Editing and Proofreading What’s the difference? Editing… changes the content of the letter, memo...

Editing and Proofreading

What’s the difference?

Editing… changes the content of the letter,

memo or report…

to communicate the meaning efficiently to a chosen audience.

to clarify the intent of the writer. to enhance the style of the

document.

Editing…

for meaning

--requires that you understand the writer’s original intent.

--requires that you preserve the writer’s original content, as much as possible.

Editing…

for clarity

--requires that you use language as efficiently as possible.

--requires that you avoid wordiness.

Editing…

for style

--requires that you check the tone of the document.

--requires that you check the language of the document.

Proofreading…changes the surface-level features

of a document to remove errors in…

Grammar.Punctuation.Mechanics.Usage.

Grammar includes…

Subjects and verbs.Pronouns.Prepositions.Sentence structure.

Punctuation includes…Commas.End marks (period, question

mark and exclamation point).Semicolon (;) & Colon (:).Hyphen (-)& Dash (--). [Brackets] and (Parentheses).Apostrophe.

Mechanics includes…

Capitalization.Spelling.Document format. (letter,

memo, report, etc.)

Usage includes…Word choice (a/an, etc.)Gender inclusive language

(his/her) Jargon (terms specific to a

profession)Slang (spoken vs. written

expressions)

Proofreading tipsRead your document aloud,

slowly.Read your document

backwards, sentence by sentence.

Exchange your document with a colleague. (Be careful here!!)

NOTE: Spell check will not catch everything and grammar checks are often wrong.

Common Proofreading Symbols

The above image was taken from Mrs. Tomlin’s blog.