Proofreading and Editing Services
Why it matters
Every writer faces the same challenge of ensuring that their articles be of an acceptable quality. A few typos may be tolerable all depending on where you publish or submit your articles, but repeated grammatical or typographic errors are a “major no, no.” And that for jolly good reasons.
Writers who tend to be either sloppy or who lack the skill to produce perfect material tend to argue that the contents are all that really matters. They often see critics as being pedantic or difficult. This viewpoint is incorrect, in our opinion.
While it may be true that some critics tend to sound superior and schoolmaster-like, they are basically correct: Errors make your material much harder to read, may confuse your readers, and will – at a minimum – make your message much less clear. Please remember that whereas you hopefully know what you are trying to say, your readers are clueless and therefore easily confused or distracted.
Proofreading services
Even capable writers tend to make typographical or grammatical errors here and there. Making one’s own manuscript “sparkling clean” may be possible, but it is not always the most productive way to go. We outsource proofreading jobs to increase our productivity, because doing so allows us to concentrate upon the contents instead of worrying about the tiniest details.
We also perform proofreading for writers. In so doing, we use the following methods:
- We read the entire manuscript through quickly to get a feel for the contents;
- Read slowly through the manuscript once again, correcting errors in their order of appearance;
- Check for any “weak sentences” that are either unclear or make no sense to us, suggesting changes or recommend that the author rewrite such sentences;
- Check for any other problems such as inconsistent formatting of headlines.
Editing services
There are many different levels of editing. A line editor will read slowly through your manuscript to ensure that it is clean, grammatically correct, and – most important – optimized from a linguistic point of view. This is a time consuming process, and may therefore be rather expensive.
An editor can also help you get a better understanding of the structure of your manuscript, solve any problems, and point out opportunities the author may have overlooked. This can be done either during the creative process or after the manuscript has been completed.
