[CLASS] #37: Wednesday September 30th Class
Section 1: Proofreading - A Quick Guide! (Zoe's PowerPoint)
(If that section heading looks massive, I'll just say Blogger was messing around and wouldn't format correctly so I tried to fix it.)
All of the following information are from PowerPoint slides I took photos of during the class. I might've missed one... but that's it! Watch these slides get uploaded somewhere... but I got to it first here ; )
Slide 1 - Title Slide
Slide 2
"Proofreading is basically a quality control exercise, NOT a substitute for copyediting."
Slide 3 - Proofreading 101
We proofread to catch lingering textual, stylistic and formatting errors in content before it's finalised.
We proofread all kinds of things in day-to-day life: documents, personal correspondence, etc.
Proofreading is a general term with many applications but, for editors, it refers to a very specific process and a set of practices.
Slide 4 - Missed this one! I think it is a quote.
Slide 5 - The Proof
A proof is material returned from the typesetter for checking before the document is signed off for reproduction (printing).
The proof is a preliminary version of the publication, laid out as [it] will be in the final book/magazine.
Typesetters generally supply electronic proofs in pdf format for us to check and mark up, either digitally or on a printed copy that will then be collated, scanned and returned to the type setter to make any remaining corrections.
Printers also provide proofs to sign off on before sending publications to print (printer's proofs).
Slide 6
"Proofreading is examining material after layout to correct errors in textual and visual elements."
-Australian Standards for Editing Practice, IPEd (second edition)
Slide 2
"Proofreading is basically a quality control exercise, NOT a substitute for copyediting."
Slide 3 - Proofreading 101
We proofread to catch lingering textual, stylistic and formatting errors in content before it's finalised.
We proofread all kinds of things in day-to-day life: documents, personal correspondence, etc.
Proofreading is a general term with many applications but, for editors, it refers to a very specific process and a set of practices.
Slide 4 - Missed this one! I think it is a quote.
Slide 5 - The Proof
A proof is material returned from the typesetter for checking before the document is signed off for reproduction (printing).
The proof is a preliminary version of the publication, laid out as [it] will be in the final book/magazine.
Typesetters generally supply electronic proofs in pdf format for us to check and mark up, either digitally or on a printed copy that will then be collated, scanned and returned to the type setter to make any remaining corrections.
Printers also provide proofs to sign off on before sending publications to print (printer's proofs).
Slide 6
"Proofreading is examining material after layout to correct errors in textual and visual elements."
-Australian Standards for Editing Practice, IPEd (second edition)
Slide 7 - From First Drafts to Final Pages
- Receive/source written content
- Structural edits
- Copyedits
- Approve finals and send permissions
- Proofread content in Word to catch any missed errors
- Collate and style manuscript (MS)
- Supply MS and pictorial content to typesetter
- Receive first page proofs from typesetter
- Proofread first words (Where we are now!)
- Typesetter takes in first pages corrections
- Receive second page proofs from typesetter
- Proofread second pages
- Typesetter takes in second pages corrections
- Receive third/final (if no further corrections are required) pages from typesetter
PROOFREADING IS A SERIES OF CHECKING AND CORRECTION PROCEDURES.
A lot can happen when a text manuscript is transferred into the design template.
Although the content has been edited and checked extensively before being laid out by the typesetter, the typesetting process entails the production of a completely new document with different design specifications.
Importing, manipulating and manually applying formatting to a large amount of content means errors can easily be introduced. Sections of the text can go missing, appear out of order or be styled incorrectly. Layout issues such as orphans, windows [correction: widows] and rivers can also occur.
Orphans - A paragraph-starting line that appears at the bottom of a page, separated from the rest (Wikipedia).
Widows - A paragraph-ending line that appears at the top of a page, separated from the rest (Wikipedia).
Both definitions are from the same Wikipedia article, which also states this distinction can be remembered through the mnemonic, "An orphan has no past, a widow has no future." Morbid.
Rivers - Gaps that appear to run through a paragraph of text due to a coincidental alignment of spaces (Wikipedia).
Rivers - Gaps that appear to run through a paragraph of text due to a coincidental alignment of spaces (Wikipedia).
Slide 9 - What Do We Proof For?
VERIFICATION OF COPY
Was the final approved version of the text laid out? Are there any discrepancies between the proof and the previous copy?
Did the type setter take in all of the corrections? Are they correct?
INTEGRITY
Is the document complete? Are any sections missing?
Front matter: are title, imprint and content pages present?
Body matter: are all chapters, parts/sections present and in order? Is anythig missing (i.e headings, captions, running heads, folios, artworks)?
CONFORMITY WITH SPECIFICATIONS
Does the proof conform with the style guide/style sheet (punctuation, spelling, capitalisation, numbers and shortened forms etc.)?
Do all elements conform with design specifications (heading hierarchies, running heads and footers, folios, font, alignment and spacing)?
