I’ve been working from home for years! In the Check In dialog box, you can enter a comment, such as what you changed or added. You should proofread only after you have finished all of your other editing revisions. (See our handout on paragraph development.). One technique that the majority of professional proofreaders use is to read the writing they are proofreading out loud. writing_center@unc.edu, Hours Click the ellipsis (...) in the toolbar and then click Check In. ), Does your paper have an appropriate introduction and conclusion? (For tips, see our handouts on style and gender-inclusive language. Does each paragraph stick to one main idea? There are not a lot of writers that proofread, which means that there’s perpetually a requirement for paid proofreaders. You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Writing Center Tarshis, Barry. We are sorry. Ascher, Allen. It’s free to get started on Fiverr which makes it another excellent option to build experience when you are starting from scratch. See if you can spot them! Let us know in the comments if you have worked any online proofreader jobs or editing jobs and what worked best for you. Proofreading Tips. Yes. Are all of your claims consistent? You’re exactly right. Managed Editing will connect you with clients to proofread technical writing some of the following topics: Pay is hourly and you will be hired as an independent contractor. Position openings continually change and you might be able to find proofreading jobs for academic editing and even medical writing. They might not always be advertising proofreader positions, but when they do, you can earn $3,000 per project. You have a talent. And, you must also have at least two years of professional experience as a copyeditor, editor, or proofreader. It is easier to catch errors on paper than on a computer screen. FlexJobs is a paid job board that is similar to Indeed, but, they do screen offers to ensure no listing is a scam. This will encourage you to look carefully at each word as you read it and, by reading the sentences aloud, you will be able to hear how they actually sound. Thanks for the insight! You may have to do this in "batches" for longer documents. If you notice that you’ve repeatedly misspelled a particular word, inconsistently capitalized a term, or switched between UK and US English, you can use the Find and Replace function to fix the same mistake throughout the document. Is it clear what each pronoun (he, she, it, they, which, who, this, etc.) A new tab will open with the required information about what the file’s type really is. Read your paper aloud. Good catch, Teddy! Can you fix it?”. For each project completed, you get to keep 60% of the final project price as a PayPal payment. He paid off $80,000 in consumer debt and uses his experience of getting out of debt and changing careers to write about many personal finance topics including making money, saving money and investing. If you have the prior experience and the proper credentials, you should have no problem. Some of these will be specific to you, while others will be more general. If I was required to proofread against copy, the parcel would also include the galley proofs (a printed copy of the pages of raw text supplied by the author on which the copy-editor had marked initial corrections). But a quick and cursory reading, especially after you’ve been working long and hard on a paper, usually misses a lot. I’ve worked from home for two years and I hope I never have to go back to the corporate world again. Of course, this is not the most environmentally friendly approach, so you might choose to save it for the most business-critical documents. Think about Editing: An ESL Guide for the Harbrace Handbooks. Stay in the know with our newsletter or join our Facebook community, Tips for Becoming a Successful Proofreader, Having a bachelor’s degree from an American, British or English-speaking university, Being able to edit at least 10,000 words per week. Plus this is one of the simplest work from home jobs you can start as a side hustle, grow to part-time, and perhaps full-time. It is easy to proofread in Word. It’s recommended that you have at least three years of editing experience to be considered for most of the Managed Editing projects. There are many different ways you can make money while you work from home as a proofreader. Check in a file to a document library Open the library, and select the file you want to check in. This handout contains seven errors our proofreader should have caught: three spelling errors, two punctuation errors, and two grammatical errors. Step 2 Click the “Review” tab. It’s possible to find local clients and national companies that hire remote workers, too. On the other hand, I know this isn't possible for things like e-mail or rushed projects, so here are four proofreading tips I've collected over the years. One way to check the structure of your paper is to make a reverse outline of the paper after you have written the first draft. I see others have caught some of the, “oops”, in this article. Is it clear how each paragraph in the body of your paper is related to your thesis? Open up Word and go to the Review tab as shown in a screenshot. Lanham, Richard A. Revising Prose. They are different, however, and have distinct roles. Cambridge Proofreading can be an exciting opportunity as average pay is between $20 and $30 per hour. Many bloggers love to hire freelance editors for copyediting and proofreading jobs. Most obviously, run a spell check – but don’t rely on the computer to catch every mistake. Here, I'll present a checklist that you can print and use when you are proofreading your own document. Two of the basic requirements include: No formal training or previous proofreading experience is required to hop onboard Cactus Communications. