Although I’ve been the senior editor for Her Campus at Illinois State University since August, I felt nervous and unconfident in my editing abilities once I began my copyediting internship with the Vidette. After all, this was my first time editing in a semi-professional setting. On top of that, I was scared to edit stories incorrectly and felt the need to triple-check all of my edits, even though I knew that my boss would be double-checking my work anyway. However, as I’m becoming more familiar with the editing process, I’m beginning to realize that it’s okay to not know everything, and that I never truly will. For any beginner editor out there, here is everything I know about editing (so far)!
The duties of an editor
According to Vocabulary.com, “editing is when you make changes, especially to a written document, that improve the finished product.” While the editing process may look different across many publications, magazines, and newspapers, the most common duties of an editor may include:
Correcting grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors: An editor may need to proofread an article or story for any grammatical errors or typos.
Fixing formatting and structural issues: Depending on the type of publication, this can include restructuring or breaking up paragraphs for enhanced readability.
Ensuring consistency and clarity: This may involve improving sentence structure to ensure readability for the intended audience and fact-checking any relevant information.
Another important part of the editing process is to make sure that the work adheres to a specific style guide, depending on the type of publication. For example, many newspapers and magazines adhere to the Associated Press Style, and it is common practice for editors to learn the numerous rules included in the AP Stylebook.
However, these rules may differ by publication. While the Vidette follows every rule listed in the AP Stylebook, other publications may choose to opt out of some rules. For instance, some journalistic publications use the Oxford comma in their writing, even though AP Style generally does not use the Oxford comma.
Thus, it is important to double-check with your specific publication to make sure you are abiding by the correct editing style.
My Editing Process
On average, it takes me about 20-30 minutes to edit an article or story. However, this entirely depends on a story’s overall length and topic. Although some articles are more difficult to edit than others, my step-by-step process remains the same throughout. For any beginner editor out there, here is the guide and advice you will need to get you started!
First, read the entire article/story while making note of what needs to be edited: This was something I was taught to do by my boss, and it has saved me a lot of time and energy. Now, I know what you might be thinking. Wouldn’t it be more time-consuming to read an article in its entirety before editing, as opposed to editing on the fly? Surprisingly, the answer is no, and here’s why. When you’re editing as you read, you might remove or add something that may be needed later on, and it’s more efficient to edit when you already know what needs to be changed.
Go back and fix any errors caught during the first read-through: Now is your time to shine! Since you’ve read the article/story in its entirety, you now have a good understanding of what needs to be fixed. While you may not catch every mistake during your first read through, an important thing to keep in mind is that editing is much more than just fixing grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. Editing also means giving suggestions to the writer on how they can improve their piece. I am a firm believer that every person’s work should be edited by at least one other person, even if their work only needs to be proofread.
Go back to the very beginning to read while editing: Now that you’ve edited all of the glaring mistakes, it’s important to go back and read the person’s work once more. You may have missed some writing errors such as inconsistency, structural issues, or AP/Chicago style errors, if you are editing a newspaper/magazine publication. However, if you are a beginner, you may end up staring at a few sentences, wondering if they need to be edited or not. In that case, it’s important to remember that if a sentence doesn’t look “right”, there’s a good chance it needs to be edited. You can test this theory by reading a sentence out loud. If it doesn’t make sense when read out loud, it needs to be reworded or restructured!
Quickly glance one last time before submitting: It’s almost time for you to turn in that article you’ve edited! Before doing that, make sure you double-check to see if you missed any mistakes that need to be fixed. While this process may seem tedious at first, it’s important to note that the editing process should be equally as important as the writing process. It’s your job to ensure that the writer’s work is free of mistakes, and although editing may seem tricky at first, you’ll get the hang of it, don’t worry!
If you’re still hesitant about the editing process, my last tip for you is to continue practicing. While it’s also important to read handbooks, scroll through informational websites, and watch YouTube tutorials, at the end of the day, most of what you learn about editing is through practice. After all, for every writer like me, we need an editor like you to check our work before it’s published!