Most of us think that proofreading and editing are the same, but they are not. They are two different aspects of the same process: to get your book or article ready for publishing, or your master’s dissertation or PhD thesis ready for submission.

I am trained to do both—editing and proofreading. Mostly people ask me to proofread their manuscripts which entails checking the texts for spelling errors, grammatical issues, vocabulary, typos, and punctuation. Until now I have completed a variety of manuscripts, e.g. law, psychology, religious studies, ancient text studies, education, linguistics, and curriculum studies. Some authors also ask me to check the references in their manuscripts and ensure that all the sources referred to in the manuscript are included in the reference list.

I really enjoy what I’m doing, largely because of the different subjects I proofread but also because I love language. I learn a lot from different authors and their viewpoints. Just the other day I proofread a mini dissertation for a master’s degree in law about property rights in countries other than South Africa. I was also privileged to proofread a manuscript that will be included in an international publication about xenophobia and pan-Africanism.

Editing a text, however, is something else. This includes, apart from proofreading a text, changes to the text itself: it may entail important changes such as rearranging paragraphs, changing whole chapters, reformulating large chunks of text, etc.
The training I did with the South African Writers College assists me to do both.

I am looking forward to working with you.