Introduction to Editorial Skills: Copy-Editing and Proofreading

How the course is delivered

The course consists of six x 2.25-hour sessions including breaks, each a mixture of delivery and interaction using Zoom breakout rooms and other online tools. There will be a 45-minute exercise set to complete between the sessions, and a 45-minute break. The course will run on from 9.30am to 2.00pm on each day.

You will need access to a computer or laptop with a camera and microphone and with Microsoft Word and either Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (which is free) or Adobe Acrobat Professional installed. To join the course, you  will need to activate a Zoom account. This takes two minutes and does not require any payment. It is purely for administrative purposes.

Any information to be completed beforehand will be sent via email.

If you have any concerns about technical requirements or access please contact us on courses@publishingtrainingcentre.co.uk or telephone (+44) 020 8874 2718.

Delegate feedback

“Really enjoyed the course. Sarah is knowledgeable and friendly. The course worked well over Zoom – the sharing of slides and materials, and being able to discuss points was fairly easy. As I do a mixture of copy editing, proof reading, and type setting, it was good to see how each role is separated out and the individual things to look out for.” MGP delegate

“The use of polls was an excellent way of engaging and interacting with the students - I have rarely seen such efficient use of Zoom tech in online training. I enjoyed hearing Sarah Sodhi's real-world examples, especially past experiences working with copyright checks. I will be able to apply the concepts and training to my upcoming job as managing editor in an industry publication. My main take-aways from the sessions were publication workflows, style sheets. the scope of copyediting versus proof-reading, coding for format/structure and red flags for plagiarism.” MA Student, King’s College London

“I really enjoyed the course! It was fun and engaging. The exercises (homework and in-class) were very helpful. I’ve gained an overview of what copy-editing and proofreading entail and helpful methods on how to approach both in a systematic way. The course also provided me with a good set of skills on how to work in Word and PDF.” Student, University of Aberdeen

“I gained more confidence using PDF and Word mark-up tools, a better understanding of the difference between copy editing and proofreading, and a stronger, more systematic approach to reviewing documents for my work.” Technical Publishing Assistant, SIGTTO

“I have a better understanding of the job of a copy-editor versus that of a proofreader. I also learned some new skills and got more in-depth knowledge in both copy-editing and proofreading." Senior Communication Officer and Business Owner, CESSDA and Eleanor Smith Communications

“Course was excellent! Learning the style and conventional options for grammar, spelling and punctuation will really help me progress in my editorial career. This is the first bit of formal training I've had and it was really useful to know what to look out for when copyediting and proofreading in the future (and why!).”  Simon and Schuster UK delegate

“The course was informative and fully engaging. I’ve gained immediate editing skills - being able to objectively review work, including marking up via various mediums.”  CMS Supa Trak delegate

“I completely enjoyed the course. The content and teaching style were perfect. I have a far better understanding of the processes involved in moving on from the line edit, into the copy edit and proof reading stages.”  Simon and Schuster delegate

“I enjoyed the course and was suitably challenged. The tutor was great. There was lots to learn and the pace just right. My confidence has improved, I’ve acquired specific skills in copyediting in proofreading and have a better understanding of potential career pathways in publishing.”  Business owner

“I enjoyed it very much and have gained confidence and knowledge. Caro was an excellent teacher. All that was missing was more time!”  Freelance musician

“The course was excellent. The tutor, Caro, did a superb job of managing content and participants online. It has helped me understand that my skills lie more in the area of developmental editing.”  Editorial freelancer

“An excellent course. Sarah was a great teacher. I liked the mix of teaching and hands-on exercises which gave the chance to try things out immediately. We could ask lots of questions and give feedback. It was really good to split the course up into three half-day sessions as virtual courses can be extremely intense.” Axelos delegate

About the tutor(s)

The tutors devised and fully updated the course in 2020. One tutor will deliver all three morning sessions of a course. 

In an in-house career that took her to Berlin, London, Oxford and Cambridge, Caroline Drake worked on a wide range of academic books, journals and illustrated trade titles. She was trained at Blackwell and Cambridge University Press, where, as senior subeditor then copy-editorial manager, she in turn trained copy-editors and proofreaders for fifteen years. She updated Butcher’s Copy-editing, with a colleague, for the fourth edition.

Now freelance, Caroline enjoys helping authors to get things right, first time. She has created and taught courses for a variety of clients, including publishers, educational organisations, the CIEP and the reporters of the Scottish Parliament.

Since 1999, Sarah Sodhi has proofed, tagged, bound, corrected, edited, managed, commissioned, subbed, scheduled, estimated and produced a great deal of content – from interactive, multi-media resources to marketing leaflets, from monthly magazines to 900-page medical tomes.

Starting her career at a small medical publisher in Oxford, Sarah produced medical textbooks, journals and a bi-monthly magazine. She then moved into the public sector to work for an adult education charity, introducing formal scheduling procedures, progress-chasing systems and detailed budgets. After this, she immersed herself in the education sector, editing and managing digital and print resources for primary, secondary and adult education publishers.

Caroline Knight began her career in publishing at Penguin Books in 1989, when she joined Editorial 2, the department dedicated to copy-editing. She has been a PTC tutor since 1996 and a freelancer since 2010.

Caroline became managing editor of Allen Lane The Penguin Press in 1995 before moving to Weidenfeld & Nicolson Illustrated in 1997. She lived in Greece, working freelance and tutoring at the PTC, from 2000 to 2003, when she became managing editorial director at William Heinemann, an imprint of the Random House group. Five years later, she moved to Atlantic Books, where she stayed until 2010 when she moved to rural Kent and rejoined the freelance community.

She has worked with Alastair Campbell, Vince Cable, David Willetts, Margaret Drabble and the late Herman Leonard, as well as a wide variety of others less famous. She enjoys editing both fiction and non-fiction, with a leaning towards history and politics. She lives on the edge of the North Downs with her husband, three children, a dog, six hens and tens of thousands of bees.