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.