When you need

a critical eye

without

  a critical spirit

Services

Unmistakably Yours  offers both a proofreading and a copyediting service. Each service has a different focus with a different result, so it is important to identify which one will best suit your needs.

Are you content with the quality of your writing? Has your text already been edited and refined so that your message is clear and concise? Then you are probably ready for proofreading—the final sweep for errors before publishing. Or perhaps your writing still needs a little polish. Are you less than satisfied with the quality of your text? A good copyedit may be the choice for you.

The distinctions between proofreading and copyediting can be confusing and sometimes quite different from the expectations of the client/writer. However, I, with all the consummate skill of a preacher alliterating points in a Sunday sermon outline, have come up with the list below so that you can know exactly what to expect from me as your copy editor. We’ll call it “Sailing the Seven Cs of Copyediting.” (Ahoy, matey!)

And next to it, of course, is my not-so-alliterated list of what you can expect from a thorough proofreading.

 

Proofreading

Checks for errors in

*  Spelling

including typos and homophones (e.g., their, there, they’re)

*  Punctuation

apostrophes, hyphens, commas, colons, semicolons, quotation marks, etc.

*  Grammar

subject/verb agreement, noun/pronoun agreement, word usage (e.g., effect vs. affect)

*  Capitalization

(e.g., Mother vs. my mother; the South as a region vs. head south as a direction)

*  Formatting

indentation, spacing, page numbers, etc.

*  Typing

double, transposed, or missing words and letters

*  Compliance

with chosen style guide

Copyediting

Changes sentence structure to improve

*  Clarity

eliminating awkward or confusing words and phrases, dangling modifiers, faulty parallelism, run-on sentences, and sentence fragments

*  Concision

cutting out wordiness and redundancy

*  Continuity

improving sentence flow and the smooth transition of ideas

*  Creativity

eliminating monotony of trite phrases, echo words, and passive voice

Checks content for

*  Consistency

in descriptions and internal logic

*  Credibility

fact-check names, places, dates; flag potential libel or copyright issues

*  Compliance

with chosen style guide

I wanted to summarize with a final apples-to-oranges comparison between proofreading and copyediting. But fruit isn’t cute, so . . .

 

Kittens-to-Puppies

Comparison

Proofreading

  1. The last step before publishing.
  2. The quality of writing is already good.
  3. The focus is on mechanics.
  4. Editing is on a word level.
  5. Does not change content.
  6. Searches for errors to eliminate them.
  7. Last chance to catch and correct.
  8. The goal is to clean up copy.

Copyediting

  1. The last step before proofreading.
  2. The quality of writing needs some improvement.
  3. The focus is on content.
  4. Editing is on a sentence level.
  5. Changes content to enhance readability.
  6. Searches for ways to improve sentence structure.
  7. Last chance to clarify and condense.
  8. The goal is to strengthen writing.
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