Proofreading Style Sheet Template
The style sheet is the single most useful document in this trade and the one beginners skip. It is where you record every decision you made that the text did not make for you, so the job is consistent, defensible and, when the client asks why you changed something on page 200, answerable in one line.
See the coursesEverything on this page is yours to copy and adapt. The courses cover the decisions behind it: what to charge, what to promise, and what to put in writing.
What yours needs to cover
- ✓ A header naming the style guide and dictionary in force, and the language variant
- ✓ A running word list for spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation decisions
- ✓ A numbers section covering when to spell out, date format, times and ranges
- ✓ A names list for people, places and products, which is where consistency quietly fails
- ✓ A section for the client preferences that override the style guide
- ✓ A queries log, so an unresolved question is recorded rather than silently decided
How to use it
- Start it before the first page, with the style guide, dictionary and language variant named.
- Add every decision as you make it, not afterwards from memory.
- Record the choice and not the reasoning, so the sheet stays quick to scan.
- Send it with the finished job, because it is genuinely useful to the client and it demonstrates the work.
Proofreading Style Sheet Template FAQs
What if the client has no style guide?
Then you build the sheet from the text: follow what the document already does most consistently, record it, and query the cases where it does two things equally often. Imposing a guide the client never asked for is a scope decision, not a proofreading one.
Is a style sheet the same as a style guide?
No, and the difference matters. A style guide is a published book of general rules. A style sheet is the short record of what was decided for this one document, including the places where it departs from the guide.
Should I send the style sheet to the client?
Yes. It costs nothing, it answers most of the questions a client would otherwise email you, and it is concrete evidence of the care taken. It is also the fastest way to make a one-off job into a standing arrangement, because the next document starts from it.
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