It is a critical part of the writing process in which the proofreader, supposed to be consistently accurate by default, identifies errors with “eagle eyes”.

Good writing always involves modification and revision, and proofreading is the fundamental very last step before publishing. However coming last, doesn’t mean it is the least important: Our independent Professional Proofreading ultimately ensures that the document is completely free of errors, polished to a high standard, and the best it can be.      

 

Proofreading (usually called this, but sometimes known as verification editing) is the final stage of editing and the most basic of the editing services.
Traditionally, the term of Proofreading is reserved for a final comparison of the final layout – actually, the printed version of the document, after it has been designed and formatted (called the “proof”) – against the manuscript itself, looking for errors and corrections from earlier edits, redrafts and revisions, and checking the layout and typesetting, however, most people today think of proofreading simply as “the last check”.
It involves checking in a final line-by-line scan that the document is ready to be published. This includes making sure that all elements of the document are included and in the proper order, all amendments have been inserted, the house or other set style has been followed, and all grammar, spelling or punctuation errors have been fixed.

This means Proofreading is a major quality control step that catches any mistakes Copyediting might have missed. It is the last line of defence against errors, so to speak.

                                                                                

Overview – our AVALON Proofreading services notably cover: 

Grammatical and syntactical errors and anomalies
Typographical, spelling or punctuation errors
Lexical repetition or omissions
Citation and quotation errors
Formatting & Layout

                                                                                             

Kindly be aware that any of our service descriptions here are just a general outline.
Upon genuine further interest on your part, we will be happy to provide you with more detailed information and work out a specific proposal tailored to your needs.

 

Proofreading in our definition basically provides:

Verification of copy
Checking against previous copy for discrepancies
Checking that all amendments have been accurately inserted

Integrity check
Checking that the document is complete, including (as appropriate):
• Preliminary matter (cover, dust-jacket material, spine copy, preliminary pages, copyright and publication information)
• Body of document (abstract/summary, text, tables, labels and captions, page numbering, illustrative material, footnotes/endnotes)
• End matter (appendixes, lists of abbreviations and symbols, glossary, references/bibliography, index)
Checking headings, pagination, figures and tables against lists of contents

Proofing
Checking for:
• Grammatical and syntactical errors and anomalies
• Typographical, spelling or punctuation errors
• Lexical repetition or omissions
• Appropriate word breaks at line ends
• Accurate cross-referencing

Conformity with house style
Ensuring consistency in:
• Terminology, spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, italics, abbreviations and acronyms
• Heading hierarchies
• Style of numbers, dates, percentages, symbols, equations
Checking for citation and quotation errors
Checking type specifications
Checking page layout

Format
Checking overall formatting and layout
Checking for bad line or page breaks
Ensuring that alignment, spacing and bold type are correct and that tables are placed properly and not split unnecessarily
Noting any necessary directions for the typesetter and printer

 

Outward appearance is vitally important, especially when it comes to making a good impression in the business or academic world. A well-written document, free of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, and professionally formatted, will give your reader the impression that you are a thoughtful, organised, and conscientious person or organisation, whereas a sloppy document, riddled with errors, will have the opposite, and highly undesirable, effect. This is why we cannot stress enough how vital it is that you have each and every document proofread before publishing it.

AVALON Proofreading is designed as a multi-stage procedure, combining the attention of human top proofreaders and newest technology with error-detecting algorithms, to reliably catch even the smallest of mistakes that yourself or anybody in the process so far may have overlooked during the composition of the document. It is only too human that our eyes tend to gloss over misspelt words, improper word usage or minor omissions. This is especially the case if you check your own text because our brain has the power of communicating to our eyes what the text should say, rather than what is actually written there. If you wrote, for example, “I don’t want to loose this case,” your eyes may not notice that you actually meant to write “lose” rather than “loose”, since it automatically reads your intentions.
Some errors won’t matter much, but others could dramatically alter what you intend to say. For example, the text says “Let’s eat Tom” but meant to write “Let’s eat, Tom.” The words are the same here, however, the addition of the comma entirely changes the meaning of this sentence … and will save Tom! The devil is in the details, and just one little comma can mean so much!
Remember, even the best of writers are prone to errors, and even those who spend hours proofreading their own work may miss a mistake, due simply to the fact of being a human.

When we have finished the proofreading, we will notify you by email that the edited document can be downloaded from your user area. We will always provide you with two copies of your work: the first is a “clean” copy which is ready for use right away, and the second is a Track Changes copy with all edits saved.
You will then be able to check and approve every change we made, and thus you are always in control of the final version.

If you put a premium on good writing and want an error-free and easy-to-read professional document that you can publish and use with the highest degree of confidence, then AVALON Proofreading is for you.

Greetings from the AVALON Proofreading team  –  your word doctors

“Eagle eyes in operation”