What Is Editing?

Language
  • Checking the text thoroughly for grammar, word usage, and spellings
  • Suggesting better phrasing in the comments
  • Checking for consistency in hyphenation, capitalisation, treatment of numbers, punctuation, quotation marks, etc
  • Checking for consistency in UK vs US English
  • Ensuring tense use is consistent
  • Ensuring the text is in the correct tone (formal, academic, informal)
  • Checking for plagiarism (if requested)

Formatting
  • Checking for consistency in style across the document
  • Checking for consistency in formatting headings and captions
  • Checking for consistency in number formatting in tables
  • Checking for consistency in section numbering
  • Checking that all acronyms have been expanded at the first mention
  • Compiling a style sheet for the above
Content
  • Basic fact checking: spellings and dates
  • Checking that table figures match the text
  • Flagging any obvious gaps in the argument
  • Flagging irrelevant text that can be removed
  • Flagging obvious bias
  • Highlighting repetitions
  • Querying for citations if missing
References
  • Formatting references according to the style guide
  • Checking correspondence between the citations and references
  • Converting citations and references from one style to another
  • Checking that URLs are working
  • Querying for missing details