In this day and age of globalization, English skill is one of the must-have ones to hold an edge over the rest. For an aspiring writer or a journalist, the English medium offers a diverse and larger audience. So naturally, the importance is immense. But the simple knowledge of the language and grammar isn’t enough to create a compelling piece. Proper editing and proofreading can make good writing into great writing. With that said, here are some top rated free online courses for learning English editing and proofreading to get started on the journey. Why Should You Learn English Editing and Proofreading? English is the most spoken second language in the world and the de-facto international mode of communication. With a basic knowledge of English, anyone can go about writing stuff. Of course, there is a huge difference between just writing and telling a story. Editing helps to make any writing clear and concise and adds or deletes certain parts of a complete piece. There are different types of editing and each follows a set of rules. Learning the process helps to identify what to implement where. Proofreading comes along with editing because let's be honest, who wants silly grammatical or spelling mistakes in their writing? Also Read: TEDx Talks: Everything You Need To Know The prospect of English writing is immense in the context of Bangladesh. From English dailies, blogs, and online news agencies to freelance copywriting gigs, the opportunities are endless. Most of these jobs are also home-based with a handsome payout. In short, it’s a great career opportunity for anyone into writing. Combine the interest with necessary editing and proofreading skills and one can be a master of words in no time. Top 8 Free Online Courses to Learn English Editing and Proofreading Online Proofreading Classes – Skillshare Proofreading makes up the basics of editing. This foundation course on proofreading is offered by Skillshare for beginners. This is a self-paced course that mainly follows the very basics of the proofreading process, identification, replacement, and contextual compatibility. The free course will take the learner from a beginner to an intermediate level. The course duration is 1 month but since this is a self-paced learning opportunity, learners can go about it at their own discretion. Read Best Native American Podcast Sites to Learn English Writing for Young Readers – Coursera This is another beginner-level editing and proofreading course offered by Coursera. The course has been designed in association with Commonwealth Education Trust for aspiring writers. The course focuses on editing and proofreading for storytelling. This self-paced learning will take the learners through cultural boundaries, narrative style, writing art form, and self-editing. The learning outcome from here can be implemented in investigative writing as well. It will take about 13 hours to complete the course. English Writing Skills – Alison The English writing course from Alison focuses on the basics of sentence structuring for cohesive storytelling. The course itself doesn’t focus on a specific stream. Rather it aims to educate the learners on different narrative and writing styles and where to apply them. Read Free English-Speaking Mobile Apps for the Non-native Speakers The course also focuses on audience management. It will entail different audience identification and demographic and learning to change the narrative style accordingly. This is a self-paced course that usually takes around 12 hours to complete.