What is Document Editing?

Document editing and proofreading services involve revising written text to improve clarity, readability, and overall flow, as well as making sure the grammar, spelling, punctuation, and syntax are all correct. A professional document editor can also provide suggestions on the content or other components of a document. Document editing and proofreading services are used in a variety of fields, including business, academia, and the publishing industry, to develop documents that look professional and are free of errors. Editing and proofreading a document you've spent a lot of time working on can be difficult because your eyes and brain are familiar with the content, making it harder to spot issues and errors.

Within the broader category of document editing and proofreading services, editors often offer various levels of editing. Document copy editing focuses on the language used, and is mainly focused on spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax. A professional document editor will also look at word usage, repetition, inconsistencies, and jargon. The document editor will most likely ask you when you submit your work to them if your work needs to follow a particular style. You should let the editor know if the document needs to follow US or UK English, for example, or any other particular things you need, such as use of a formal, academic, or business tone.

When you purchase document editing and proofreading services, it is important to let your editor know what you need at the beginning of the editing process. Providing clear, explicit instructions helps your editor know what you are looking for so they can edit the document accordingly. A few examples of these instructions include the level of editing you require, any particular style your document needs to follow, who the audience is, and when you need to receive the edited document.

Also within the broader category of document editing and proofreading services is substantive editing (also called content editing), which is the most intensive form of editing. With substantive editing, the document editor focuses on the structure, organization, style, and presentation of your document. The document editor may move sections in your document, cut text from one part and add it to another section, and rewrite parts of the document to provide better clarity. Professional document editing and proofreading services are imperative for documents that are long as well as documents that are important to the writer and the audience of the document. There is nothing more frustrated than trying to read written material that is difficult to interpret and/or has a large number of errors.

Most document editors will edit any references or bibliography included in your work, but you should confirm with your editor to ensure this will also be done. References and bibliographies can be hard to put together correctly, so it does help to have a second pair of eyes go over this section. You should also provide the editor with information on how the references should be formatted. A document editing and proofreading service provider has experience editing reference lists and citations and will be able to get them into publishable form, saving you time.

Most document editors like to communicate with their clients during the editing process. This could be by emailing queries to you or adding comments to the document. This lets you know the editor cares about the work they are doing, and also allows you to have input into the process, letting the editor know what you want. When you purchase document editing and proofreading services, the document editor should always be available for questions during the editing process.

The final stage of document editing is proofreading, where someone ensures all the mistakes have been corrected. Proofreading essentially assures that the editor has done a good job. Most publishing houses have all copy proofread after being edited by their staff because, as stated above, it helps to have a second pair of eyes go over your document. A document must go through several stages of editing as well as proofreading in order to be as error-free as possible.

Professional editors providing document editing and proofreading services generally use track changes when editing a document. This lets you see what has been changed; you can then accept or decline the changes made. It is important for you, as the writer and owner of the document, to understand how to use Track Changes, which is a feature available in most word processing programs like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Even the most established authors have their work edited and proofread. I'm going to say it again. It always helps to have a second pair of eyes review a document!

 Editor World's Document Editing Services

Editor World is your on-demand, personal editing team. Editor World offers professional document editing services at affordable prices. All editors are native English speakers from the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada and have passed a stringent test on editing and proofreading skills.