Volunteer - Proofreading and Formatting

For most books, you can simply download the Microsoft Word file, make your changes, and e-mail the file back to us when you are done. It's that easy! If you want to proof or markup only part of a book, you can send us your updated Word file when you decide to stop. Some books only have page images and need to be prepared first; see "Preparing the Text" below if you are interested.

Tasks
  • Proofing
    • Make corrections in the Microsoft Word document as you read.
    • Compare to page images online for accuracy.
  • Basic Formatting
    • Format the title page, section headings, block quotes to look like the print edition (page images).
    • Footnotes (the regular Microsoft Word way).
    • Ignore table of contents and scripture index (these will be generated automatically).
    • Don't get lost in details. Just make it look as much like the page images as you can.
  • Markup
    • Sub-headings
    • Scripture references
    • Page breaks
Explanation of Tasks

  • Proofreading is easy. All you need is a desire to read, an eye for detail, and the Microsoft Word markup file with text properly pasted in. After that, simply make corrections to the document as you read, checking your work with the page images online.

  • Formatting is fairly simple. Just make the text of the Word document look like the text in the page images. No need to be exactly the same. The important things to look for are text size, alignment and bold/italics. Add footnotes as regular Word footnotes.

  • [CCEL markup with Microsoft Word styles]
    Choosing the "div2" style
    from the Word style menu    Markup is already present in the Word document labeled "Microsoft Word htm w/markup." This file usually contains main section headings (red bars with white text, the "div1" style) and page breaks (small brown boxes with white text, the "pb" style).
    Sections: Using Microsoft Word styles, you can mark any section and sub-section headings that should appear in the Table of Contents. First type (or copy and paste) the heading text just before the original heading text, then select the new heading text and choose "div1" from the style menu. Use the "div1" style for the highest level (such as "Book I", "Book II", etc), and use "div2" and "div3" for lower levels (such as "Chapter I" or "Section I").
    Page breaks: To keep consistent with the print edition, we need to mark where the original page breaks fall in the text. You can add these by typing the page number in the text where that page begins, then selecting the number and choosing "pb" from the style menu.
    Scripture references: You can mark incomplete scripture references, such as "in chapter 5 v. 8", by following this example (insert red code around verse reference):

    <scripRef passage="Romans 5:8">chapter 5 v. 8</scripRef>
    You do not need to mark complete references like the following, which are found automatically:
    • John 3:16
    • John 3 v. 16
    • John iii. xvi
    • John 3:16-17, 19; 4:1
Tips for Faster Work
  • Keyboard Shortcuts: In Microsoft Word, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to a style so that, instead of finding that style on the style menu, you can just use the keyboard shortcut. For example, instead of choosing "div1" from the style menu, you could assign the shortcut Alt-1 to the div1 style. To do this, first open the "Styles and Formatting" sidebar (Word 2003: choose menu option Format -> Styles and Formatting; Word 2007: on the Styles ribbon, click the expand button). Then right-click on the style name, choose "Modify", click "Format"->"Shortcut Key". Then assign your shortcut. In our example, you can now apply the div1 style to a heading by selecting the heading text and pressing Alt-1.
Preparing the Text
For books that only have page images online, someone will need to prepare the Microsoft Word document before it can be easily proofed and formatted. To help, follow these instructions:
  • Choose a book from the list of page-image-only books.
  • On the Book Info page for your chosen book, download the Word document labeled "Microsoft Word htm w/markup."
  • Download the other Word document labeled "Microsoft Word (custom)."
  • Replace page images in the "markup" document with appropriate text from the "custom" document (e.g. paste text for page 3 in place of page image for page 3).
  • When you have finished, e-mail us your Word file.
  • If you need further instructions, let us know.