Editing Services Introduction

Copy editing

Copy editing is also called micro-editing or language editing. It involves applying the following measures:

• Applying a set of rules by:
  • Bringing the text in line with acceptable grammar practices;
  • Correcting spelling; and
  • Applying punctuation.
• Line-by-line, micro-level editing;
• Using and applying the house style of the publication or organisation;
• Finding tiny errors in typescripts by mechanically working through the text;
• Ensuring that certain typographic and other related elements are in place;
• Checking factual consistency;
• Standardising the citation and referencing system;
• Checking and editing captions;
• Checking and editing running heads;
• Checking and listing copyright permissions; and
• Providing useful comments to the author.

Structural editing

Structural editing is also called macro-editing. It consists of two main exercises, namely, the editing of ideas and arguments (the conceptual structure), and the editing of the physical structure.

• Conceptual structure
  • Checking whether the problem is presented properly;
  • Checking whether a tentative solution is laid out;
  • Checking whether there are arguments for and against the topic; and
  • Checking whether there is a conclusion.
• Physical structure
  • Checking lists, running heads, hierarchies of headings and subheadings;
  • Looking for confusing or incomplete headings;
  • Looking for headlines or headings that do not match the table of contents;
  • Looking for inconsistency of graphs and tables;
  • Looking for missing markers;
  • Looking for acronyms used without explanation;
  • Looking for empty or false backward references;
  • Looking for inflexible references to graphs and tables; and
  • Looking for and fixing poor paragraphing

Stylistic editing

Stylistic editing is about improving readability. This is done through tailoring and smoothing:

• Improving by tailoring
  • Remove obstacles to understanding by:
    • Replacing difficult words with simpler words;
    • Making sentences shorter;
    • Minimising use of punctuation; and
    • Using as few acronyms and as little jargon as possible.
  • Avoiding unfamiliar terms;
  • Using a setting, time, and place familiar to intended readers;
  • Going for the lowest denominator if writing for a mass readership; and
  • Using plain language.
• Improving by smoothing
  • Ensuring that readers would be able to read a sentence once and understand it;
  • Ensuring good inter-sentence connections;
  • Avoiding confusing wordiness;
  • Avoiding awkward, difficult-to-follow sentence structures; and
  • Varying sentence lengths

Proofreading

Proofreading is about hunting down any errors that remain after editing is done. It is a surface and largely mechanical process (line-editing).

• Surface process by
  • Scanning the final copy for remaining spelling, grammar, and syntax errors; and
  • Focusing only on the correctness of the text.
• Mechanical process by
  • Looking for remaining spelling errors, punctuation errors, typos, and obvious errors (e.g., their/there);
  • Looking with an eye that is trained to pick up errors automatically corrected by our brains;
  • Checking of all formatting, including
    • typeface & size;
    • page numbering; and
    • correct sizing and numbering of headings and subheadings.
  • Reading slowly/backwards/page halves separately.