Volunteer Proofreading Program

The CTS Volunteer Proofreading Program has been set up to assist international students who desire help in correcting English mistakes in their papers. North Americans in the CTS community - students, spouses, staff, and friends – are invited to volunteer to proofread papers of international students who need such assistance. If you are a native English speaker who is interested in serving as a volunteer or an international student who desires proofreading assistance, please contact the Proofreading Program Coordinator Barry Stuart.

Proofreading Program Guidelines:


Proofreading:

  • What is included:

    Proofreading assistance is generally in the form of correcting mistakes in spelling, punctuation, word choice, and basic grammar/sentence structure.

  • What is not included:

    The author of each paper is solely responsible for the content of their paper. Proofreaders are not responsible for editing paragraph structure and/or for the organization of material within the paper. Further, proofreaders are not responsible for tutoring of general writing skills. Although proofreaders are sometimes willing to tutor students on an individual basis, such is beyond the normal scope of the proofreading program. Therefore, arrangements for tutoring must be made with the individual proofreaders themselves. Those individuals who agree to provide tutoring services to students may request compensation for such service. Otherwise, students who desire tutoring are encouraged to enroll in the ESL course taught at Calvin College.

Proofreading Process:

  1. Students submitting papers to be proofread should do so as a Word attachment to the following email address: proofreading@calvinseminary.edu. The following information must be included in the body of your email message: your name, your CTS email address, the name of the professor who assigned the paper, the course name, and the date that the professor requires submission of the paper by.
  2. The proofreading coordinator will distribute the papers in the queue daily to the proofreading volunteers.
  3. The normal turnaround timeframes for returning proofread papers to students is as follows:
    1. Papers less than 5 pages--3 days (not including the day that the paper is submitted to proofreading);
    2. Papers between 5 and 9 pages--5 days (not including the day that the paper is submitted to proofreading);
    3. Papers between 10 and 14 pages--7 days (not including the day that the paper is submitted to proofreading); and,
    4. Papers 15 pages or longer--student must email proofreading (proofreading@calvinseminary.edu) in advance to make special arrangements. Approximate turnaround timeframe is 10-14 days depending on the length of the paper submitted (again, not including the day that the paper is submitted).

    The number of pages indicated above does not include bibliography. It is the student's responsibility to submit papers so as to allow sufficient time for proofreading. Periodically these timeframes may need to be adjusted due to volume of papers submitted. In that event, students will be notified in advance by email.

  4. The student is responsible for any plagiarism. If the proofreaders detect improper citing of sources that could raise the issue of plagiarism, they will remind the student of CTS's plagiarism policy.
  5. Upon completion, the proofreader will notify the proofreading coordinator via email and submit a form to the professor who assigned the paper reporting on what proofreading he/she has done.

Proofreading Coordinator:

The purpose of the proofreading coordinator is to distribute the papers submitted for proofreading to the program's volunteers, insure that the papers are proofread in a timely manner, and address any related questions and/or concerns which students may have. In addition, the coordinator also proofreads papers submitted as he or she has time. The proofreading coordinator for the 2008/2009 school year is Barry Stuart. His email address is bstuart1@calvinseminary.edu.