Easy ways of Editing and Proofreading an Essay

Publication Date: 04 Jun 2018

How long does it take to write an essay? Most likely you will answer 50% of the time or something like that. Although, you will be surprised if you find out that the correct answer is 5-10%. So what is the rest of the time spent on? The answer is very clear. The rest of the time is spent on analysis, preparation and elaboration of a concept including its check and solution of related problems. This takes 70 % of the time. Another 20 – 25% is taken with editing and proofreading. And this is normal that editing and proofreading of a text take more time than its writing.

Main Differences between Editing and Proofreading

Amount of work

A proofreader performs the elementary work – eliminates grammatical, punctuation mistakes, monitors the technical side and attractiveness of the text.

The editor goes deeper. He must understand the content of the work; embrace the thoughts and feelings of the author. Editing text takes more time than proofreading. For example, the editor quickly rewrites the complex sentence, divide it into two, and change some words and phrases replacing them with more suitable ones. Meanwhile, the task of the proofreader is to correct typos and errors. He should not significantly change the meaning or the style of the article.

Tasks of Essay Editing Service

The responsibilities of a proof-reader include:

checking the compliance of the text with the normative requirements of the language;

correction of abbreviations, notations and other features of the text;

verification of the constituents of the text;

final proofreading of the material before its publication.

The editor is obliged to:

check and eliminate stylistic errors in the text;

check the accuracy of the information and terms usage;

eliminate logical errors in the content;

increase the information content of the text (remove unnecessary words and expressions);

select more precise formulations and verbal constructions that will not affect the meaning of the original.

Sequence of Execution

Editing is done before proofreading. First of all, an editor eliminates all the shortcomings of the text and corrects errors. When it is done, the proofreader starts to work.

In general, the task of the editor is more difficult, since he or she often works with “raw” materials. But this is only at first glance: the proofreader pays perhaps even more attention to the text, especially at the stage of the final proofreading.

Often an editor and proofreader is the same person. But this approach to a polishing of materials increases the chance to get the low-quality text. Ideally, a whole team of authors, editors and content specialists work on one text. In this case, it will be as close as possible to the ideal.

Steps You Should Follow when Editing and Proofreading

Read the text without correcting the error. Thus, you will understand what the author is trying to convey to the reader, this will help you edit the article correctly. Return to the beginning of a text; check the first sentence for spelling, grammatical errors, as well as errors in punctuation and stylistics. If you find errors, fix them. Go to the next sentence and go back to the beginning. Read the whole text again. When you finished editing all the sentences, go back to the beginning of the text and read it for the last time. Check the work once more, correcting the errors that you missed the first time. Send or publish the edited text.

Helpful Tips