What is Editing?

Editing involves an editor reviewing your draft document to correct mistakes. This includes fixing grammar and punctuation errors, misspelled words, and inconsistencies. An editor also makes suggestions and/or revisions to improve the flow and structure of documents. Different types of editing occur at different stages in the writing process. We discuss four of the main types of editing below.

Structural Editing

Structural editing is a more involved level of editing that occurs early on in the writing process. This stage is also referred to as substantive editing. In this stage, the focus is on organization, structure, argument, scope, audience, length, and style. At Editor World, structural editing would fall under our rewriting services.

Copy Editing

Copy editing focuses on the overall quality of a document. This includes revisions to remove grammar errors, misspelled words, punctuation issues, and typos. When needed, suggestions and revisions are made to help you improve the flow, clarity, and readability of your document. Your editor can also improve word choice and usage where necessary. Copy editing is included in Editor World’s editing services.

Line Editing

Line editing focuses on the paragraphs and sentences within a document, improving the flow, clarity, and readability.

Proofreading

The final step of editing is proofreading. The purpose of proofreading is to find any remaining errors and mistakes. These are the small typos and misspellings that you spot when you’re reading published work. The goal is to remove these small errors.

The Writing and Editing Process

As you’re writing a document, you likely do some writing and then go back and review your work. You may move sentences or paragraphs around, remove some content, and add text to other areas. This is part of the editing process, where you’re editing your own work. The writing process can take a long time, and the more you read through your document the more difficult it can be to thoroughly edit it yourself. This is where a professional editor can be so valuable.

When you submit your written document to a professional editor, they are looking at your document as an average reader but also with the critical eye they’ve developed over years of editing. They can more easily identify areas that don’t flow, sections and sentences that may confuse readers, and mistakes such as grammar errors or misspelled words. They will also see inconsistencies in terms. For example, your document may have two different spellings for an author you’re citing (Fisher and Fischer) and they will point out this issue.

After you receive your edited document from the editor, you can review their revisions using Microsoft Word’s Track Changes Markup. You will be able to see where they’ve added or removed content as well as any comments they’ve added. If you make additional revisions based on the editor's feedback, the document should go through another round of editing, or proofreading at the least.

Why is Editing Needed?

You probably understand by now why editing is so important. All pieces of written work can be improved by an editor, from dissertations to novels, and from pamphlets to terms and conditions. Editing and proofreading improve any written text. Every document needs a second eye to make sure that your writing is presented as professionally as possible.

Everybody makes mistakes. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to catch them all in your own work, as you are the one writing it and already know it inside out and backwards. Having an editor means that you don’t have to worry about publishing or submitting your documents with these embarrassing errors; instead, your work is at its best.

A professional editor also helps make your work more accessible to its readers. This comes down to improving the flow of a document, but also adjusting certain words where needed to improve comprehension. In addition, an editor will make sure you are writing for your intended audience. Just think of the difference in style between a fiction book and a dissertation. While contractions such as ‘don’t’ are perfectly fine for a novel, they are much too informal for a serious dissertation.

In short, editing removes errors, improves your workflow, and enhances your language and style. Why would your writing not benefit from a little TLC? Editing is crucial for fixing the last few problems with your writing to make it ready to go out into the world and be read. What’s not to like?

About Editor World: Writing, Editing, & Proofreading Services

Editor World makes the process of writing, editing, and proofreading simple. Simply register as a client, choose your writer or editor, submit your request with payment, and take a well-earned break while we perfect your content. Our prices are transparent and you get to choose your own writer or editor. All writers and editors on our team are native English speakers.