By: Sir Khalid Rehman
You get a text print as a galley proof or a page proof which is required to be proofread. So you read the proofs closely to detect typographical errors to be corrected before any printing is done. You mark the corrections on the page for aother person to correct, or do the corrections yourself on a computer. You have to do it so that the text printed is exactly the same as the original manuscript. This is proofreading. A proof reader does not have the right to make any corrections on his own. Any spelling, grammar or syntax error is to be marked and referred back to the copy editor.
Having been read and marked, proofs are returned to the typesetter (computer operator) or graphic artist for correction (when you are reading the proofs of a visual). Once the corrections have been made, a print is again made and read once again. This re-reading goes on until all the proofs are error free. The proofs read are signed by the person who has done the proofreading with date (and also time if required).
Fast proofreading: Proof reading along with copy holding (or copy reading), is a more quick method. It requires two persons. The first reads aloud the text from original manuscript. The second one listens and compares the composed (typeset) text and marks any differences between the text read and the typeset text.
Double proofreading: In this method, a proofreader checks a proof in the traditional manner and passes it on to a second reader who repeats the process. Both initial the proof. Note that with both copy holding and double reading, responsibility for a given proof is necessarily shared by two individuals.
More recently, the sub editors have to do all proofreading as well as correction on computers.
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