Foxtrot Language Services

Guidelines for making corrections:

Each time you complete one of Foxtrot’s HITs, you will be helping someone ensure their English is written in a correct, natural-sounding way. Many of the submissions you will see are written by people whose first language is not English; your corrections help them to communicate more clearly and professionally with English speakers.

Please note that there are two kinds of Foxtrot HITs:

1. Proofread English Text – Ensure the grammar and spelling are correct but try to make minimal changes.
2. Copy Edit English Text – Ensure grammar and spelling are correct and make changes and suggestions to improve the style and flow of the text.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING WORK ON ANY FOXTROT HITS:

It is important that you carefully read the text within each HIT and make any necessary corrections. In general, please err on the side of more formal writing as many of the submissions you’ll see are for business-related communications. Before beginning to make any corrections, please read and acknowledge any context notes left by the original author.

Some examples of things you should correct include:

• Any obvious spelling or grammar errors.
• Capitalizing words as necessary (The words at the beginning of a sentence, proper names, titles, etc).
• Spelling out ‘text talk’: “i’m gonna c u b4 xmas” should be corrected to “I’m going to see you before Christmas.”
• Adding missing or incorrect punctuation.

Some examples of things you should not correct include:

• Names, acronyms, technical terms (If you suspect something is incorrect, please note it in the comments but do not change it within the text box).
• If you see emoji (or empty character boxes) within the text, please do not delete them.
• Anything that is already technically correct -- there is a comment box where you can make suggestions if you think something could be written in a more pleasing way. (This point is applicable ONLY to Proofread English Text HITs)

Occasionally you might see a submission that looks like a question asking which phrase is more correct. In those cases please follow the procedure outlined here:

• If one phrase is incorrect, please delete it and submit the HIT with only the correct phrase showing.
• If both phrases are correct, please make a note of that in the provided comment box.
• If both phrases are incorrect, try to correct the one you think is best and delete the other. If that’s not possible, please make a note in the comment box explaining why.

Using the comment box:

A comment box is available in each of our HITs to provide extra information to the person who has submitted the text. Please feel free to use that space to give suggestions, tips, or to point out anything you did not correct because you were uncertain about something. You will find a selection of pre-written comments by clicking the +Canned Comments link directly above the comment box.

Any comments you write are sent directly to the original authors to help them better understand the revisions they have received. As such, please choose your words carefully when you leave comments; try to stick to positive notes and simple explanations if you choose to leave a comment. Please try to avoid writing comments in the form of a question.

When you complete a revision, the person who wrote the original text will receive a detailed markup of their work. To see an example of how this looks, click on the "See changes" button at the top right of the HIT workspace. Because each change you make is clearly shown to the person who submitted the text, you do not need to describe the changes you have made.

Sometimes you will not need to make any changes or there will not be enough context provided for you to make changes:

If you are certain that a submission does not require any changes, then please tick the box marked “No changes required/needed” and choose a reason from the dropdown menu.

HITs will be reviewed by our staff within 7 days. Please make sure your corrections are accurate. Workers who do not provide a sufficient level of quality might be prevented from working on our HITs. For any questions or feedback, please contact us at foxtrot.lang.services@gmail.com.