We employ professional editors who are subject matter experts, and we offer genuine affordability. For writers with an imminent deadline, we can also accommodate short turnarounds at no extra cost.
Over the last five years we have become one of the most popular proofreading services in the United States.
Our three main proofreading services are:
Proofreading or editing?
The first question is a basic one: do you need proofreading or editing?
Many writers come to the site thinking they only need proofreading − but what they really need is editing.
So, what’s the difference?
Proofreading explained
Proofreading is the last thing to do before submitting a piece of writing. Whether it’s a business letter or a dissertation, proofreading is the way you check that everything is perfect.
Is the punctuation correct? Are there any misspellings? Are there spaces where there shouldn’t be? Are the headings consistent? Are the footnotes in order? Does the Table of Contents reflect correct page numbers? (And many, many more.)
In a perfect world, you would get someone to edit your work (and there are multiple types of editing) and someone else to proofread it. That is, someone with a fresh pair of eyes who is not looking to:
- Make substantive changes
- Alter syntax
- Question your word choices
- Point out inconsistencies in your argument
- Query facts
- Advise on content.
How about an example?
Let’s make up an example. Suppose someone has written this sentence:
Their is fifty-three cards, in the usual pack playing cards .
It’s the proofreader’s job to change Their to There; change is to are; remove the comma [,]; insert of between pack and playing; remove the space between cards and the terminal punctuation[.], revealing the ‘correct’ sentence:
There are fifty-three cards in the usual pack of playing cards.
You may be surprised to learn that it’s not necessarily the proofreader’s job to change fifty-three to fifty-two (although our proofreaders probably would). That’s because it’s a content issue, not a writing or formatting issue.
Proofreaders don’t check facts – you can see how important this is when the subject matter is, say, medical procedures rather than playing cards.
It’s not the proofreader’s job to suggest substituting the word deck for pack or standard for usual. It’s not the proofreader’s job to point out that the writer wrote a similar sentence in the previous paragraph. It’s not their job to suggest that more detail is needed, or that the point isn’t clear. Those are things for an editor to do.
To sum it up:
- Editing improve the quality of language and expression. This includes the style, clarity, organization, word choice and tone of your writing. The editors at Global English Editing will make your writing better in many different ways.
- Proofreading works from the assumption that you have checked everything in your document and you are happy with the content, the format, and the writing – that you don’t want your writing substantively improved. Proofreaders at Global English Editing correct your inadvertent mistakes and make sure everything looks the way it should.
What kind of mistakes does proofreading fix?
After reading their work over and over, writers often think they couldn’t possibly need proofreading – they must have found everything ‘wrong’ with it, right? Then they’re shocked by how many inconsistencies or mistakes a professional proofreader actually finds:
- Missing or repeated words
- Extra or missing spaces
- Incorrect punctuation (including missing, superfluous or inappropriate punctuation marks)
- Misspellings (including old-fashioned typos and incorrect homophones: it’s for its, their for they’re, affect for effect, etc.)
- Incorrect verb forms
- Problems with pagination
- Inconsistent headings or other formatting mistakes
- Typographical inconsistencies (mismatched fonts, etc.).
In the old days of printing presses, proofreaders looked for errors that could only occur in that format: upside-down letters, repeated lines of text, entire missing pages, blurry or under-inked words, etc.
In the computer age, we don’t make those mistakes anymore – we’ve replaced them and added many new ones. Proofreading remains as important as it ever was.
And it’s not something you should be doing yourself. No one should proofread their own writing.
A document intended for distribution or publication – whether a thesis, dissertation, book or business document – must communicate its message in the clearest possible way. A critical feature of clear and successful writing is to be free of grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes.
Errors and inconsistencies reflect badly on your professionalism. They also detract from your ability to communicate the intended message.
To sum up proofreading vs editing
Proofreading is less “hands-on” than editing. It’s the right choice when you’re generally satisfied with the quality of your writing but require a meticulous reader to correct surface errors such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes.
If you’re not confident that everything in your writing is as correct as it can be, you need our editing service.
English as a Second Language (ESL) writers tend to benefit much more from editing services than proofreading.
Our editing services
So, if it’s editing you need after all, we provide the following services (just click to be taken to the appropriate page):
Experienced editors and proofreaders
Global English Editing employs professional proofreaders and editors from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. All our editors have:
- High-level academic qualifications (many have PhDs and additional qualifications in professional editing)
- Considerable experience as professional editors
- The flexibility to accommodate short turnarounds
- With our large team of experienced editors, we can edit or proofread all types of academic, book, and business documents.
Genuinely affordable proofreading services
Like most writers, you are probably seeking an affordable proofreading service.
Although we only employ experienced proofreaders and editors, we keep our proofreading rates low by being a flexible and exclusively online business. Our rates are highly competitive, but we never sacrifice quality.
Check out our Price Calculator and confirm for yourself the genuine affordability of our proofreading services.
Short turnarounds at no extra cost
Do you require a short turnaround for your proofreading?
Unlike other proofreading companies, we do not charge extra for short turnarounds. With us, the price for our services remains the same regardless of the due date. We have a large team of proofreaders and can meet any reasonable request.
Confidentiality guaranteed
We understand that our clients’ work often contains original, sensitive and confidential information. Therefore, we have developed a set of confidentiality procedures to help guarantee client confidentiality. On request, we can even sign a nondisclosure agreement.
You can read more about our confidentiality procedures here.
Our key advantages
Global English Editing is the leading affordable proofreading service in the United States.
Our four key advantages are:
- Quality services performed by professional editors. Our editors all have Master’s and PhD degrees and are experienced professional editors. We have a team of specialist academic, book and business editors, so no matter your document type, we will have an editor highly experienced in your writing style.
- Affordable prices. Our prices are extremely competitive as we are an online-only business with few expensive overheads. Check out our Price Calculator to confirm for yourself our genuine affordability.
- Short turnarounds accommodated at no extra cost. We have a large team of editors and a flexible mindset. We can accommodate any reasonable turnaround request − at no extra cost.
- Confidentiality guaranteed. You can rest assured that your work will be respected and never shared with a third party. Read more about our confidentiality procedures here.
Contact us now
Are you looking for a proofreading company and would you like to discuss your project with us? Please contact us any time and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
