Professional Proofreading Services

Two Common Proofreading Errors and how to Avoid Them

The the task of proofreading is complex and time-consuming. In recent years, this particular fact, combined with the related fact that high-quality proofreading is essential for modern publishing, research, journalism, and business, has meant that demand for proofreading services has grown considerably.

Many people – especially first-year university students – believe that proofreading isn’t a task they need to spend much time on.

Given high school students’ limited need to prepare massive amounts of high-quality text within a short timeframe, first-year university students often don’t know how important – yet how challenging – proofreading actually is.

In turn, due to this, they tend not to think that a proofreading service would be worth the investment.

However, if – like most people – you didn’t spot the “double the” in the opening sentence of this article, you may need to think twice about whether to use proofreading services for your next assignment. Don’t beat yourself up, though – very, very few people spot errors like this, the main reason being that our brains are inherently bad at finding these patterns.

As a brief introduction to some of the things you should watch out for when proofreading a document, this article highlights two incredibly common proofreading errors – homophone errors and apostrophe errors – and explains how to avoid them.

1. Homophones

The word “homophone” derives from two Greek words: homos (same) and phone (sound). In English, a homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but that differs in two respects:

It has a different spelling
It has a different meaning

Examples of homophones include:

Peace and piece
Right and write
There, their, and they’re
To, too, and two
Principal and principle
Hear and here
Compliment and complement

The homophones included in the list above are frequently overlooked by writers, and oftentimes even by professional proofreaders. For this reason, if you encounter any of these words – or, as a matter of fact, any homophone – in your writing, be sure to pay extra attention to ensure they are used properly.

2. Issues with apostrophes

After homophones, incorrect use of apostrophes is one of the most common writing errors. Even after a piece of writing has been proofread, it is common to find problems with apostrophes.

Examples of problems with apostrophes include:

Example 1
- Incorrect: I’m going to John’s and Jill’s party.
- Correct: I’m going to John and Jill’s party.
Example 2
- Incorrect: Its hard to know who did it.
- Correct: It’s hard to know who did it.
Example 3
- Incorrect: Adults shoes are usually more expensive than childrens’ shoes.
- Correct: Adults’ shoes are usually more expensive than children’s shoes.

Correcting issues with apostrophes requires adequate knowledge of punctuation rules in written English. Therefore, to safeguard against errors like this creeping into your writing, be sure to Google about a rule if you’re uncertain.

Using a professional proofreading service is also a viable option, but it’s expensive compared to Googling when uncertain. Also, it may not be as sustainable an option as reminding yourself of the rules governing apostrophes.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Traditional Publishing

The critical role of editing and proofreading services, along with book proofreading services UK, in getting your book published is well-known, even among many of the world’s most famous fiction and non-fiction authors.

However, despite the value of professional editors and proofreaders in helping you to prepare your manuscript for publication, they often cannot help you to decide how best to get your book accepted by a publisher.

At the same time, editors and proofreaders are usually unable to offer advice about what the best route to publishing your book actually is. In particular, when you’re deciding between traditional publishing or self-publishing, even the best editor in the world cannot offer clear guidance.

So, assuming that you’ve already edited and proofread your book – whether you’re using book proofreading services UK or any other reliable and high-quality process – this article outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional route to publication.

Strengths of traditional publishing

1. Validation

Almost all authors experience self-doubt; they often wonder whether their work is of a sufficient quality to be accepted by readers. Therefore, one of the defining strengths of traditional publishing is that it can give authors the important validation they may need to continue working.

This is because, when a manuscript has been received by an agent and approved by a publisher, this acceptance functions as a kind of stamp of approval. Even if, after all this, your book doesn’t reach the bestseller list, the validation you received can usefully spur you on for future projects.

2. Opportunities to work with professional teams

As part of the contracts that book authors sign with traditional publishers, authors typically receive input from editors, formatters, marketing professionals, and cover designers. The writers who just want to write and not have to think about anything else, this is a tremendous strength.

3. Easier to win prizes

A considerable number of prizes for literature aren’t open for self-published authors. For this reason, even if you’ve written an engaging book that you believe will sell well through the self-publishing route, opting for traditional publishing may be a better option if you’re seeking literary prizes.

Weaknesses of traditional publishing

1. Control restrictions

Many authors find that when they go through the traditional publishing route, they lose creative control over their book. This is because, in order to sign with certain publishers, authors are required to give up the right to the book title, cover art, and marketing angles.