Running Heads - Shortened version of title at the top of a page in a book. Could be the chapter title and who the author is (on left and right pages respectively).
SEQUENCES, REFERENCES AND LINKS
Are all sequences correct? Are page numbers, headings and illustrations in the correct order?
Does the table of contents match page numbers?
SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION
Have any spelling and punctuation errors been missed or introduced?
LAYOUT
Have images and tables been placed correctly? Are any widows/orphans, bad line or page breaks, loose lines or incorrect paragraph spacing present?
Slide 10 - Proofreading Checklist
COVER
VERIFICATION OF COPY
Was the final approved version of the text laid out? Are there any discrepancies between the proof and the previous copy?
Did the type setter take in all of the corrections? Are they correct?
INTEGRITY
Is the document complete? Are any sections missing?
Front matter: are title, imprint and content pages present?
Body matter: are all chapters, parts/sections present and in order? Is anythig missing (i.e headings, captions, running heads, folios, artworks)?
CONFORMITY WITH SPECIFICATIONS
Does the proof conform with the style guide/style sheet (punctuation, spelling, capitalisation, numbers and shortened forms etc.)?
Do all elements conform with design specifications (heading hierarchies, running heads and footers, folios, font, alignment and spacing)?
Running Heads - Shortened version of title at the top of a page in a book. Could be the chapter title and who the author is (on left and right pages respectively).
SEQUENCES, REFERENCES AND LINKS
Are all sequences correct? Are page numbers, headings and illustrations in the correct order?
Does the table of contents match page numbers?
SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION
Have any spelling and punctuation errors been missed or introduced?
LAYOUT
Have images and tables been placed correctly? Are any widows/orphans, bad line or page breaks, loose lines or incorrect paragraph spacing present?
Slide 10 - Proofreading Checklist
COVER
- Front cover title, subtitle, author name
- Spine title, author name, spine logo, spine width
- Back cover blurb and author bio
- Barcode, ISBN
- Back cover logo
- Credits (designers, photographer, etc.)
- Title and half-title page (text and logos)
- Imprint page (copyright, year, ISBN, credits[)]
- Table of contents (chapter headings, by lines and page references)
- Acknowledgements (names spelled correctly)
- Folios (complete and in order)
- Running heads and footers (verso and recto correct, titles/names correct)
- Text styles (headings, design elements, captions etc.)
- Illustrations/figures and captions
- Italics (especially references)
- References (style and all information present)
- Notes (if any, number and style)
- Widows/orphans, bad breaks, loose lines etc.
- Spelling and punctuation errors
- Conforms to the style guide/sheet (dashed, numbers, dates, percentages, capitalisation etc.)
Every page should be proofread by at least two editors/readers.
Each editor/reader should initial the page after proofreading.
This markup should be cross-checked and collated into a single set of corrections.
Corrections should be sent to the typesetter in addition to any resupplied content.
Proofreading marks should be used for any textual/layout issues.
If there are significant sections of the text that need to be revised, elements that are missing (such as images), content that has to be resupplied or corrections that can't be communicated with proofreading marks, typesetter notes should be used to identify these issues and provide instructions for correcting them."
Section 2 - Proofreading
The instructions for proofreading can be found over here. Not gonna copy them over here, when they're already there, hehe~
Here's some notes from the class:
- IGNORE the pink highlighted text at the bottom of the pages. That's the typesetter's notes.
- Try not to change too many words because you've decided you like another one better. One or two is fine, but if everybody wants to make changes like this, then it becomes too much work for the editors and the typesetter.
- What matters most is the number of pages. Making a change that would increase or decrease your story by a page, is SUCH a nightmare for the editor/typesetter.
- Small edits that don't affect the length of a paragraph is okay.
- I used Acrobat Reader DC to add my comments in.
- The Unplagued essay is white text on black pages. Pretty neat. It has been split into 7 sections, interspersed neatly throughout the book.
There were a few proofreading edits I made to my piece.
- I wanted to be referred to as "Katherine Dawn Manalo" in the piece, as "Katie" is merely a nickname.
- "Whether that’s a “positive” effect of being in lockdown is yet to be determined" -- The word positive needed to have single quotation marks rather than double, to align with the BSP style guide.
- "cuddling friends every hello and goodbye, holding hands or linking arms while walking and eating and studying together at university." -- There needed to be a comma after the word walking.
- "I planned to treat any possible meet-up only as a reward to finish my assignments" -- The phrase "to finish" should be changed to "for finishing".
- "I persuaded him to put his hot meal in with mine in a paper bag" -- The word "in" should be taken out.
(09/10/20) I've realised with horror that there's a single double quotation mark I forgot to highlight as an error. On page 110, the sentence "I asked if he was "excited" at all." has double quotation marks when there should be single marks surrounding the word excited, to fit with the BSP style guide. Sent an email just now alerting Carly. Hopefully this doesn't become a lingering error in the final document.
Anyway... that's about it! See ya.
-Katie, the Plague Wanderer
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