There’s a big difference between proofreading and revising a manuscript. In simple terms, revising means looking at the bigger picture; proofreading means looking at the details. Some people use the term reviewing instead of revising a manuscript. Let’s examine in a bit more detail what revising and proofreading mean.
What is revising?
Revising a manuscript involves examining it to correct the major flaws. These include errors in logic, organization of ideas, content, and structure of the document. During this stage of the writing process, you focus on both document and paragraph levels. But during revision, you should ignore details such as grammar, typos, and citation style.
A well-revised manuscript is clear, serves its purpose, and is tailored for its intended audience.
A good strategy to help you revise a research paper is to extract the main idea of each paragraph and then read through the list of ideas. You’ll be able to spot repetitions, incomplete supporting evidence, and ideas that don’t flow logically.
After revision comes editing. (You can read more about editing here.) Then comes proofreading.
What is proofreading?
During proofreading you examine all the details of the manuscript. You check the grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, citation style, and so on and fix all errors and inconsistencies.
Proofreading is not the same as spell-checking—the latter is only one part of the former.
Here are two strategies for effective proofreading. First, focus on one sentence at a time. It helps to zoom in on a sentence when you proof on screen. Second, read the text aloud, slowly. You’ll be able to hear mistakes that you would miss otherwise.
In short, the difference between proofreading and revising is a bit like the difference between looking at a forest from above and looking at each leaf of each tree in that forest. Revision means looking at the whole, whereas proofreading means looking at the components.
Do you need a freelance proofreader or editor? Send me a message at editor@languageediting.com.
Related posts:
- Editing or proofreading: Which one is essential if you can’t afford both?
- What’s the difference between editing and proofreading?
- What is language editing?
Last revised on 29 August 2022
