Honorary president: Judith Butcher Honorary vice-president: David Crystal OBE
Prerequisites for Proofreading for accreditation
'Proofreading for accreditation' is an advanced-level course, not part of the training for novices. It provides a way of checking that you're ready to take the SfEP accreditation test in proofreading.
Although it's not essential to have had paid proofreading work, the two exercises do require considerable understanding of what's involved, and so at least some practical experience (e.g. the SfEP proofreading mentoring scheme) is very important.
To help you decide whether this is the course for you now, here are some questions – you should be able to answer 'Yes' to all of them.
- Do I know the main 2005 BSI proof-correcting symbols and am I aware of the less common ones?
- Do I know which colours to use when marking up and why?
- Is my writing neat/clear?
- Do I have a good grasp of grammar, spelling and punctuation?
- Do I know when to leave 'good enough' alone?
- Do I know the difference between hyphens, en rules and em rules, and their uses?
- Am I familiar with typographical/design conventions regarding such aspects as running headlines and widows?
If you are still not sure, contact the tutor, Gillian Clarke (020 8715 2125 or ), to discuss the matter before you sign up for the course.