2. Low royalties

Since publishers make their professional teams available to authors, they have to make their money back somehow. For this reason, authors who opt for the traditional publishing route usually only receive between 5% and 25% of the funds earned from the book.

3. Length of the process

Compared to self-publishing, getting your book published with a traditional publisher can feel like it takes an age. For example, finding an agent for your first book can take one or two years, after which the publisher won’t be able to complete the launch for another 6 to 12 months.

What is a Style Guide, and Should You Use One?

Apart from spellcheckers, style guides are the most valuable tool a proofreader has. If you’ve ever ordered a proofreading service before from a high-quality company, the proofreader you worked with is very likely to have used a style guide. These serve as an important cornerstone of the field.

When you use proofreading services, the company or freelancer you hire may ask you what style guide or formatting style you would like. If you’re unsure about what a style guide is, remember that a style guide is a set of standards for the design and writing of documents, consisting of rules such as:

Standard nomenclature in technical fields
Standardisation of labels (e.g., for figures and tables)
Use of formatting (e.g., font size)
Avoidance of sexism, racism, and homophobia

There are many available style guides, and most of these are associated with a specific field. For example, the New York Style Manual is used to prepare legal documents, whereas the Chicago Manual of Style is typically used for academic documents.

Another field in which style guides are used frequently is the computer industry, both for software and hardware. In software and hardware companies, proofreading services play an important role in assisting in the preparation of technical documents.

For example, a proofreader or editor may be employed to ensure that a body of text (e.g., a technical reference manual) conforms to a style guide such as the Google Developer Documentation Style Guide or the Digital Ocean Documentation Style Guide.

Technical style guides like these are less useful for academic papers or legal documents, but they help a lot to define conventions for writers and editors in technical documentation.

If you’re thinking about whether to use a style guide for your next writing project, there are a few general rules to consider that may help you decide whether to do so. These include:

Type of writing – In academic writing, for example, using Harvard style is often required
Document length – If you have a short document (e.g., an email), using a style guide may be overkill
Collaborators – If you’re working on a project with a proofreader, you can rely on them to standardise your documentation as it progresses

All in all, style guides are valuable tools in all forms of communication, ranging from journalism and legal documents to electronic publishing and even general writing. Everyone would benefit from using style guides or editing checklists, particularly highly-readable books on general writing tips such as Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.

Three Important Tips for Academic Editing

When you edit an academic document or receive a proofreading service for a scientific or technical piece of writing, the process is slightly different compared to when you edit a blog post.

In proofreading services or editing services for academic work, the fact that the style is more formal compared to a blog adds some complexity to the service.

If you find yourself needing to engage in academic editing, it is always worth opting to work with a professional editor rather than a proofreader, should you not decide to complete the task yourself.

One of the reasons for this is due to the way that editors improve your manuscript in many more ways compared to proofreaders. However, this also means that editing is usually more expensive than proofreading.

If you decide to complete the task of academic editing yourself, there is a set of key tips you should pay close attention to. If you don’t, you risk a significant reputational hit when you publish your work.

1. Use a consistent style

When you write an academic paper, there are many formats and styles you can choose between. Therefore, when you complete the task of academic editing, it is important to choose a style that works well and make sure that it is applied consistently in the manuscript.

One of the well-known styles used in several scientific disciplines is the American Psychological Association (APA) style. If you are writing a paper in the humanities, it is unlikely that you will need to use APA style, but you may need to use another, such as Harvard style.

2. Mind your language

When you write an academic paper, the journal or university to which you are submitting your work will have a set of guidelines to follow.

You will need to follow these guidelines, ensuring that your manuscript and its contents satisfy them. For example, the guidelines may ask you to include specific information on the title page or to ensure your article’s abstract meets a certain word count.

Your journal or university will also ask you to avoid offensive language and deceptive or false statements in any written work you produce. Fact-checking, which you can purchase along with a proofreading service, can help you solve this.

3. Structure and length

A key element to pay attention to when editing an academic piece of writing, such as a scientific article or philosophy essay, is the issue of structure. At the same time, and in a sense related, the length of the document is a key concern for an editor.

Ideally, the structure of the document should be coherent; it should roughly follow the standard and logical structure of having an introduction section, followed by main information (e.g., methods, results, discussion), and lastly some concluding statements.

Regarding the issue of length, it is the editor’s responsibility to ensure that any word count requirements are met. One useful way to meet a word count limit is to rewrite your sentences avoid wordiness and duplication.

What Can and Can’t a Proofreader do for Your Paper?

