Proofreading Tutorial

Please keep this page open in a separate tab or window. You can then easily refer back to the tutorial as necessary while you gain your first experience proofreading.

Proofreading is the third step (after scanning and transcription) to bring a printed document online. This tutorial shows, by example, what you need to know in order to be an effective proofreader. Proofreading Hebrew texts with vowels requires a careful eye. Some mistakes are more common than others. Errors in the vowels are more common than errors in the consonants.

To proofread text for the Open Siddur, one needs to already be familiar with the Transcription Tutorial. It helps to be an experienced transcriber before taking on any proofreading responsibilities.

Starting Up
Proofreading is done here on the wiki using the same interface as that of the transcription interface.

Pages available for proofreading are listed on this index of pages to be proofread. One assigns pages to oneself for proofreading just as one had for transcription.

Proofreading Rules
While proofreading, correct all the mistakes that you find.

'''By "mistake" we mean either,


 * 1) the difference between the transcribed text and the text as it appears in the original document, or
 * 2) a mistake in applying the rules in the Transcription Tutorial.

This stage is not the place to edit and adapt transcribed text according to one's own liturgical philosophy.

Please look over the text more than once before passing the text to the next stage, Encoding.

When you are finished proofreading, change the status of the document to "Encoding-open" and save the page.

A Proofreading Exercise for Newbies
While this tutorial is open in one window, take a look at the transcribed text shown at Page:Seder-Avodat-Yisrael_ProofreadingExampleUnmarked.jpg.

How many transcription mistakes did you find?

Select this text to unhide the answer: 25.

The mistakes are labeled in Page:Seder-Avodat-Yisrael_ProofreadingExample.jpg.

They are explained below (select the text to view the mistakes): They are:
 * (1),(8),(9),(16),(17) Missing meteg.
 * (2) Added word that is not in the original text.
 * (3),(12),(19) Transcription policy violation: paragraph/instruction should be set off by 2 lines.
 * (4) The "instruct" keyword is spelled incorrectly.
 * (5),(18) Incorrect vowel. Should be qamats.
 * (6),(7),(23),(25) Missing holam dot.
 * (10) Not really an error: the scan is rubbed out and looks like it might have a hiriq in place of tsere.
 * (11) Transcription policy violation: Missing page number.
 * (13) Incorrect punctuation. Should be comma, not period.
 * (14) Incorrect consonant. Should be sin-sin dot, not samekh.
 * (20) Incorrect vowel. Should be hataf qamats.
 * (21) Missing shin dot.
 * (22) Missing dagesh.
 * (24) Extra dagesh.