What Are the Different Types of Proofreading?
As a freelance proofreader, you need to be familiar with the different types of proofreading and the work they involve. You’ll likely work with a wide variety of clients on a range of document types, each of which will have its own requirements.
In this post, we’ll provide a comprehensive overview of the major types of proofreading you may encounter in your career:
- Academic proofreading
- Business proofreading
- Print media and creative proofreading
- Translation proofreading
- English as a second language (ESL) proofreading
What Does Proofreading Involve?
Before diving into the specific types of proofreading, let’s clarify what a proofreader does. In short, proofreading ensures that a text is free from language errors and reads clearly and coherently. This generally includes:
- Correcting spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors
- Checking for consistent style, tone, and vocabulary
- Ensuring the text is easy to read and free of redundancies
- Following a specified style guide (if applicable)
People often confuse proofreading with copy editing, and the two services can overlap. Copy editing can be more extensive, involving deeper rewrites or structural changes. Proofreading typically occurs when the manuscript is in the final stage, focusing on correcting smaller errors rather than making substantial edits. However, some clients may want a “heavier” proofread that dips into copy editing. It’s important to clarify the scope of work before you begin.
Now, we’ll consider the specific types of proofreading:
1. Academic Proofreading
What Is Academic Proofreading?
Students and academics are a great source of work for freelance proofreaders. Academic proofreading primarily involves scholarly documents like university essays, dissertations, journal articles, and research papers. Generally, academic writing presents clear, logically structured arguments to inform or convince the reader.
When proofreading academic documents, you should ensure that your client:
- Achieves a clear, formal writing style
- Maintains an objective tone throughout (with some exceptions, such as with reflective essays, which are by nature more personal)
- Uses subject-specific and technical terms where appropriate
- Correctly cites any sources according to the relevant referencing style (e.g., Chicago, APA, MLA, or any of the in-house citation systems that colleges and universities use)
You’ll need to be especially careful about what changes you make and any comments you leave for your client when working on academic documents. The reason is that most academic institutions have strict plagiarism rules for work that is being assessed. Aim to make minimal but necessary corrections to ensure clarity, consistency, and correctness, while leaving the writer’s own voice intact.
It’s also worth noting that academic writing can vary greatly in complexity, depending on:
- The topic of the document (i.e., writing in some subject areas can be very technical, so for you to proofread it effectively, you may require familiarity with the subject matter or the technical vocabulary)
- The level of the document (i.e., undergraduate work is usually more accessible than postgraduate writing or professional research)
If you’re new to academic writing, starting out proofreading student work makes sense. It also makes sense to start with subject areas you know well from your own educational or professional background. You can then move on to more complex or unfamiliar documents when you feel ready.
Examples of Academic Writing
Many types of documents are produced in an academic setting. Some of the most common are:
2. Business Proofreading
What Is Business Proofreading?
Business writing refers to any document from a business or professional context – everything from formal internal documents to public-facing marketing materials. Clients can range from sole traders and small startups to large multinational corporations.
Common types of business writing include the following:
- Formal business writing: This tends to have a dry, corporate tone and is often based on the conventions of AP style. These types of documents are usually for internal use or for external stakeholders, with examples including business plans, proposals, and reports.
- Personal professional writing and communications: These tend to be similar in style to formal business writing, though there is often more flexibility. For instance, using contractions in an email to a colleague would be fine even if doing so is usually discouraged in a business plan or report. Examples include CVs, resumes, emails, and memos.
- Commercial and marketing copy: This is usually much more conversational than other business writing, but the style will depend heavily on the client’s brand voice and target audience. It is usually aimed at the public, clients, or customers. Website content, newsletters, press releases, and social media posts can all fall under this category.
As with academic writing, proofreading some forms of business writing (e.g., financial reports, technical documentation, legal writing) may require specialist knowledge. But the main factors in most cases will be helping to ensure that your client’s writing is error free and communicates their ideas effectively.
Many businesses have a brand voice or style guide to ensure consistency in their communications. When proofreading, you may need to adapt when using these types of guidelines. Sometimes, you’ll be asked to do more than a straightforward proofread – the client might want you to “polish” the text for readability or change the tone to make it more engaging. To avoid confusion down the line, confirm the scope of your work before beginning.
Examples of Business Writing
As a proofreader, some of the most common business documents you’ll encounter are:
- CVs, resumes, and cover letters
- Letters of recommendation
- Business proposals
- Office announcements or memos
- Various marketing materials
3. Print Media and Creative Proofreading
What Is Print Media and Creative Proofreading?
