The Difference Between Copyediting and Line Editing

This blog discusses the difference between copy-editing and line editing. To give you an opportunity to practice proofreading, we have left a few spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors in the text. See if you can spot them! If you spot the errors correctly, you will be entitled to a 10% discount.

Working with a line editor would improve the quality of the manuscript and give the author the creative instruments to become a better writer for potential employment. Copyediting, on the other hand, focuses on errors from a technical standpoint to ensure the manuscript follows the business standards. They consider this type of work as high-level proofreading or editing.

For instance, if in section 2, you write: t he participants of the study from a rural area in South Africa, and then write in section 4: the participants of the study from the urban area in South Africa, it is the copy editor’s job to correct this if both renditions are meant to refer to one and the same thing.

Overlap Between Copyediting and Editing

Of course, there will be some convergence between editing and copyediting. As mentioned before, the main purpose of editing is to address technical errors or logical inconsistencies because the main role of our editors is to polish up your manuscript. However, it is not the specific aim of line editing to screen the manuscript, correct the errors in grammar, punctuation, syntax, and spelling, or change behaviour to behavior just because the targeted journal is for the United States. This is a copyediting task and requires technical comprehension skills of English usage (either British or American) that general editing does not possess. In this sense, copyediting involves checking the citation style-a set of rules on how to properly cite a source in an academic manuscript. Hence, editing services may not offer to check the or APA stylebut copyediting might. Harvard style,

Which Comes First: Copyediting or Line Editing?

The purpose of proofreading is to correct all errors in grammar, punctuation, syntax, and spelling in a manuscript. When the author wishes to see whether the final version of their manuscript includes any minor errors, what they need is a proofreading service, not an editing service. However, editing services require more effort from an editor than do proofreading services. An editing service improves the academic quality of the paper . Thus, editing comprises improvements of the content and overall structure of the manuscript.

Editing services make essential revisions to improve the standard of the academic writing of a document. In this sense, an editor sometimes re-writes parts of the paper. This is important because the purpose of editing is to ensure that the manuscript’s purpose is met.

Editing also covers checking documents to see whether they have any grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors to ensure the paper is error-free. Thus, an editor will correct all errors in grammar, typography, punctuation, syntax, and spelling in a manuscript. In this sense, editing services cover proofreading services as well (click here to read about the difference between editing and proofreading).

Need Support for Copyediting or Line Editing?

If you need professional help for editing, proofreading, line editing, or copyediting, please visit our service page . Best Edit & Proof expert editors aim to provide your manuscripts with proper scholarly and academic tone and style. They will significantly improve the chances of having your research manuscript accepted for publishing. They provide subject-area proofreading and editing services in several fields categorized under various disciplines. With our extensive knowledge and expertise, we will help you find the right tone and style for your manuscript.

If you need our subject-area editors to format your manuscripts, giving you the fundamental rules for formatting your manuscripts as described in your guidelines, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago/Turabian styles, then contact us. At Best Edit & Proof, our proofreaders and editors edit every type of academic paper . We have a user-friendly website, and a simplified the ordering process.

If you would like our subject-area editors and language experts to work on your project for the improvement of its academic tone and style, then please visit the It is easy! It takes only a few minutes to submit your paper and complete the process. Click to see how it works.

We have flat-rate pricing based on our type of service (editing or proofreading), word count, and turnaround time. Enter your word count or copy and paste your document into our pricing calculator to get an instant quote.

If you need support for academic editing and proofreading, . You can also us or use the 24/7 live chat module to get direct support. Our doctorally qualified editors will polish and fine-tune your projects.

Originally published at https://besteditproof.com on November 18, 2020.