Proofreading vs. Basic Editing

What’s the difference between Proofreading and Basic Editing?

Sometimes when clients ask for Proofreading, what they really want — and what their writing really needs — is Basic Editing.

If you choose PROOFREADING, your document will be corrected for spelling, punctuation and typographical errors and unequivocal grammatical mistakes.  Any problems with clarity, diction or style, however, will not be identified or addressed.  For that, you need BASIC EDITING.

Here are two examples to illustrate the difference between Proofreading and Editing, and to help you choose the service that’s best for you:

PROOFREADING: Example 1

Original:

The biggest advantage is that the drug can keep working affectively on sight for a long time without any dosage changing.  This brings in plentry of convenience to patients, especially at nights..

Proofread copy, with corrections marked:

The biggest advantage is that the drug can keep working aeffectively on sight site for a long time without any dosage changing.  This brings in plentry of convenience to patients, especially at nights..

Clean, corrected copy:

The biggest advantage is that the drug can keep working effectively on site for a long time without any dosage changing.  This brings in plenty of convenience to patients, especially at nights.

While the proofread passage above is error-free, it’s still got problems.

BASIC EDITING: Example 1

Original:

The biggest advantage is that the drug can keep working affectively on sight for a long time without any dosage changing. This brings in plentry of convenience to patients, especially at nights..

Edited copy, with corrections marked:

The biggest advantage is that the drug can keep working aeffectively on sight site for a long time without any dosage changing. change in dosage, This brings in plentry of convenience tomaking it more convenient for patients to use, especially at nights..

Clean, corrected copy:

The biggest advantage is that the drug can keep working effectively on site for a long time without any change in dosage, making it more convenient for patients to use, especially at night.

Here’s another example of the difference between the two services, and how the two sets of corrections look on the page:

PROOFREADING: Example 2

Original:

A recovery curve, although not used in this study, is another way to observe RSRT. Over a long enough time, the generated elastic strain during slow shear procedure will return to zero, whereas, the nonreversible strain of viscouse flow will loss permanantly.

Proofread copy, with changes marked:

A recovery curve, although not used in this study, is another way to observe RSRT. Over a long enough time, the generated elastic strain during slow shear procedure will return to zero, whereas, the nonreversible strain of viscouse flow will loss be lost permanaently.

Clean, corrected copy:

A recovery curve, although not used in this study, is another way to observe RSRT. Over a long enough time, the generated elastic strain during slow shear procedure will return to zero, whereas, the non-reversible strain of viscous flow will be lost permanently.

By contrast, choosing BASIC EDITING to correct problems with style, clarity and diction as well as any spelling, grammar and typographical errors will improve the original passage as follows:

BASIC EDITING: Example 2

Original:

A recovery curve, although not used in this study, is another way to observe RSRT. Over a long enough time, the generated elastic strain during slow shear procedure will return to zero, whereas, the nonreversible strain of viscouse flow will loss permanantly.

Edited copy, with changes marked:

A recovery curve, Aalthough not used in this study, a recovery curve is another way to observe RSRT. Over a long enough time, the generatedWith sufficient time, the elastic strain generated during the slow shear procedure will return to zero.  By contrast, whereas, the nonreversible strain of viscouse flow will loss be permanaently lost.

Clean, corrected copy:

Although not used in this study, a recovery curve is another way to observe RSRT. With sufficient time, the elastic strain generated during the slow shear procedure will return to zero.  By contrast, the non-reversible strain of viscous flow will be permanently lost.

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