education – Page 10

How to Choose an Online Proofreading Course

With the onslaught of options in online proofreading courses that have recently emerged, you may have a hard time deciding which one is best for you. If you’re actively looking for a course, you’re probably just getting started with editing and proofreading—which makes choosing the right course a daunting and confusing task. Don’t get overwhelmed by the options! There are a few specific things you should look for when choosing an online proofreading course.

Credentials

This may seem obvious now, but when you’re hunting through a huge list of courses, it may not occur to you. However, the credentials of the company offering the course should be the first thing you look for. Credentials come in the form of portfolios, client lists, and awards won by the company. If there’s a parent company for the online proofreading course, look into that as well. You should then choose which website looks like the best training course for your particular needs.

If a website doesn’t appear to have any sort of history or credentials, avoid taking an online proofreading course there. Anyone can open a site and pretend to have the expertise to run a course. Don’t get tricked into wasting your money on amateur sites.

Choose the type of course you require

You’ll want to pick the type of editing or proofreading you want to get into. You also need to pick what kind of training you need more of. If you’re looking for help with grammar, you’ll want to specifically look at an online proofreading course that addresses your weaknesses, as well as the area you want to enter. If you need an overall learning experience, you’ll want to find a course that is more general.

Read through the types of lessons the online proofreading course offers before paying for anything. You don’t want to end up taking a course that is beyond (or far below) your skill level.

An online proofreading course with assessments

You may remember the days in school where a test or exam was the biggest thing to fear. However, assessments are important in the learning process and in retaining knowledge. When you’re starting your career, you need to be sure you have the tools you need when you need them.

Assessments throughout the online proofreading course are important; also look for other methods and teaching tools that will help you learn the information, such as mini quizzes or games.

Preparation for the field

It’s not enough to just have the skills in the competitive market of editing and proofreading. When looking for proofreading jobs, you want to find an online proofreading course that will provide expert advice on the business. A good course will inform you about the options you have once you start your career. It’s not a good move to go into your career without knowing what to expect or the rates you should be asking for. It is becoming increasingly common for companies to underpay their freelancers to save money. This results in editors, proofreaders, and writers working for far less than what they deserve and what will sustain their livelihood.

Furthermore, you need to know about the different types of editing (if you are not already aware) that you may eventually get into. Once you’ve completed the course, you may be surprised to learn that the type of editing you expected to get involved with isn’t the type you want to do. Keep your mind open and pay attention to any information you get about working in each specific field.

What to Expect From a Proofreading Course

Taking a proofreading course is an entirely new experience compared with any other kind of class. The expectations are different, and the format of the course feels much more relaxed than others if you’re taking it online. If you’re worried about what to expect from a proofreading course and what will be expected from you, then read on to assuage your fears.

Time management

When you take a proofreading course online that lets you go at your own pace, you have to learn how to manage your time well. You won’t have someone telling you when each lesson needs to be completed. You’ll have to ensure you do that yourself within an appropriate schedule, particularly if your proofreading course has a time limit on the subscription.

If you aren’t in the habit of using a day planner and scheduling time for tasks, it may be time to start. This is a good lesson to learn from your proofreading course, particularly if you want to make editing your career. You’ll need to know how to manage your time appropriately for deadlines if you work as a proofreader from home.

Prepare for quizzes

What would a learning experience be without methods to test your knowledge? Just because a proofreading course is online doesn’t mean you won’t have quizzes. Expect a few here and there to ensure you have learned what you’ve been taught in the lessons. Don’t be intimidated by these. Most courses have features like games and other learning tools to help you learn and retain knowledge. All these quizzes do is make sure you are getting the most from the proofreading course so you’re as prepared as possible for your future editing job.

Learning the symbols

Like almost anything else, proofreading has a technical language. This comes in the form of proofreading symbols you’ll need to use on the job. These are important for helping you communicate your message and your edits to the next person who reads the copy. In some cases, this person may even be you, returning to the copy to make the edits.

