Laura Ripper
Advanced Professional Member| Location | New Mills, HIGH PEAK, Derbyshire |
| Mobile | 07737 820 530 |
| .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | |
| Web | www.lauraripperproofreading.com |
| Laura Ripper | |
| @laura_ripper | |
Skills
- Plain-English editing
- On-screen editing and proofreading
- Website editing
- Copy-editing
Media
- Marketing materials
- PhD theses
- Public sector and charity reports
- Websites
- Journal articles
- Course materials
- School reports
Qualifications and awards
- BA English Studies (2:1), University of Exeter
- Professional Certificate in Marketing (Level 4), Chartered Institute of Marketing
- Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), International House London
Experience
- 2012 onwards: Independent copy-editor and proofreader
- 2010–2013: Communications officer, Digital Outreach
- 2008–2010: Editor, Foundations
- 2004–2007: Editor, Plain English Campaign
Recent training
- Annual conference (CIEP) 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017
- Web editing (CIEP) 2021
- Editing with Word (SfEP) 2018
- References (SfEP) 2016
- Copy-editing headway (SfEP) 2016
- Brush up your grammar (SfEP) 2016
Recent clients
- Blue Stream Academy
- British Journal of Community Justice
- Door22 Creative
- Hémecht
- Home-Start UK
- Kääntämö Translations
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- Osprey Games
- Rethink Press
- Social Value Lab
- The University of Sheffield
- Independent non-fiction authors (academic articles, funding applications, books)
Subjects
- Public information (in plain English)
- Public sector (education, environment, older people, people with disabilities)
- Not-for-profit sector (environment, working animals, digital literacy, early childhood, lifesaving)
- Local government
- Marketing (including house style and brand guidelines)
- Academic (humanities - pre-submission journal articles, funding applications, PhD theses)
- Business (corporate social responsibility - reports, website content, marketing and communications materials)
- Interests (board games, cycling, swimming, adventure)
- Development (organisational, personal)
I'm a reliable and supportive copy-editor and proofreader with over 15 years' experience. My clients include businesses, charities, creative agencies, translation agencies, academics and universities.
I specialise in plain-English editing (also known as plain-language editing), reports and business documents, thesis and dissertation proofreading, and texts written by authors whose first langugage isn't English. Before becoming an independent editor I worked in the not-for-profit sector for several years and taught English as a foreign language in Russia and China.
Recent projects include:
- Plain-English editing – information about compensation for landowners, guidance for charities on applying for funding
- Copy-editing – chapters for an academic book, board-game rulebook and scenario book, manuscript on personal development
- Proofreading – annual report in PDF, journal article for publication
Please get in touch if you'd like to talk to me about your project and the service you need.
Testimonials
We were going round in circles with our website text and needed a breakthrough. Laura got to grips with everything really quickly and did a super-fantastic job consistent with the “business text – plain english” brief. She’s professional, easy to work with and really great at her job. What is there not to love? Marks out of 10? 20!
Peter Matthews, Founder & CEO, Metro Communications
Laura was the copy editor for Scotland’s State of the Environment report, 2014. The report summarises the condition of Scotland's environment and the challenges it faces, and was written by over 30 authors from 13 different organisations. Copy-editing the 85,000 words produced was obviously a challenge and Laura's input was indispensable. Laura worked with us to refine the text, not only ensuring consistency but also improving the language and challenging us to tell a clear story to our audience. She was efficient, met punishing deadlines and quickly grasped the ethos of what we were trying to achieve, then helped ensure we lived up to it. Her constructive criticism and the clarity of her language significantly improved the final report.
Nathan Critchlow-Watton, SEPA, chair of the SoE Editorial Group
Thank you so much for your help with the thesis. It has been invaluable. I feel so much more confident now handing it in. It's been great that you have questioned me so that I have had to re-think some things again and write them in a clearer way. I will definitely recommend your services to anyone in need.
Mari, PhD student, psychology
In my experience, Laura Ripper's proofreading is excellent. She is highly skilled in her work and provides a tailored service. She not only corrects inconsistencies with sensitivity to the text but she seeks to find the voice of the author in order to really understand the script. Her proof suggestions are wise as well as detailed, increasing the impact of the writing, and giving me new confidence in my work. Highly recommended.
Alison, author