Hiring a proofreader is a difficult task, and there is a lot to pay attention to. This is understandable because you want to ensure that the professional proofreading services you receive are the best fit for improving your written work.

An important element to consider when hiring a proofreader is what a proofreader can and can’t do. Whether you are writing a blog article, an academic paper, or new content for a website, knowing what your professional proofreading service will and won’t include is critical for your project.

This article provides a series of basic lists covering the tasks that a proofreader can and can’t complete for your document. If you’re unsure about any of these items or want more detail, always remember to communicate with your proofreader since they will be able to clarify.

Included tasks in proofreading

Correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation
Ensuring consistent style
Double-checking document layout and numbering

The items above show the fundamental tasks involved in a professional proofreading service.

Depending on the proofreading company you work with, the service may go into more depth than this. For example, some proofreaders, in addition to these basic duties, may perform a fact-checking function or an editing function.

It’s always worth checking with the freelancer or company you are working with to determine the exact scope of the professional proofreading services they provide.

Image: Knowing the scope of a writing-related service is important

Excluded tasks in proofreading

Improving use of language in terms of concision, pronoun use, and so on
Enhancing document’s fit with intended audience
Ensuring document conforms to specified style guide

The items above are examples of tasks that are not included in a typical proofreading service, but which customers commonly believe might be.

For example, the first item of improving use of language in terms of pronoun use of concision is the task of an editor rather than a proofreader.

In addition, the task of ensuring that a document conforms to a specified style guide (e.g., the APA style) is a time-consuming task that a proofreader would not be expected to perform.

Image: Choosing a style guide is not a task a proofreader would complete

If you are ordering a proofreading service, it is worth bearing in mind the tasks that are usually excluded from a standard service. If you need any of these tasks to be performed for your document, then you may need to speak to an editor.

Most of the companies that offer proofreading services also perform services that cover aspects of writing such as editing, fact-checking, formatting, and original writing.

Step-by-Step Paraphrasing: How and Why?

Paraphrasing services are increasingly in demand today. The purpose of paraphrasing is to change the appearance of a piece of text without altering its meaning.

One of the reasons for the popularity of proofreading services is due to their value in helping to accelerate the preparation of high-quality, publication-ready journal articles and academic essays. Given the importance of publishing journal articles in academia and graduate student life, it is understandable that these services have grown in popularity.

If you’re unable to order a paraphrasing service in time for your deadline, this article may be useful. It highlights the steps involved in paraphrasing a document quickly and effectively.

Step-by-step paraphrasing

The first step when paraphrasing is to read the piece of text that you will paraphrase. For example, we may want to paraphrase the following sentence: “Universities also place the burden of understanding plagiarism and attribution conventions on students”.

The second step is to alter the order in which the ideas and words occur in the sentence. This can also enable you to highlight a different interpretation of the original text.

The third step in paraphrasing is to change the word form or grammatical form if needed.

The fourth step is to use synonyms wherever possible but to avoid altering any subject-specific or technical terminologies. In the example given above, the term “plagiarism” is a case of a word that shouldn’t be swapped with a synonym.

The fifth step is to recognise any instances where there are three or more consecutive words in the original text that you cannot paraphrase. If it is impossible to paraphrase these, you will need to use quotation marks and insert a reference.

The sixth step is to add a reference to the author who has been paraphrased. This will ensure that accusations of plagiarism are avoided.

To illustrate how the above steps work, the following sentence is a paraphrased version of the example shown above: “The responsibility for learning how to reference correctly and avoid plagiarism tends to be passed from the university to the students”.

Analysis of paraphrasing

In the example shown in the previous section, the following sentence was paraphrased: “Universities also place the burden of understanding plagiarism and attribution conventions on students”.

The paraphrased version is: “The responsibility for learning how to reference correctly and avoid plagiarism tends to be passed from the university to the students”.

To illustrate in greater detail how paraphrasing works, note the following:

The ordering of the ideas and words has changed (e.g., see where “university” appears in both sentences)
The word form has changed (e.g., a change from the active to the passive voice)
Synonyms have been used to decrease similarity to the original (e.g., the phrase “plagiarism and attribution conventions” was changed to “reference correctly and avoid plagiarism”)

Why paraphrase?

Paraphrasing is done for many reasons. It can accelerate your company’s production of high-quality web content, improve your research efforts, and help you write a literature review.

What Does a Document Editor Do?

In document editing services, an editor’s task is to improve a wide range of issues in your writing.

