Editing for Factual Accuracy and Grammar
Grammar is definitely one of the most important factors when it comes to writing. Along with the language and words grammar is the piece that binds everything together. Grammar is what binds the language and words together, without grammar, a piece of writing would not be possible to be made. Accuracy, is another important factor that is involved in a successful paper, story etc. In order to have a successful paper again, you need: language/words, grammar and of course accuracy. The entire paper must be accurate in all parts: grammar, wording etc. Accuracy means the condition of being true, or correctness. It is the editor’s job to make sure everything is accurate. When editing a piece you really need to take your time and make sure that the structure, content, clarity, style etc. are correct. It is very important that when editing a paper that everything is accurate. An accurate paper is a successful paper.
Many people think of editing as the same as proofreading, which is simply not true. Proofreading means examining your text carefully to find and correct mistakes in grammar and spelling. Proofreading your paper is more like making sure the small factors are correct. This is similar to editing but it is not the exactly the same. Editing takes more time and it makes sure that everything makes sense. Regardless what the topic or what the directions are for where you want to take you piece you need to do both of these steps to have great results.
After you complete your paper, there are 3 things you need to do, which most students and people do not know the difference. Revise, editing and proofreading. Revising your paper is when you look it over and make sure that you followed all directions and have all that it asked for. See if you need to expand any ideas or any statements that you wrote and need to be revised. Revising can be adding material, taking material away. It might involve changing the order of paragraphs and re-crafting topic sentences and transitions. It may mean re-drafting the introduction and checking the conclusion to see what should be brought up to the front of the paper. Once you have completed the revision is now when you move on and edit your paper. Like mentioned in the paragraph above this is where you want to make sure everything is bonded together and everything makes sense. This is where you think about if the sentences connect up with one another like well-constructed joints? Editing is when you correct any awkwardness that may have occurred in the initial drafting. You really want to break each paragraph apart and really take it sentence by sentence and figure out if it’s what you really want. It is easy if you have the mid set that you are a professional/ an artist and you are trying to construct a great piece. Finally after you have completed the revision and editing process you want to proof read the piece. When proofreading you make your final check for errors in sentence structure, grammar, verb tense and punctuation. This also where you want to make sure any quotations are correct and cited correctly. It is also important to make sure that your name and all the information you need is presented. A great thing to do is to read the paper out loud. Reading aloud can help you focus more carefully on your work.
Sources:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/grammar
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/accuracy
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Proofreading.html
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/editing-and-proofreading/
Editing and Publishing Class 