Receiving Electronic Files for On-Screen Proofreading
In the most basic sense, receiving documents online is both easy and straightforward. You download a file, copy it into an appropriate folder on your computer and work on it, but in practice there are several matters to consider.
If, for instance, you are using drop boxes or file transfer protocol (FTP) to receive files, you may need to create an account to access the documents you will be proofreading. If, on the other hand, you are planning to receive documents primarily via email, a method commonly used by proofreading services and authors, you will need to use an email system that allows large attachments. Google mail (more commonly known as gmail) is a good choice because it allows attachments of up to 25 megabytes in size, so it will not prevent you from receiving books and articles with a large number of complex tables and figures. To ensure that your email program does not send proofreading jobs to your spam folder, include all relevant addresses in your address book.
All attachments should be scanned for viruses before you download and open them. You will not need to worry about this quite as much if you are working through a company or proofreading service that initially receives the files from authors and then passes them on to you, because the scanning process will likely take place before the file is sent on to you. In addition, viruses in the files sent by academic and scientific authors are comparatively rare, but they do occur, and this is definitely a situation in which it is far better to be safe than sorry. A virus can render your computer inoperable until the threat is removed, and losing your computer when you have papers to proofread and return within a tight time frame can be catastrophic to a successful freelance career.
It is always wise to open at once all the documents you receive for a proofreading job. You will need to confirm with the author or proofreading service you are working for that you have received the documents and either confirm or negotiate when you will be returning the proofread versions, so it is essential to discover any immediately discernible problems before you reply. You need to be sure, for instance, that the documents do indeed open successfully on your computer and that the marginal comment function is working properly in each document. Occasionally in Microsoft Word documents that were originally written in a right-to-left script, the letters typed into marginal comments are inverted into nonsense (with the problem magnified by automatic corrections), so do a test comment to ensure the function is working as it should be. If any problems arise that may hinder your ability to proofread and comment on the documents, it is essential to contact the author or company immediately, explain the problems in detail and work towards resolving them long before any deadlines for the job.
We are recruiting Proofreaders, Editors and Copyproofreaders
We are currently recruiting experienced proofreaders who are available to proofread professional documents written by non-native English-speaking academic staff from all over the world.
This is a good opportunity for people who wish to supplement their income while working from home in their free time, for instance parents who have spare time available when looking after their children or retired professors/lecturers/scientists who still wish to be connected to their field of expertise while earning additional income.
Only a native English speaker educated to a master’s or PhD level should apply for this position and it is necessary to be familiar with academic and scientific reference styles, such as Harvard referencing, APA style, Chicago referencing, Vancouver style, AMA style, MLA style and many others.
Why Our Editing and Proofreading Services?
At Proof-Reading-Service.com we offer the highest quality journal article editing, phd thesis editing and proofreading services via our large and extremely dedicated team of academic and scientific professionals. All of our proofreaders are native speakers of English who have earned their own postgraduate degrees, and their areas of specialisation cover such a wide range of disciplines that we are able to help our international clientele with research editing to improve and perfect all kinds of academic manuscripts for successful publication. Many of the carefully trained members of our expert editing and proofreading team work predominantly on articles intended for publication in scholarly journals, applying painstaking journal editing standards to ensure that the references and formatting used in each paper are in conformity with the journal’s instructions for authors and to correct any grammar, spelling, punctuation or simple typing errors. In this way, we enable our clients to report their research in the clear and accurate ways required to impress acquisitions proofreaders and achieve publication.
Our scientific proofreading services for the authors of a wide variety of scientific journal papers are especially popular, but we also offer manuscript proofreading services and have the experience and expertise to proofread and edit manuscripts in all scholarly disciplines, as well as beyond them. We have team members who specialise in medical proofreading services, and some of our experts dedicate their time exclusively to PhD proofreading and master’s proofreading, offering research students the opportunity to improve their use of formatting and language through the most exacting PhD thesis editing and dissertation proofreading practices. Whether you are preparing a conference paper for presentation, polishing a progress report to share with colleagues, or facing the daunting task of editing and perfecting any kind of scholarly document for publication, a qualified member of our professional team can provide invaluable assistance and give you greater confidence in your written work.
If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.
