Well-Written Words
Proofreading & Editing
Let’s See How Close to Perfection We Can Get.
Proofreading
You’re just about ready to send it to print. Let a professional complete this final step of the process.
Copyediting
You know that you missed a few things, but you just don’t have the time (or patience) to go through the material again. Let a professional polish your work.
Accuracy
You know what you want to say, so make sure that your audience clearly understands your message.
Credibility
You’ve worked hard on your project. Don’t let a few typos cloud the quality or truth of your words.
Professionalism
Show your best self and increase your clients’ confidence in your brand by eliminating printed errors.
Who needs a proofreader?
In short, just about everybody can benefit from the services of a proofreader at some time in their life.
Your writing may take the form of an article, a blog post, an essay, a newsletter, a transcript, a website, or even your very first manuscript. If you can write it, it can and should be proofread by someone with a fresh perspective.
Logically, the more time that you spend on your work, the more familiar you become with your intent. It’s only natural that you will read right over a few mistakes. After all, you know what you meant! A proofreader can help you catch those last few embarrassing errors.
But I used AI . . .
Due you no that there is a weigh that spellcheck May fail you? Its true that won, two or more words can bee spelled wrong without any read marks on you’re paper.
How many errors did you notice in the two sentences above? Believe it or not, spellcheck will not return a single error. A grammar check by Microsoft Word will flag two words (no, you’re). Grammarly will do a bit better, catching five errors (Due, no, Its, bee, read).
So how many errors does that leave? Yep, that’s right. There are five more errors in just these two sentences. How would you feel about sending that edited copy to print? Pretty uneasy, I would guess. I can help you avoid that loss of credibility. Let me show you how.
Proofreading
The tasks listed here give an overview of what is involved in my proofreading service. Proofreading is the final step of the writing process and comes after all editing has been completed.
Proofreading will not change your document. All areas of concern will be flagged and returned to you for approval. As always, you have the final say as to how your writing will be worded.
Grammar
Notation and suggested correction of serious grammatical errors such as subject/verb agreement, pronouns and their antecedents, etc.
Punctuation
Does your question end with a question mark? Do you have too many or too few commas? Does the period go before or after the closing parenthesis? And worst of all, to hyphenate or not to hyphenate?
Spelling
Spellcheck catches many glaring errors. But how about proper usage? Think words like: their, there, and they’re? Accept or except? Its or it’s? Your or you’re?
Typos
Including but not limited to: double words and letters (“and and,” “choose” instead of “chose”), transposition of letters, autocorrect errors, etc.
Adherence to style guide
This can be an industry standard (such as AP Stylebook, APA, Chicago Manual of Style, MLA) or the author’s style sheet.
Copyediting
This is the step directly preceding proofreading. This is the last “edit” to your work (after the line edit). In addition to the tasks listed under proofreading, the additional checks you see here are included, providing an extra polish to your writing.
Cohesion
Verifying that the work exhibits unity and will be clear to the intended audience.
Completeness
Establishing that the writing left no unfinished theme to confuse the reader.
Consistency
Ensuring that characters, descriptions, and spellings are consistent throughout.
Fact-checking
Are dates, names, and places correct?
Common Methods
Microsoft Word
Google Docs
iAnnotate
About Me
What is there to say? I’m pretty much like every other English-language aficionado. I love all things word related. If you give me a choice between watching television and reading, I’ll be reading (or reading while the television is on). If it’s a game app, naturally it has to be all about words (Scrabble, Word Welder, Wordle, Wordscapes, etc.). I’ve even written a four-hundred-page fictional novel just for fun! And like a true word nerd, of course I proofread my text messages before I send them.
I worked in finance and structural steel detailing prior to focusing on educating my children. Numbers do run a pretty close second to letters in my opinion. So I’m definitely into the details. I can make that work to your advantage in my proofreading and editing.
Testimonials
“Chantelle was very thorough in her assessment of my website and caught several things that I had completely missed. Her feedback was well received and extremely professional. I would gladly use Chantelle in the future for another proofreading project!” Kelley Long
“Well-Written Words edited my website for me and did an awesome job! The changes were suggested in a very tactful way, and I ended up applying all of the suggestions. Thanks for the great work!” Alisha S.