The best way to put it is like this: If you ever use an editing service (not a proofreading service, which is different), what you’ll notice immediately is that, after the editor returns your work, it will contain 10% fewer words and – what’s more – everything will sound better.

Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile on Pexels.com

It’s a slightly mysterious thing, but there are several basic ways professional editors improve your work. This article mentions four of these techniques.

In addition to the four editing techniques that experts use for high-quality editing and proofreading services, there are more complex things that document editors do, ranging from time management to the use of specialist, state-of-the-art software.

1. Remove redundant expressions and dead verbs

Redundant expressions make your text much wordier than it needs to be, which also makes it difficult for your reader to understand your meaning quickly.

Also, dead verbs – which are verbs that have no movement (e.g., “is”, “are”, and “was”) – depend on more words to make meaning, and so they lead to very wordy text.

As an editor, if you remove redundant expressions and dead verbs, the quality, concision, and readability of the text will improve dramatically – almost like magic.

2. Avoid overuse of adverbs

The purpose of an adverb is to modify a verb. For example, in the phrase “she walks loudly”, the word “loudly” is an adverb that modifies the verb “walks”.

Adverbs are useful in all forms of writing, but inexperienced writers and editors tend to use adverbs excessively to improve their descriptions.

When adverbs are overused, this makes the reader work extra hard to relate the adverbs back to the verbs that they modify, decreasing readability.

3. Avoid overuse of adjectives

Just as adverbs can be overused and reduce readability, this is also the case for adjectives. Many readers are annoyed by the excessive use of adjectives. For this reason, when they read the work of writers who pepper their writing with objectives, it can have a bad effect.

4. Pay attention to paragraph and sentence length

The final task that a document editor pays attention to when providing an editing service involves tailoring sentences and paragraphs to ensure they are both focused and the correct length.

The general rule of thumb to follow is that sentences should be kept to fewer than 15 words. In the case of paragraphs, the rules governing paragraph length are less clear.

Usually, the idea to follow is that the sentences within a paragraph should all focus on one point. When you write a paragraph, try to begin with a topic sentence, and then end each paragraph after providing some detail and evidence to support the topic sentence.

The Role of Paraphrasing in Academic Research

Paraphrasing – also known as rewriting – is when you recast another author’s words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs using new language of your own. Due to the complexity of paraphrasing, as well as its important function in academic writing and scientific research, paraphrasing services are becoming increasingly popular today.

In a standard paraphrasing service, you will start by sending the paraphraser a piece of text to work on. The paraphraser’s task will then be to preserve all of the meaning and information in the original text while creating an entirely new piece of writing. This means that the original text and the rewritten version carry precisely the same meaning, but one that is expressed in different ways.

When we consider that paraphrasing simply involves rewriting text using different words, it becomes immediately clear that paraphrasing can play – and, as a matter of fact, does play – a vital role in academic research. For example, when a scientific researcher writes a paper, paraphrasing features prominently in the creation of the literature review (or ‘related work’) section.

Image: Paraphrasing helps to synthesize and condense information in a literature review

Consider, for example, an academic researcher who is writing a paper on a new technology that they have discovered for the extension of food shelf-life. It is conventional in papers of this kind (i.e., those presenting a new discovery, technique, or technology) to include – usually immediately after an introductory section – a review of all previous technologies that are remotely related. Due to this, after finding related work, it is always necessary to paraphrase relevant sections or sentences from the corresponding papers (e.g., important results).

Proofreading services also play a role in speeding up the process of academic research. This is because when academic researchers use a professional proofreading service, they can quickly accelerate the number of publications that they are able to output. Working alone, an academic researcher is unlikely to be able to match the output of another researcher who chooses to leverage the availability of highly-skilled and specialized paraphrasers and rewriters. This is one of the reasons for the popularity of paraphrasing today, especially given that publishing papers is crucial in academia.

Image: Researchers can use professional paraphrasers to increase their productivity

The final noteworthy way that paraphrasing plays a role in academic research is through enabling better learning. When a student or researcher can access both an original text and a paraphrased version of that text, the opportunity to read both texts is remarkably beneficial for extending understanding. This is especially true when the original text is written using complex language, which may even obscure the simplicity of an idea, argument, or concept.

The Habits of Good Authors

To produce high-quality writing, it is well-known that editing and proofreading play an essential role. At the same time, many authors recognise the value of using a proofreading service to improve the quality of their written work.

The reason for this is that proofreading services enable authors to focus on the creative parts that they do best rather than having to deal with the more analytical and arduous task of error-checking a piece of writing.

