There are numerous proofreading services in the English editing industry. As an ESL writer it is important to understand that not all of these services are the same, but there are certain essential tools that everyone in the English editing industry uses.
The goal of an English editor is to take an article or manuscript written by an ESL writer and turn it into a well-written document. In addition, the editors should be helping the ESL writers to become better writers. Here we present 5 tools that everyone in the English editing industry should be using in order to accomplish these goals.
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Editing Comments
Every editor should have a list of common editing comments that they can use to insert within the text in order to let the writer know where they can improve the writing, clarify ambiguities and correct formatting issues. These comments enable the writer to really see what changes can be made to improve the writing.
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Style Guide
A style guide consists of a set of standards that are used when writing documents. The type of style guide needed depends on what kind of document is being produced. A style guide is meant to provide uniformity in style and formatting to a document. If an editor uses a style guide it means that both he/she and the writer are more likely to be on the same page with regard to complicated matters like preferred spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, etc.
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An Editor’s Report
The report is meant to be a learning tool for the writer. The editor provides the writer with a comprehensive yet easy-to-understand evaluation of the language quality in each section of the paper. In addition, the report contains suggestions on how to write certain sections in a better way by specifically focusing on the language style required for journal publication. This is a great learning tool for writers.
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Plagiarism Check
Often, when ESL writers are drafting the introduction or discussion of their manuscript they take phrases from other articles verbatim, while not actually intending to plagiarize this is what it looks like to the journal editors. In fact, most journals will run a check to see how much of the writing is taken verbatim from other journals. If the proofreading service does this beforehand it can save the authors from embarrassment and also help them to learn how to rephrase ideas from other authors to make the writing original.
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Manuscript Preparation Guide
Before the editing process even begins the writer has to prepare the manuscript, and this in itself can be a huge daunting process, especially for first-time ESL writers who just need help getting started. If English editing services provide help in the manuscript preparation process then this kind of tool would help many authors achieve more publications and feel more confident about being able to “start from scratch” on their own the next time around.
