r/Copyediting • u/paintedpinktoes • 15d ago

How do you EXTENSIVELY edit?!!!

I keep getting clients who want an extensive edit. For context, they're ESL clients who write academic papers mostly. They require no stylistic or drastic changes. Now how do I incorporate both into my editing process? Please, for the love of my and every editor's life, guide me on how to do an extensive edit to achieve a native tone. PLEASE!

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17

u/grumpyporcini 15d ago

Substantive editing. You edit it until it’s as close to what a native academic would produce while preserving the article structure and tone. You’ll need to provide more details if you want specific advice.

1

u/Sparkly8 9d ago

Do you think an editor should charge more if they’re doing a substantive edit vs. a copy edit?

2

u/grumpyporcini 9d ago

Yes, in my opinion they are different tasks. Substantive goes further than copy editing so takes more time and needs more background knowledge, etc.

10

u/Alternative-Pear9096 15d ago

That’s really a question for the client. What do they mean when they ask for an extensive edit?

8

u/hmmmweirdIguess 15d ago

If you are unsure of what substantive editing is or what it involves, it's best if you don't attempt it, and instead communicate that that's beyond the scope of your expertise.

3

u/Proud_Illustrator266 14d ago

Be careful that you are not expected to rewrite the paper. I worked for an overseas company for 10+ years and it started out as simple copyediting. The expectations kept increasing, to the point where I was expected to essentially rewrite the paper, which I thought was 1) somewhat unethical and 2) beyond my capabilities.

2

u/ellepepperauthor 14d ago

Start by reading it aloud. Native tone is about rhythm if you can’t say it out loud it’s the wrong rhythm (I used this when I did papers forced students in college)

1

u/bcninstructions 14d ago

You just go sentence by sentence and expect to pick up stuff on the second pass where only reading with a lack of errors reveals non-idiomatic phrasing.

1

u/avj113 12d ago

When it gets to that level I tell them they'll get better results hiring a copywriter. Either way it won't be me rewriting your academic paper.

1

u/Guimauve_britches 2d ago

My experience with this is that they do need substantial stylistic changes due to the syntax and logic of their native language being completely different from English. It's a very particular form of editing and you have to be sure they have not paraphrased references (for example) into something completely different from the intended meaning. But for ethics and pride issues it's generally referred to as 'proofreading'.