About me

Proofreaders ensure amends and copy has been correctly implemented; editors additionally write text to improve and/or correct copy. I have years of experience in both, in particular when checking and marking up amends from Account Managers and Med Ed that has been often been written by non-native speakers:

- Ensuring correct sentence structure and verb tenses, particularly the simple past and present prefect

- Spellings can be in UK or US English and vary through a document. Consistency here is key

- Ensuring the generic name is appropriate for the relevant market. Many products have subtly different spellings for different markets

Regarding attention to detail, I tend to focus on the following specifics:

- Correct superscripting and subscripting

- Footnote symbol order

- Correct Journal abbreviations

- Correct reference formatting

- Ensuring footnotes have a relevant symbol and are correct

- Consistency across different documents

- Headline and strapline position and colour

- Careful checking of Patient Information. Symbols can all too easily change when a different font is used, underlines and italics can be lost and information can drop off due to space restrictions

My proofreading has given me a breadth of knowledge of many key therapy areas including diabetes, lung and brain cancer, vaccinations, women's health, biomedical food supplements, prostate cancer, asthma, kidney and liver disease and skin disorders (rosacea).

I have always retained good relations with colleagues, also in time of stress. When a PDF fails its pre-flight it needs to be made compliant to ensure it can be correctly printed; it is not always easy to ask others for patience in such situations, particularly when there are two or three issues with different documents from different therapy areas all being picked up at the same time and some stakeholders are working remotely. In other words, I am used to multitasking and stressful environments but much prefer preventing such situations occurring in the first place.

To conclude, I would stress my years of studio experience with a wide range of therapy areas, understanding of style guides, attention to detail and knowing what to look for. Building good relationships and working together is the key to success.