal points.
• Recurring terms: key terms spelled the same way in every section.

Basic Proofreading suits journal articles that have already passed internal review, final-draft theses and dissertations, conference papers, grant applications and research reports. It is also the right choice for revised manuscripts: if a reviewer asked you to "check the English" and your content is final, proofreading fixes the language without reopening the text.

If you are unsure whether you need proofreading or editing, read one paragraph aloud. If the problems you hear are slips (a missing article, a wrong tense, a stray comma), proofreading is enough. If you find yourself wanting to rephrase whole sentences, choose Academic Editing.