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial. 3rd ed. I greatly appreciate the many avenues for proofreading presented in this article. Read each word slowly. You don’t need to be an English major to become an online proofreader, your previous training can give you a head start. Some of the links included in this article are from our advertisers. Editing is what you begin doing as soon as you finish your first draft. One of the most comprehensive places to start is Proofread Anywhere. You can also select “Show Markup” under the “Markup” dropdown (see first screenshot from this section) to customize exactly what you would like to see. Since your future clients are not always going to ask if you can proofread their writing, you will need to show some initiative and seek your own clients. Here’s another reason you might enjoy OneSpace, they offer free next-day PayPal payments for every completed job! Einsohn, Amy. This makes the entire writing proccess more efficient. It would be something different and a change in pace. Searching job boards can require a little more hustle, but, the financial payoff can be well worth the extra effort. Working on a hard copy is still the most surefire way to spot errors in a document. This is about to go to print. (For additional tips, see our handouts on understanding assignments and developing an argument. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998. Little by little, you replace your daytime income with your freelance income. There are many things which you need to check for during the proofreading stage. These documents are typical representations of how we review and improve a text. You spot typos in nearly any online article, book, or restaurant menu you read. WordsRU will let you proofread the following documents: They do have some rather selective criteria to be hired. To edit/proofread your essay/paper, first read it and make sure it makes sense. Is the argument complete? Here are some tips. If so, you can put your keen eyes to use as a proofreader. It can also be an easier way to find companies that are looking for remote workers. 450 Ridge Road Having experience editing documents translated by non-native speakers or editing experience in specialized subjects such as medical, technical, novels, and patents will also improve your chances of being selected for a new project. Legal Proofreading Proofreading tips. You will get paid to edit the written works from the various Life Tips authors. There’s something very wrong with your second sentence. Next, you’ll need to know how to track changes. Grammarly’s online proofreading tool scans your text for more than 400 advanced grammar rules. (See the UNC Libraries citation tutorial for more information.). You might even find that you really like it. Chapel Hill, NC 27599 Both Indeed and FlexJobs might be a better option if you are looking to work directly with a company instead of going through a freelancer platform that will keep a portion of your earnings as a commission. Wait for the file to be uploaded and then click the “Check File Type” button. Keep an eye out for patterns of error; knowing what kinds of problems you tend to have will be helpful, especially if you are editing a large document like a thesis or dissertation. 3rd ed. It doesn’t matter if it’s proofreading or one of the many other income streams we recommend on WKW. Proofreading might be an excellent income-making opportunity if you find yourself doing any of these behaviors on a regular basis: As long as we continue to write articles, books, and anything else that can be read, there will be a demand for proofreaders. If you pass the test, you can expect competitive pay that exceeds the normal hourly U.S. proofreading wage. Searching for clients on Indeed can be more lucrative as you might be able to secure work with a client that offers a higher salary and might even include benefits. Make sure that the document design adheres to established specifications. How To Proofread Academic Documents for Yourself and Others The effective proofreading of complex scholarly and professional documents is extremely challenging, yet how to do proofreading seems to receive a lot less attention than the reasons for proofreading or the consequences of neglecting this vital aspect of successful writing. Prior experience is necessary to be hired. It’s hard to edit or proofread a paper that you’ve just finished writing—it’s still to familiar, and you tend to skip over a lot of errors. Great catch!! Life Tips is constantly hiring editors to join their staff as their business and audience are constantly growing. Monday 10 am-8 pm EDT Tuesday 10 am-10 pm EDT Wednesday 8 am-8 pm EDT Thursday 10 am-8 pm EDT Friday 10 am-4 pm EDT Saturday Closed Sunday 3 pm-7 pm EDT, © 2021 The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a version of this page with the errors marked in red, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. Several writing style guides (APA, AMA, Chicago Style, etc. And the best part about proofreading is that you can do it from home, on the road, and, you can finally put your “eagle eyes” to good use! The strategies discussed below professional experience as a PayPal payment, you must hold a Master ’ s I! Just want to check and see if proofread Now has any openings and transitions of. Sure you ’ ll need to know how to proofread a document proofreading marks and how to Track Changes, use! Select the file, click advanced or more, how to proofread a document more do you to! Started my freelance career as many hours as you only have to documents! 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