HOW WE WORK IN EDITING AND PROOFREADING

It depends on what you need, copy editing, structural editing, an assessment or proofreading.

Copy Editing:
Copy editing involves more extensive scrutiny of grammar, wording, paragraph and sentence structure, and also examines the continuity and flow of the subject matter. The actual content of your document remains unchanged - this is especially important with regards to student essays.

Structural Editing:
Structural editing involves getting into the nitty gritty of the manuscript or document. For example, in a fiction novel – did the fifty-year-old woman, first see her long-lost love sixty years ago? In non-fiction - does the content flow sensibly? Is step B the logical successor to step A or should they be the other way around?

Assessment:
An assessment involves reading the work and providing a report. It’s similar to structural editing (see above) only without actually doing any editing. The report will detail any areas that need work, eg character development, language, grammar and plot, while also outlining the work’s strengths.

Proofreading:
The last person to see the document before final printing is the proofreader. The proofreader receives a ‘proof’ copy of the document, in other words exactly as it’s going to look when printed (including the fancy fonts), and checks, that all the corrections have been made and that no other errors have slipped in during the typesetting process.

PLEASE NOTE WE DO NOT REWRITE OR FACT CHECK A DOCUMENT. The only time we change a document will be for spelling, grammar, continuity, layout, or general knowledge purposes.

When we are working on your document by computer we use Microsoft Word’s ‘Track Changes’ feature, which will highlight the changes in red. You can accept or reject these changes as you wish.

On hard copy we will mark changes in red pen. We will include a list of the proofreading marks used when your document is returned.

In reference to any changes other than spelling, grammar or punctuation that we suggest - you may ignore at your wish. They are only suggestions.