What is the difference between editing and proofreading?
Proofreading involves reading written material and correcting any typos (typographical mistakes), spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.
Editing (also known as copy editing) often incorporates proofreading, but the scope of editing is greater. For example a copy editor may rewrite or rearrange sentences for clarity and flow. They may restructure an entire work, change words, add words or paragraphs and check facts.
From first to final draft
The process of producing a final piece of written text usually involves the following stages:
- Writer writes first draft
- Writer reads first draft for structure and flow
- Writer writes second draft
- Depending on the length of the work, a writer may repeat this process several times and write further drafts
- Editor reads the work for sense, structure and flow
- Editor makes changes (using the tracking feature in Microsoft Word so writer can see and approve changes)
- Editor reads the work again to check facts, spelling, grammar, punctuation and overall flow
- Editor makes changes
- Writer checks the draft with all the editor’s proposed changes
- Writer either accepts or rejects changes (using the tracking feature in Microsoft Word) then sends draft to proofreader (who may be the editor but not always)
- Proofreader (who may be the editor but not always) does a final check of the copy for typos, spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors and makes changes.
- Writer accepts or rejects final changes.
Not every project follows each step – for example a writer may accept the initial changes from the editor (which include checking for typos, spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors) and accept this as the final draft for publication.
Some content will already be well written and not require much editing but just a proofread.
What is the difference between editing and proofreading?