The Difference Academic Editing Can Make!

Academic documents fail to make a mark if they are riddled with grammatical flaws or are too verbose, repetitive or unclear. Specialized academic editing is essential to refine and polish one’s work to a shine!

Academic writing – like journal articles, conference papers, theses, grant applications or presentations – is a highly skilled and professional task. It involves a lot of painstaking research and in-depth analysis before presenting the ideas and arguments on paper. And the quality of the document has far-reaching effects – from getting a scholarship or research funding to job or career progression and more. Nobody would like to receive terse replies or poor reviews, let alone outright rejection!

It follows that while an academician may excel at his/her subject and the research maybe top-notch, the writing skills may fall short of the mark. And this is where document editing enters the picture!

What is academic editing?

The quality of an academic document plunges when it is peppered with spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. This impinges on the credibility of the research work as well.

However, academic editing is not limited to language, formatting and referencing alone. It encompasses a lot more than standard copyediting and proofreading that merely catches the common errors of English writing.

Indeed, academic editors are not just highly trained and professional editors, but also skilled academicians with a deep understanding of academia. Hence, their love for the language and eye for detail is complemented by a passion for clarity in the subject. Therefore, they are perfectly positioned to engage deeply with the document.

In academic editing, the focus will be on the logic and flow of the document – this involves streamlining the structure, highlighting the core ideas, strengthening the primary arguments and so on. The editor will also rephrase awkward/odd sentences, delete repetitive information, correct inconsistent instances, check for correct terminology and ensure that the thoughts are expressed as clearly as possible. Long-winded sentences will be condensed and made more potent. Even the word choice and tone will be fixed where necessary. Moreover, the editor will follow the specific academic guidelines while maintaining consistency in formatting, check accuracy, verify the references, etc.

All this put together can make a big difference to the impact of academic writing. It turns into an effective document which makes a good first impression while clearly communicating the intended message to the readers. Additionally, the detailed corrections will work as useful tips for avoiding common mistakes in academic writing in the future!

And when it comes to document editing online services, HKNETS offers skilled and professional services by editors who are trained in a broad range of academic fields. It makes sense to enlist the help of a second set of eyes before submitting or publishing an academic document that will not just catch the errors, but also refine and polish it to a shine. This will bring in valuable suggestions to ramp up the quality, style and effectiveness of the writing in the future as well.

 

 

 

Difference between Proofreading and Editing Simplified

Proofreading follows editing and both form crucial steps in finishing a piece of writing and transforming it into good writing. There are clear variations in the two services that are outlined in this article.

Checking a piece of text for mistakes is split into editing and proofreading. The problem here is that the terms are usually used interchangeably and people assume that they mean the same thing. While both editing and proofreading services weed out errors from a document and polish it to a shine, there are significant differences between the two.

 

Editing – Editing forms the first step of refining a document. It involves major changes to the content, structure and language to ensure that the meaning and ideas are conveyed clearly to the readers. It looks closely at the substance of the text in terms of whether it meets the intended purpose, whether the tone and style are appropriate for the audience and whether there is proper logic and continuity in the writing. The structure of the document is analysed in terms of paragraphs, headings, bullet points, etc. Every sentence will be checked for repetition, wordiness, use of jargon or confusing terms and so on. The editor also pays attention to the grammar and writing style apart from ensuring that it is consistent in terms of the style guide to be followed (if any).

Therefore, editing addresses the core features of writing to improve the overall quality of a document and brings about clarity, readability and a smooth flow. It follows that a document has to be edited multiple times; in fact, it is better to start with the big picture and tackle each kind of error in stages ending with final improvements in sentence structure, word choice, etc.

 

Proofreading – This forms the final stage of checking a document, just before it is shared, submitted or published. It is actually a surface-level check as it focuses on eliminating minor inconsistencies and other errors. A proofreader will focus on typos, spellings, punctuation, grammar and so on. These could mostly have been corrected in the editing stage itself. Along with this, it will also spot discrepancies in the terminology used, citations or references, formatting and so on.

Therefore, proofreading generally involves aesthetic adjustments that still play a crucial role in crafting a perfect and error-free document. It will ensure that everything remains consistent all through the document in terms of style, terms used, fonts, headings and so on. The proofreader may even read the text aloud or backwards to ensure that every word is checked individually and carefully with corrections made wherever required.

In sum, both dissertation proofreading and editing are essential and neither of them can be skipped before submitting a document. They require expert skills and are time-consuming too; therefore, it is best to engage professional services that can best handle these specialized tasks. Doing editing and proofreading on one’s own is quite a risky venture for sure!