Do Editing and Proofreading Really Mean the Same Thing?

by Juan Mark Proofreading and editing services

Editing and proofreading are mostly used as interchangeable terms with both taken to signify grammar, punctuation and spelling corrections in a piece of text. The editor/proofreader is also expected to improve the quality of English and make it comprehensible to the reader.

While both terms may mean the same thing to a layman, there is actually quite a difference between these two services. Let’s take a closer look at the differences between the two:

Editing

An edit is the first checkpoint of any written document. It is aimed at refining the overall flow of the document so that it sounds clear and understandable. An editor will rewrite words, phrases and sentences to ensure that the document is consistent in both content and style.

For instance, if you hire a term paper editing service, the editor will carefully check that your content is accurate and relevant. He will correct sentences and arguments in such a way that they make clear sense to the reader. He will also rewrite some sentences to avoid wordiness or ambiguity in your writing style. The editor will even examine the structure of your paper and the structure between paragraphs apart from checking the citations and ensuring adherence to the specified formatting requirements.

You yourself are doing a lot of editing when you keep rereading and rewriting sentences to make them consistent and readable.

There is copyediting or sub-editing too wherein the editor has to also ensure that both the content and style is consistent with other content from the same company or publication.

Proofreading

On the other hand, proofreading is only concerned with the grammatical errors in your document. A proofreader will go over your document with a fine-tooth comb to weed out the minutest errors in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, tenses and so on. He will also check for spelling mistakes, typos, missing or accidentally repeated words, anomalies in language set (American or British English) and other inconsistencies.

A proofreader forms the final check of a document before it is submitted or published. While there are many grammar and spelling checkers, the software can never substitute a thorough check by an experienced proofreader. In fact, the automatic checkers are notorious for missing errors and overlooking misspellings - like ‘your’ in place of ‘you’re’ or ‘there’ instead of ‘their’.

It follows that editing is more comprehensive than proofreading and the former will obviously take more time as well. In fact, if proofreading a piece of text takes about half an hour, editing the same can take 2 to even 3 hours at times. It depends on the quality of writing, the kind of content and the expertise of the editor. Accordingly, an editing job will cost significantly more than just a proofreading service.

So, now that you have clearly understood the difference between the two terms, you can correctly identify whether you need a term paper editing service or if a basic proofread service will do!

The author, Juan Mark is in professional writing field. He has vast knowledge on writing service and loves to write articles proofreading, editor services or term paper editing service like topics. To get more elaborated information on these subjects, click on hknets.net.