Time-saving hacks for Editing and Proofreading

Companies in different parts of the world use content writing specialists to promote their services and products online. It is very important that such content writing be devoid of errors and be polished to attract maximum eyeballs. While content writers have an essential role, editors and proofreaders have an equally important role. The core duty of editors is to get rid of mistakes in the content and make the content presentable to the local, national and international audience.

In order to make the process of editing quicker and efficient at the same time, certain hacks can be used:

Overused words

It is necessary for an editor to detect whether certain words like ‘very,’ ‘really,’ ‘totally,’ ‘things,’ ‘stuff,’ truly’ and ‘actually’ have been overused. Excessive use of these words is likely to reduce the crispness and meaningfulness of the content. The ‘Find’ feature in Microsoft Word can be used to detect such words.

Convert Passive Voice to Active Voice

Sentences written in the passive voice are not incorrect in any way. But the structure and basis of the sentences written using passive voice are not strong and impactful. It is necessary for a proofreader to detect all the ‘to be’ verbs in the content to be able to turn those sentences into passive voice.

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Client Checklist

A proofreader must prepare a checklist of the content-related requirements of the client. Reliance on the checklist will reduce the time taken by the editor to proofread the content.

Structure of Sentences

It is the duty of an editor to detect lengthy sentences and reduce their size as lengthy sentences are not visually appealing, and they certainly are not crisp. Some writers tend to use complicated words and phrases in their content. An editor has to simplify such language and make it presentable to the readers. The proofreader must keep an eye on whether the writer has meandered and has lost touch with the central topic of his article.

Technological Proofreading

Apart from proofreading with his eyes, the editor must also depend on technological assistance in the form of ‘Find and Replace’ on the Google Sheet to get rid of spacing errors and extra commas. Grammarly and Spellcheck help get rid of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, which the proofreader’s eyes have not detected. A tool like Word Rake enables the proofreaders to refine the content and make it appear to the 

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Detection of Plagiarism

Copyscape and similar tools are efficient tools to ascertain whether the writer has plagiarised content.

The simplicity of Content Writing

The editress must ensure that the content presented to the client and the audience at large is devoid of grammatically contentious phrases. The language used by the content writing experts must not tax the brains of the readers and must be clear.

An editor, who relies on such these hacks consistently, is sure to present to the client and the netizens content of decent quality.