Information on the business

The last thing you want is to be thrown into the world of professional proofreading without any knowledge of how the business itself works. A good proofreading course will help prepare you for that. You’ll get knowledge on the inner workings of the business from people who have been in it for years.

You’ll learn the ins and outs of different editing options so that when it comes time to decide between freelancing and working in-house, you’ll know the pros and cons of either option. You’ll also learn what is expected of you as a proofreader. Of course, each company expects different specific responsibilities from their editors, proofreaders, and writers, based on the style or genre. With your proofreading course, you’ll be given the tools you need to follow any expectations required.

Testing your grammar

If you’re hoping to become a proofreader, you must have a solid foundation in grammar. The proofreading course should (and will) test your grammar skills. You’ll learn the rules you need to know to be a good proofreader. At times, you may find this task challenging, complicated, and convoluted. A good proofreading course will prepare you so that the rules become easy and second nature. It is best if you have some kind of foundation in the rules of grammar before starting your proofreading course.

Four Tricks You’ll Master in Editor Training

When you take a course in editor training, you will develop a range of skills. You’ll practice proofreading, discover the details of formatting, learn English grammar, and revisit the rules of punctuation.

You will also learn some tips and tricks to help you understand if editing as a career is the right path for you.

Here are just a few of the insider hacks you’ll pick up in editor training.

Editor training will teach you the following skills, and more

1. Find hidden errors

Editing involves checking a document for typos and spelling mistakes as well as consistency in punctuation, abbreviations, and numbering. To find errors and inconsistencies, the editor has to read over every word of the text carefully.

However, the errors might be somewhere other than the text.

Conscientious editors also look at the margins to make sure the text is lined up consistently throughout the document. They check bulleted lists to see if they are parallel and are correctly punctuated. And, as unlikely as it may sound, it is also very natural to skip over titles and subheadings. Editors have to be aware of this and double-check every heading at every level.

Double checking is an important part of every editor’s work anyway since it is also easy to introduce errors when editing. These have to be weeded out with a second and sometimes even a third read-through.

2. Thin out the padding

During editor training, you will learn that many words in a document are unnecessary. You will learn that you can often remove words from a sentence without changing the meaning.

Look out for redundant adjectives, for example. Can you spot one in this sentence?

“He was a large giant of a man.”

The fact that the man is a giant already tells us that he’s large; we don’t need that extra adjective.

Many other pairs of words are commonly, but unnecessarily, used together: “true facts,” “fictional novel,” “final outcome.”

You will also learn about modifiers in editor training. A modifier changes the meaning of another element of the sentence.

The girl wore a very pretty dress.

In this example, the noun “dress” is modified by the adjective “pretty.” “Very” is also a modifier, but it is unnecessary. An unnecessary modifier is also known as a weak modifier. Other common examples include “really,” “quite,” and “rather.”

3. Massage delicate egos

Many people believe that editing is a lonely task. However, the job would not exist without authors, and editors often have close contact with them.

Authors can be protective of their work, and understandably so. They’ve put a lot of time, thought, and effort into their writing submission. So they don’t always appreciate it when someone cuts their weak modifiers or realigns their margins.

That’s why it is important to learn in editor training how to deal with authors. That doesn’t mean you have to lie to them or tell them they are amazing when they’re not. But you do have to be polite and clearly explain any major changes you’ve made to the text. It always helps to remember that you’re both working toward the same goal: producing logical, readable writing.

4. Follow industry standards

Should you use serial commas in every document? Should every item in a list have a period at the end? What about the spelling? Should it be American or British?

While editor training will teach you the rules of grammar, you will also learn that some rules apply only sometimes. These are style elements, and every publication has its own style guide. The guide states the preferred spelling, formatting, punctuation, and more.

Any reliable course provider will make sure your editor training covers the basics of the main industry style guides, the most important of which is probably The Chicago Manual of Style. You will learn how to work with various style guides and how to apply their particular rules to the documents you edit.

You can find excellent online editing courses from trusted, world-class professionals. You can follow the lessons at your own pace in your own home.