proofreaders' marks
cattywampus said:
I believe I read here that some of you have jobs as proofreaders. I am applying for such a job and need to know what is the best source for proofreader's marks online? When applying for a proofreading job did you have to take a test, and if so, did you use proofreading marks on it? My potential employer did not say what to use. I dislike proofreader's marks as they are so awkward to use.
First, despite hwatyou see on many websites that should know better, it's "proofreaders' marks," not "proofreader's marks." What's awkward about proofreaders' marks? They been used for a lot of years, and the reason they've been used is because they're both simple to use and easy to understand. If there's a better method for proofing text, I've never seen it. If there's any other method at all that works nearly well, I've never seen it.
If you find them awkward, it's because you haven't used them anywhere near enough, and it's like trying to speak a foreign language. But if you want to be a proofreader, there is no other way. The entire point of proofreaders' marks is to make certain anyone and everyone who sees the page knows what it is you want done, and how you want it done.
A proofreader not only needs to use proofreaders' marks, he needs to
know them.
Now, it may well be that your potential employee doesn't care how you do the job, as long as it gets done well, but trying to be a proofreader without knowing and using proofreaders' mark is like trying to pass as a Spanish citizen when you can't speak Spanish. It just won't work. You must be fluent in the language, and teh language of a proofreder is proofreaders' marks. They're used everywhere by everyone, and if you can't speak the language, you won't have a clue how to do your job.
As for a source, well, there are thousands. Just type "proofreaders' marks" into Google, and you'll get more than you could ever want. Or open pretty much any style guide, or any good grammar book. My seventh grade English book had a list of proofreaders' marks.
The one thing I wills ay about proofreaders' marks is that using them will make you understand why editor's prefer Courier over Times New Roman. Times is so cramped it does make proofreaders' marks more dificult to use.
But you do need to know them, and you will needs to use them, and once you actually learn them well enough not to need a list, you shouldn't find them the least bit awkward. It's not using them that's extremely awkward.