Here you’ll find some typical examples of the types of editing services that I offer:

Proofreading

Are you just about to apply for a job and just need a second set of eyes on your CV before you send it? Have you just written a scientific paper but have stared at it so long that you’re not sure if you have your p’s and q’s the right way around? Do you have a long reference list that is making you go cross-eyed? If so, Proofreading is probably the service you’re after. Here are a couple of examples (one digital, one print version) of a marked-up document after proofreading:

 

 

Copy Editing

Copy editing results in the improvement of the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. That is, making sure grammar and punctuation is used correctly, correcting spelling errors, making sure the document reads consistently, and re-arranging the document at the sentence level if necessary to help things ‘flow’. Copy editing is my most requested service, and I find I often receive work from scientists and other industry professionals who use English as a second language. However, copy editing benefits all forms of writing. See below for an example of a heavily copy edited document. See how it makes more sense?

Substantive Editing

If you’ve worked on a document for a very long time, sometimes it starts to become difficult to see the big picture. This is where substantive editing comes in useful. Focussing on the content, organization, and presentation of an entire text, substantive editing helps shape the manuscript from the title to the last sentence. Substantive editing is also useful for defining the audience, purpose, and occasion of the text: