Proofreading For Professionals

Proofreading For Professionals consists of 10 comprehensive modules, each covering a different aspect of proofreading written content. The course is entirely self-paced, so you can complete the modules on your own schedule and revisit completed lessons as often as you wish.

Alongside informative written lessons, you’ll find interactive features such as try-it-yourself exercises and quizzes. The quizzes are designed to help you reinforce what you’ve learned and identify areas of the course you may want to revisit. Your quiz results aren’t stored, so you can return to the questions as often as you like.

At the end of the course you’ll complete a self-assessed proofreading assignment. This will involve proofreading a text then reviewing your work against the exemplar version and a full list of all the errors (with explanations of how best to correct them). This will help you assess your skills and identify any areas that need improvement.

Throughout the course, you will be able to email the tutor team anytime if you have questions or need support with any tricky areas.

This course is for anyone who works with words as part of their job – whether that’s preparing reports, creating presentations, drafting emails, writing web copy, or something else entirely. If clear, accurate communication matters in your role, you’ll benefit from learning how to proofread effectively.

Errors in copy can have serious consequences, no matter the industry. Typos on a website can erode customer trust, and grammatical mistakes can make a contract clause unclear. So it pays to have a solid understanding of the rules and a good grasp of how to apply them. This is true for content creators, marketers, recruiters, administrative teams, virtual assistants, and so many others.

We estimate it takes roughly 20–30 hours to complete Proofreading For Professionals, but the time it takes varies depending on your learning style and schedule.

One of the advantages of studying with Knowadays is that you can fit the course around your other commitments. Once you enroll, you’ll have lifetime access to all the material, so you can start whenever it suits you and learn entirely at your own pace. There are no deadlines or time limits.

To get the most out of Proofreading For Professionals, you’ll need a laptop or desktop computer and a reliable internet connection. While you can read the course material on a mobile device, a larger screen is preferable for study and necessary to work on the practical tasks.

The try-it-yourself exercises are set up as Microsoft Word documents, and we provide full instructions for working in Word, including using the Track Changes and Compare tools. If you don’t have access to Word, you can still complete the exercises by opening them in Google Docs and using Suggesting mode to make edits. This will allow you to compare your finished work with our exemplar versions. Alternatively, you can skip the practical elements and focus solely on the lesson content!

Because you can move freely back and forth between lessons and study at your own pace, you can focus on the content that is most relevant to you and your work.

You don’t need any qualifications or previous experience to enroll in Proofreading For Professionals. The course is designed to build your proofreading skills from the ground up, so you can feel confident reviewing and refining any kind of written content in a professional setting.

As the course is delivered online and focuses on digital proofreading, you’ll just need some basic computer knowledge (for example, knowing how to save and open documents). If you’re unsure about the technical side, our team is always happy to help at hello@knowadays.com.

Proofreading For Professionals is written in US English, but it doesn’t focus solely on this dialect! The course includes lessons on the differences between US and UK English, so you can learn the nuances of spelling, grammar, and punctuation in these two variations. To support this, the practical exercises in the course include a mix of documents that need to be proofread in US or UK English.

This means the course is suitable for those who typically work in either dialect.

Furthermore, learning about regional differences improves your ability to proofread in your primary dialect! Various common errors are rooted in these differences, especially when a writer is working in a less-familiar version of English. Knowing about these variations helps you catch and correct a wider variety of mistakes, ensuring every document is error-free and suitable for its target audience.

Most of the rules and techniques you’ll learn in Proofreading For Professionals can be applied to any kind of writing.

That said, the course does include a lesson dedicated to correcting business writing. Business writing is any written communication used in a professional or business context:

Formal business documents (e.g., reports)
Transactional documents (e.g., invoices)
Persuasive business writing (e.g., marketing copy)
Communicative documents (e.g., emails)
Personal professional documents (e.g., resumes)

In this lesson, you’ll explore key factors to consider when working on different types of business writing. This includes how to use business-specific style guides, maintain brand voice, and create or use style sheets effectively.

The course also includes a lesson on working with AI-generated writing, as this is a common trend in many professional settings. You’ll learn about noticeable traits in AI output and how to edit them out to create humanized copy that’s free from awkward language and off-putting formatting.

Proofreading For Professionals has been accredited by The CPD Certification Service, a professional body that rigorously evaluates courses to ensure they conform to the highest industry standards.

When you finish the course, you can email our tutor team to request your digital certificate of completion, which includes the CPD stamp. You can then add it to your resume – and any other online profiles, like LinkedIn – to showcase your skills and commitment to continuing professional development.

No, Proofreading For Professionals does not lead to a guaranteed work offer. This course is designed to help you improve your proofreading skills in a professional setting, but it does not teach you how to work as a freelance proofreader.

If you are interested in launching a proofreading career or branching out as a freelance editor, check out our Becoming A Proofreader and Becoming An Editor courses. Successful completion of these two courses allows you to enter a work trial with our proofreading partner, Proofed.

If you have any questions about Proofreading For Professionals, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can email us your question (s) at hello@knowadays.com and we’ll be happy to help.

For general queries, you can check our main FAQ page.