copyediting

Definition:

The process of correcting errors in a text and making it conform to an editorial style (also called house style), which includes spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. See also:

• Editing
• Proofreading
• Key Copyediting Terms
• Julian Barnes on the Style Police

Examples and Observations:

• "The main aims of copy-editing are to remove any obstacles between the reader and what the author wants to convey and to find and solve any problems before the book goes to the typesetter, so that production can go ahead without interruption or unnecessary expense. . . .
  
  "There are various kinds of editing.
  1. Substantive editing aims to improve the overall coverage and presentation of a piece of writing, its content, scope, level and organization. . . .
  2. Detailed editing for sense is concerned with whether each section expresses the author's meaning clearly, without gaps and contradictions.
  3. Checking for consistency is a mechanical but important task. . . . It involves checking such things as spelling and the use of single or double quotes, either according to a house style or according to the author's own style. . . .
     'Copy-editing' usually consists of 2 and 3, plus 4 below.
  4. Clear presentation of the material for the typesetter involves making sure that it is complete and that all the parts are clearly identified."
  (Judith Butcher, Caroline Drake, and Maureen Leach, Butcher's Copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders, Cambridge University Press, 2006)



• Copyeditor and copyediting have a curious history. Random House is my authority for using the one-word form. But Webster's agrees with Oxford on copy editor, although Webster's favors copyedit as a verb. They both sanction copyreader and copywriter, with verbs to match."
  (Elsie Myers Stainton, The Fine Art of Copyediting, Columbia University Press, 2002)

Also Known As: copy editing, copy-editing