If we talk about editing and proofreading there is a misconception that they both are the same, but the fact remains that they are poles apart. Correcting surface errors such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation is referred to as proofreading. While it still has to fulfill a descriptive understanding of the English language, it differs from editing, which is aimed at enhancing the overall quality of writing by improving the flow, readability, and structure of the content.
This guide outlines the difference between editing and proofreading not only to help our clients but also the writers in general who are evaluating their options based on our experience as a professional editing and proofreading company.
This guide is designed to help those who are looking to write their academic essays and report to business professionals who are struggling with their work.
Proofreading
Proofreading refers to the process of correcting basic errors, such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other language errors. Proofreading aims to identify and correct: –
- Pronunciation errors
- punctuation anomalies, and
- grammatical mistakes.
It also comprises of instances of incoherent jargon, formatting, and referencing. Proofreading entails minor, textual modifications rather than major changes.
However proper proofreading takes advanced expertise and experience in order to be successful. This is because the human brain is very good at automatically correcting errors committed by others, but when you look at a piece of writing, you may not be able to trace the errors, especially when it comes to your own work. There are several proofreading services you can find online that provide different services which vary with cost. However, it is a tedious task to find a good proofreading service that gives you the best output and that too at reasonable prices.
Editing
The basic thing that differentiates editing from proofreading is that editing, unlike proofreading, is an art; it is not something that you can just achieve overnight it takes time to learn and understand the importance of editing in content writing.
The work of an editor is not confined to removal of grammatical errors alone; it also includes steps to improve the quality of the content in the following ways:
- Forms a backbone of your work
- Gives your content a direction
- Improves overall quality of work
- Removes structural and grammatical errors
A professional editor understands English writing conventions and language differences, is qualified to recognize and remove common errors that often plague a novel or thesis. Besides finding simple errors that are easy to miss, they may even recognize incoherent words, spelling, and formatting as well.
If we compare proofreading and editing to find out which one is better, both have their pros and cons, and both, when paired with the other, give you a better output.
Author
Henry S.
The WriteSmartly Team
1 thought on “Editing vs proofreading”