Professional Editing Checklist

Self-Editing: Should I Do That?

It is not a quick process to become proficient at editing, but the result is worth the effort are taken. Being good at editing means that you can see mistakes in the style and structure of the text, correct all the grammar mistakes, and make the message more precise and interesting, following the initial content.

Do you feel that you really need the skills of an effective editor? Are you ready to spend hours on improving the text already finalized? Would you like to get the services of an expert editor or will you simply look through a professional editing checklist we have prepared for you? It is up to you to decide.

Get Better Grades with Our Checklist for Editing

All students are somehow involved in writing. The actual process of composing the paper is only one of the stages of the overall process of producing the final assignment. Your piece of writing will be successful only if you are ready not only to compose the text and forget about it immediately but to devote some time to post-writing stages, which are editing and revising. It is a well-known fact that those who do not forget to edit and proofread the papers are always scored higher than those who neglect this stage. It is essential to pay adequate attention to the post-writing stage as a self-editing checklist enables the students to make a proper assessment of the paper and go beyond a mere compilation of the text.

If it goes about revision, it implies improvements made in terms of clarity of the message organization and structure of the text, while the mechanics of writing is covered with editing. Thus, it is recommendable to use an editing checklist and to think about the answers to the questions regarding the paper review, grammar, punctuation, format, spelling, and capitalization.

The stage of proofreading eliminates all the errors which cause distraction of the target readers’ attention from the content. We know that you would like to request for help and ask numerous questions on editing. “How to effectively edit my own work?” “How to notice all the aspects that may be improved?” “ How to be efficient at editing?” Have a look at the checklist we have organized for all the students interested in making their papers perfect. It is necessary to mind the issues with writing mechanics to the students of all academic levels as great outcomes always result from the exerted effort and diligence.

Capitalization

1. All words in the title should be capitalized.
2. Conjunctions and articles are capitalized only if they go as the last or first words in the essay title.
3. The first word of the sentence is always capitalized.
4. Names of people, geographical names, and all other proper nouns are capitalized.
5. Paper headings follow the rules of capitalization according to the guidelines of the requested formatting.

Punctuation

1. Series of items use commas for setting off each of them.
2. Grammatical conjunction with more than three items requires the serial comma, also known as the Oxford or the Harvard comma.
3. Compound sentences require the use of commas prior to conjunctions ‘but,’ ‘and,’ ‘or.’
4. A question mark is obligatory at the end of the question. Declarative sentences require full stops. Punctuation marks should be chosen correctly.
5. It is important to double-check the use of semicolons and colons throughout the text.

Grammar

1. You know how to self-edit if you follow the agreement of subjects and verbs in all the sentences.
2. Find proper alternatives to the contractions. Check whether the apostrophes indicate the contraction or possession.
3. Check the text for the run-on sentences and sentence fragments to eliminate them. Double-check whether all the sentences have both a subject and a verb.
4. Antecedents should be agreed with the pronouns.
5. Academic writing does not tolerate extensive use of passive voice. Make sure that the active voice dominates throughout the text.
6. Academic writing does not accept exclamation marks so such sentences should be restructured.
7. The length of the sentences should be properly chosen to avoid excessively long or short ones. It is better to substitute one long sentence for two or three shorter ones to avoid mistakes.

Spelling

1. It is crucial to review and correct if needed, all the words that the spell check has highlighted.
2. You should check whether the use of such pairs of words as ‘form-from,’ ‘its-it’s,’ ‘your – you’re,’ ‘there- they’re,’ ‘too-two,’ and others are correct.

Format

1. Mind that the text should contain an introductory part, body paragraphs, and a concluding part.
2. Every new idea is presented in a new paragraph.
3. A change of location or time implies starting a new paragraph.
4. All the body paragraphs should be developed effectively. Each of them should contain a topic sentence at the beginning with the explanation, evidence, and conclusion at the end of it.
5. There should be proper citing in all evidence pieces.
6. Quotation marks are obligatory for direct quotes.
7. The requirements for formatting long quotes should be strictly followed (for example, they should be presented as separate text blocks with the required punctuation for all the in-text citations).

An editing checklist implies control over all the conventional formatting requirements and specific requirements given by a particular professor.

1. Font 12, Times New Roman.
2. Double-spaced text.
3. 1-inch margins.
4. The perspective of the third person.
5. No slang, no nonstandard language.

Even this concise checklist can help you improve your academic paper significantly as it is aimed at polishing the writing and getting higher grades overall. Naturally, you will spend some extra hours on making your paper better, but the outputs are worth this!

Revising academic papers: How can I cope with it?

A lot of students find it complicated to do a proper revision of their papers. They are unwilling to spend extra hours on making their writing look better and they are not sure that their proficiency is sufficient for proper revisions.

You can always make use of the professional automatic services available online to have a fast result. Mind that the grammar checkers may be insufficiently effective for improvements as only an expert in grammar and style can work on the papers proficiently.

Here you go! We can edit your essay for you!

You can just send us your request and we will assign an editor to your text and make sure that the quality of his assignment will be doubled! Personal assistance from one of our professional editors will be of great value for you and we will be pleased to be helpful!