But aside from high-quality proofreading services and careful editing, other factors influence a writer’s ability to produce great writing.

One of the major factors that influences an author’s capacity to create great written work relates to the habits that they have. This is because, many times, good habits can speed up the writing process or make it much easier to write effectively, while bad habits can have the opposite effect.

To help you develop good habits as a writer, this article describes a few key tips.

1. Keep a list of errors

If you know about the common types of errors that you tend to make when writing, you should create a list containing each one.

When you finish editing and proofreading your work, you can use your list to search through your document (use your word processor’s search functionality) for each type of error.

As a result, you can correct common errors in your writing and, alongside this, help to reinforce in your memory the right way to do things.

2. Keep a list of tricky words to hand

Maintain a log of words that you often misunderstand or misspell.

For me, as an example, I never spell the word “reminisce” correctly the first time, and I often have trouble remembering whether “modelling” or “modeling” is the right British English spelling.

If you’re not using a proofreading service, or if you don’t have time to proofread your work, referring to this list of tricky words while you’re writing will save you a lot of time in the end!

3. Rely on your trusted friends

It is common to see writing as a solitary task, and this view is especially common among students. However, in reality, writing is a collaborative act; it always leads to the best results when you share your work with trusted friends for suggestions and opinions.

4. Don’t draft and edit at the same time

This is one of the most common writing habits of them all. It’s a very important one to free oneself from, though, because it can negatively influence quality.

Although it is important to edit your writing, it is always best to leave the editing process until all of your ideas have been put onto the page.

That is to say, you should create your initial drafts without being too judgmental, and you should refrain from editing or proofreading your work (e.g., correcting spelling errors) until later on.

5. Track your changes while editing

The last important habit mentioned in this article is to use Microsoft Word’s track changes feature whenever you make editing-related changes to your drafts.

This will ensure that if you make any sub optimal edits or revisions, you can revert back to the original version.

At the same time, if you always have this feature on while editing, you will become significantly less nervous about changing things because the changes will feel less permanent.

The Art of Sentence-Level Editing

There is more to an editing service than straight forward sentence-level editing. Indeed, in professional editing services, your editor may focus on broader issues such as the structure of your overall manuscript, the structure of your paragraphs, or your use of formatting.

However, as every professional editor knows, sentence-level editing is an important practice that cannot be overlooked. In fact, sentence-level editing is so important that for many users of services, this is the only area that they want contributions from the editor.

Given the essential nature of sentence-level editing, the purpose of this article is to highlight several of the issues that professional editors handle when they engage in this task.

1. Eliminate so-called “dead” verbs

Dead verbs, in contrast to strong verbs, add little to a sentence in terms of explaining the action that occurred.

The standard list of dead verbs includes the following: “was,” “is,” “are,” “were,” “am,” “has,” “have,” “had,” “be,” “been,” “make,” “run,” “ran,” “go,” “went,” and “gone,” along with the present continuous forms of these verbs (i.e., the verbs with “ing” at the end).

To communicate clear meaning, dead verbs always need to be coupled with more words. For this reason, the use of dead verbs is inherently going to lead to wordiness.

2. Avoid redundancy and wordiness

It is almost always the case that the writer’s first draft is not concise. For this reason, a key part of sentence-level editing involves checking through your draft and seeing if there are any redundant words that can be removed.

Tightening up your writing by avoiding redundancy and wordiness may be difficult, especially when you’re finding it complex to spot wordiness in the first place. For this reason, working with a professional editing service can be a quicker and more effective way to achieve this.

3. Change negative statements into positive statements

We should all be positive in life, and so too should writers always be positive in their writing. That is to say, writers should – wherever possible – avoid negative statements.

For example, the negative statement “I will not be available until July” can be rewritten into the positive statement “I will be available from July.”

4. Prune excessively long sentences

A good rule of thumb to follow is that sentences should be kept shorter than 15 words.

An important reason why shorter sentences are better is because, for the most part, readers find it challenging to parse the meaning of long sentences.

It is worth emphasizing again that this is just a rule of thumb – for this reason, it should not be applied too strictly. Occasionally, long sentences are acceptable, but too many of them can weigh a reader down.

5. Get used to paraphrasing

Even though in today’s market, paraphrasing services are available and are regularly sold separately to editing services, editors must also paraphrase sentences from time to time.

In particular, when engaging in sentence-level editing, editors should always paraphrase direct quotations, the only exception being when a direct quotation is expressly required (e.g., when critiquing a style of language or giving examples).