English Editing and Proofreading

This article explains the difference between editing and proofreading and provides some tips and strategies for revising your writing. Examining these tips will allow you to carefully correct or rewrite your article.

What is the difference between editing and proofreading?

Although many people may use these terms interchangeably, editing and proofreading are two different steps in the review process. Both require careful reading, but focus on different aspects of the text and use different techniques. proofreading occurs after editing. This means that proofreading is a surface-level check and is final check performed on a document. So,  proofreading includes checking misspellings, inconsistencies (textual and numerical), and incorrect/missed punctuation. However, language editor looks for issues, such as language clarity, which is at the heart of writing. As a result, editing improves the readability, clarity, and tone of the text.

Tips used for both editing and proofreading include

•       Forget the text for a short time! Editing or correcting an article you just finished writing is not easy because it is still being reviewed in your brain and is very close and familiar, and you tend to go through a lot of mistakes. It is better to leave your text aside for a short period, for example, a few days or a few weeks, and do not think about it, and during this time, focus on your daily routine. Then, read and review your article again. This is where you can better review it. You can even give this text to a friend — you can not go much further. The person who reads the article for the first time comes to it with completely new eyes.
•        Select the media you need. Decide which media allows you to correct more accurately. Some people like to work directly behind the computer, while others like to sit next to a printed version that they can mark while reading.
•       Change the appearance of your text. Changes in the size, spacing, color, or style of text may trick your brain into thinking it sees an unfamiliar document, so you can have a different perspective on what you have written.
•       Choose a quiet place to work. Find a place where you can focus and avoid distractions. Choosing a quiet place will allow you to review your text more accurately.
•       Do your editing and correction in a few short time blocks. Correcting the whole text at one time will strain your eyes and brain, and this lack of focus will prevent you from having an accurate and correct projection.
•       Prioritize. When you feel you do not have much time, it is better to prioritize to make sure that you have completed the most important editing tasks.

What is editing?

Editing is a process to improve the overall quality of the text to create an article in the best way. It can be said that art editing uses the creativity of the audience to affect emotions.

Editing is a correcting opportunity to carefully examine spelling and grammar. It is meant to make sure that the meaning and idea of ​​an article are conveyed to the audience in the best possible way. So, editing may also include a closer look at the content itself, the use of subject matter expertise to clarify the text, and the examination of facts.

What is Content Editing?

Content editing is the process by which professional editing is provided to help upgrade a manuscript to a publishable standard. Content editing may seem simple, but in reality, content editing is a much more complex process. Also at this stage, the suitability of the article for market evaluation and review of the relevance of the article genre is done.

It also checks to see if you have done all the homework you need to do. Are your claims true? If so, does your article argue? Is the argument complete? Do all your claims match?

Overall structure

One way to look at the structure of an article is to create an inverted outline of the article after writing the first draft and review a few points.

The proportion of introduction and conclusion of the article

Express the clarity of the article in the introduction

Clear conveyance in the paragraphs

Structure within paragraphs

In this section, we examine whether each paragraph has a clear thematic sentence. Does each paragraph stick to one main idea? Are there any extra or missing sentences in each of your paragraphs?

The clarity in the text

You should note that if you have defined an important term, it is not unclear to your reader and also the meaning of each sentence is clear (to make sure of this, read your article one sentence at a time, start from the end and go back to subconsciously the contents of previous sentences Do not fill in). It must be clear who or what the pronoun refers to. Choose the right words for your ideas.

Text style

The use of appropriate tone in the text (formal, informal, and persuasive) is very important. It is also important to check the correct use of gender (masculine and feminine pronouns, and words that some people mistakenly assume only for one gender). Length and structure of your sentences also affect the clarity of the text. So, examining such points will help you to have an appropriate piece of writing.

Article citation

You must state clearly that you have given the quotes and ideas you received from the sources correctly and that your citations are in the correct format.

As you edit at all these levels, you usually make significant revisions to the content and text of your article. Knowing what kind of problems you have will be helpful. Once you have identified a pattern, you can develop techniques for identifying and correcting subsequent examples of that pattern.

What is Proofreading?

The final step in the editing process is called a correction, which actually focuses on superficial errors such as misspellings and grammar and punctuation errors. This step is done after all the edits are completed

Is correction more important or content?

Content is definitely more important. But what matters most is the appearance of an article and how others judge it. When you work hard to develop and present your ideas, you do not want to mislead your reader about what you are saying. It is worth paying attention to the details that will help you make a good impression.

Most writers take a short time to correct and correct, hoping to find any obvious errors that pop up. But a quick study, especially after working on an article for a long, hard time, usually loses a lot. It is better for writers to spend more time and attention on this or find the right way to correct it. Although this takes more time, but it gives a good result. You may find an effective way to detect errors when the article is almost finished, so you can worry less about editing while writing the first drafts.

Be sure to keep the editing and proofreading steps separate. You do not have to worry about punctuation, grammar and spelling when editing the original draft. Otherwise you can not focus on the more important work of developing and linking ideas.

The proofreading process

In this section, we try to explain strategies to you so that you can easily and better perform the correction process.

• Do not rely entirely on misspellings. These can be useful tools, but they are far from error-prone. Spell checkers have a limited dictionary, so some words that are misspelled may not be in their memory.
• Checking grammar can be even more problematic. These programs work with a limited number of rules, so they can not detect every error and often make mistakes. They also do not provide a complete explanation to help you understand why a sentence should be revised.

• Correct only one type of error at a time. If you try to identify and correct many things at once, you run the risk of losing focus and your correction will be less effective.
• Read slowly and word for word. Try to read aloud, which forces you to say each word and also lets you hear the words together.
• Divide the text into separate sentences. This is another technique that will help you read each sentence carefully. Just press the return key after each point to start each line with a new sentence. Then read each sentence separately and look for grammatical, punctuation, or spelling mistakes.
• Draw the circle of each punctuation mark. This forces you to look at each one. And keep repeating in your mind whether the marking is correct or not.
• Read the paper backward. This technique is useful for checking to spell. Start with the last word on the last page and go back to the beginning and read each word separately.

You can also read sentence by sentence to check the grammar. This will help you avoid getting caught up in content issues.

When to choose a proofreading service?

When you are sure about the language and structure of your manuscript and only need a basic grammar checking to minimize misspellings, typographical problems, and punctuation errors, you should use a proofreading service. Moreover, proofreading is suitable for you when your manuscript has been edited several times and now needs to be double-checked before its submission.

When to choose an editing service?

When your paper requires significant revisions for clarity, readability, and flow, you should contact an English editor. So, to polish and refine your writing, you’ll need to work closely with the editor.

Proofreading is offered as a distinct service by some online editing services, while it is also offered as part of an editing service by others. To put it another way, an editing service can include proofreading, but a proofreading service cannot.