Proofreading Symbols Chart

While different proofreaders have their own personalized marks and methods, there are also a number of generally understood proofreading symbols. Depending on the chart one uses, he can find symbols for everything from deletions to wrong fonts. As one can see from the wrong fonts symbol availability, proofreading marks have had to adapt to modern technology and modern word-processing programs. A .

As Alexander Pope said, to err is human, and even in the most carefully written of texts, errors can proliferate. Proofreading is an essential though often neglected step to writing which should be taken after editing and directly before printing or publication. Far from being a lost art, proofreading is now often taught in schools along with grammar and creative writing skills. Proofreaders differ from copy editors in that they are confined to finding typographical errors in a document, rather than trying to improve the content. While different proofreaders have their own personalized marks and methods, there are also a number of generally accepted proofreading symbols. A few such examples include: carets to indicate insertion, triple underlining to indicate capitalization needed, loops to indicate removal, a backwards P with two vertical lines to indicate paragraph spacing, and so forth. A proofreading symbols chart can help make sure that the proofreader and the writer are on the same page, so to speak, and prevent misunderstanding. Depending on the style manual being used, proofreading symbols may be standardized to some degree, so it is important to know which particular style requirements are in effect for the work at hand. The best way to find a suitable proofreading symbol chart is to use the image feature of a search engine, employing specific wording if a certain style manual is required. Because by their nature many proofreading symbols are written by hand rather than typed on a keyboard, looking at an image or PDF can be helpful in determining the interpretation of a given symbol. Printing out a proofreading symbols chart and using it for reference alongside the document to be proofread can also be enormously helpful. More colorful and basic proofreading charts for use in classrooms may be purchased from a teacher supply store.