What does it mean to edit a document?
It’s no wonder authors are often unsure what editing services they need for their document or manuscript. The term editing seems to be used interchangeably to refer to copyediting, proofreading, substantive editing, content editing, and technical editing. So what does it mean to edit a document?
Defined Edition
A simple definition of publishing is improving text of some kind, whether it is published for millions or for a university class. Editing services aim to ensure that the copy is well written, of high quality and free of errors. Publishing as a service is important for a variety of copy types. Perhaps it will appear online as a blog or article, in a magazine or newspaper, as an ad or poster, or as an entire book.
There are several types of manuscript manipulation techniques that require understanding to fully understand where editing lies within the publication process. The related services we will cover are copyediting, substantive editing, and proofreading.
copy editing
Copyeditors generally provide line-by-line or sentence-by-sentence editing services. This means they’ll make suggestions for sentence structure, flow, and word choice, and correct any errors they find in grammar, spelling, or punctuation. They will check the format and alignment with applicable style guides, such as the Chicago Manual of Style or the American Psychological Association (APA) style. These style guides are especially particular when it comes to references and citation lists in academic or technical papers.
Proofreading generally does not include providing suggestions for style and consistency throughout the document, especially if it is a book-sized work. The style correction focuses more on each sentence, word and paragraph. Sometimes copyeditors communicate with authors, but often they don’t.
noun edition
Substantive editing, also known as development editing, addresses the organization of ideas within a document and goes deeper into meaning and tone for the intended audience than style editing. A substantive editor will pay attention to how ideas are organized, wording, and readability.
Development or substantive editors will also pay attention to consistency of tone, language, and word usage throughout the document. They may or may not be responsible for correcting grammatical or spelling errors, since their focus is on the complete presentation of the text.
Proofreading
The revision can be considered as the “superficial” type of editing. Proofreaders look for typos and errors in text that has already been edited. Your job is to catch anything the editor or proofreader missed. They pay no attention to the themes or the overall tone.
Editing and proofreading, unlike proofreading, can include grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, style, consistency, word choice, tone, paragraph length, and much more. Often when people say “edit,” they mean a deeper, substantive, or developmental edit. Sometimes, however, “edit” is used to refer to proofreading.
That’s why it’s always a good idea to clarify if you’re not sure what kind of service you need for your document, or if you’ve been asked to edit something. A simple clarifying answer will reveal whether the document should be scanned for errors or modified to improve the quality of the writing.
Hiring an editor is always a good idea for school newspapers; online publications such as blogs, newsletters, or articles; important correspondence; copy of the website; or self-published books. Each project will differ in its development or review editing needs. Therefore, it is important to consider how deeply the text needs to be revised to achieve the ultimate goal of communicating with the intended audience.
Originally published on https://www.EditorWorld.com.