Proofreading the 1917 JPS

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 English texts requires a careful eye, and can be aided by existing tools. Some mistakes are more common than others.

To proofread text for the Open Siddur, one needs to already be familiar with the process of Transcription. 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. English-language pages have the word "English" in their page names. One assign 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 grammatical or 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.

Common mistakes
Look for the following types of common mistakes while proofreading:
 * Substitution of "0" (number zero) for "O" (letter O)
 * Substitution of "c" for "e" (as in "thc" instead of "the")
 * Misspelled proper names
 * Lack of ALL CAPS or SMALL CAPS (the 1917 JPS always capitalizes "the LORD")
 * Misuse of special quotation marks marks (backtick (`) for start, single quote (') for end, single quote (') for apostrophe).
 * Incorrectly placed newlines or line breaks.
 * Missing verse numbers.
 * A missing page number at the top of the page, which must be followed by an enter press.