This type of proofreading covers all kinds of creative writing and can include newspapers, magazines, short stories, articles, poems, scripts, screenplays, and books (both fiction and nonfiction). Because this type of work is so wide-ranging, some proofreaders working with creative writing choose to specialize in a single genre or style, such as travel writing or crime fiction.
Proofreading creative writing can be very different from proofreading other types of writing. Key factors in this respect include the following:
- Creative writing often involves unique conventions for presenting text. As a result, you’ll need to make sure you know how the type of creative writing you’re working on is typically presented.
- An author’s individual voice and style are usually more distinct in creative writing than in business or academic writing. This means you should aim to preserve the author’s voice as much as possible when proofreading a creative piece.
- Unconventional spelling and grammar are also more common in creative writing, especially in fiction. While you should correct any obvious typos and inconsistencies, remember that nonstandard English may be intentional (e.g., to convey a particular dialect in dialogue).
- Proofreading creative writing may involve balancing the demands of an author (who may be very protective of their writing) and a publisher (who may have other priorities).
- Publishers may ask you to proofread typeset “proof” texts (in either print or a PDF). Rather than editing such a document directly as you would in Microsoft Word, you may need to use annotation tools or traditional proofreading marks to note issues and suggest corrections.
This category of proofreading can be highly competitive. A practical tip is to start working with self-published authors to gain experience before approaching bigger publishers.
Examples of Print Media and Creative Documents
As mentioned, print media documents can cover many forms of writing. Here are some common ones you may encounter:
- Newspaper and magazine articles
- Newsletters
- Scripts and screenplays
- Short stories and full-length books
- Poetry
4. Translation Proofreading
What Is Translation Proofreading?
Translation proofreading involves checking a document that’s been translated from one language into another. There are two types of translation proofreading:
- Monolingual translation proofreading: You check only the translated text, ensuring it is fluent, grammatically correct, and stylistically appropriate.
- Bilingual proofreading: You compare the translation to the original to make sure nothing was lost (or mistakenly added) in the process.
Key issues to look out for when proofreading translated materials include:
- Common misspellings and the misuse of homophones
- Overuse of the passive voice
- Poor transitions between sentences or ideas
- Other concerns, such as poor word choice, monotonous paragraphs, and an inconsistent writing style
Examples of Translated Documents
Proofreading translated documents can have you working on anything that can be translated from one language to another:
- Government documents, such as birth or marriage certificates
- Academic writing
- Internet content (e.g., blog posts or video scripts)
- All manner of creative writing, especially short stories, poetry, and full-length books
5. ESL Proofreading
What Is ESL Proofreading?
ESL proofreading isn’t tied to a specific type of document. Rather, it refers to proofreading texts written by someone who does not speak English as a first language. As such, ESL documents may pose some unique challenges from a proofreading perspective.
While many ESL writers have a strong grasp of English, they often make errors that a fluent speaker wouldn’t make. Issues you may encounter when working on ESL writing include:
- Unusual sentence structures that need clarifying
- Missing or misused articles (e.g., a experiment instead of an experiment)
- Faulty subject–verb agreement (e.g., the dogs is barking instead of the dogs are barking)
- Incorrect use of words, particularly homophones
Patience is vital here: It can be frustrating to tackle a document with repeated grammar issues or unclear phrasing, but remember that the client is working in a second language. If you’re not a prodigious polyglot yourself, you can appreciate the challenge this entails!
You should also keep in mind that ESL writers may struggle with more complex or technical feedback. Thus, when working with ESL clients, make sure your comments are clear and concise.
Examples of ESL Writing
ESL proofreading can overlap with translation proofreading, so some of the documents you work on with these two types of proofreading may be similar. They include:
- Academic material written by researchers, educators, and students
- Business documents and advertisements
- All manner of print media and creative writing
Remember: Every Client Is Different
Though we’ve broken proofreading into categories, keep in mind that every client is unique. Within any single category, there will be distinct requirements, preferences, and goals.
As such, while drawing broad distinctions between types of proofreading can be helpful, you need to tailor your service to the individual client. What are they trying to achieve? Do they have a distinct voice? How can you help them express themselves effectively in this specific document? If you can do this, you should end up with a happy client every time.
Becoming A Proofreader
We hope this introduction to different types of proofreading has been helpful. You can also find some template style sheets for academic, business, and creative writing in our resources area.
And if you’d like to learn more about different types of proofreading and how to succeed as a freelance proofreader, you can find specific modules for academic, creative, and business writing in our Becoming A Proofreader course. You can even try a couple of lessons for free!
Updated on March 26, 2025
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