Page:Chicago manual of style 1911.djvu/132

Rh HINTS TO PROOFREADERS

Read everything as if you yourself were the author.

Be particularly careful about proper names and figures.

If the copy is not perfectly clear, or if you have reason to doubt its correctness, look it up, or query it to the author.

In asking questions of authors or editors, make your point clear. A simple query is often not enough to draw attention to the particular point you have in mind. Queries in the manuscript should be transferred to the proof, or attention should be directed in the proof to the queries made by the copy-reader in the manuscript.

Be discreet about your queries. Do not stultify yourself and discredit the office by asking foolish questions on the proof. The author will be thankful for any sensible suggestion you may make, but will resent trivial criticisms.

Make a study of the "personal equation" in the case of those individuals (editors and others) with whom you as a proofreader will constantly have to deal. One person may expect of you as a matter of course what another might regard as an unwarranted interference.

Never hesitate to correct anything that is palpably wrong, however positively the copy may assert the contrary. Remember that the blame for the error will eventually be laid at your door, and justly so.

Do not follow copy blindly, unreasoningly. Follow copy only when, and as far as, it is correct. Whether or