11 Copyediting Tips

To become a strong professional writer, you must remember that editing and proofreading is a very important part of the process. But this does not mean that you should quickly scan your work. You must consider specific details with regard to grammar and punctuation to ensure that your writing highlights exactly what you are conveying to your audience.

Remember that when searching for grammar and punctuation errors, you must be certain about the key points and facts that pertain to your writing piece, whether it is an essay, article or short story. This is all essential during the copyediting process after you write your first draft.

I learned many copyediting tips from my Fundamentals of Editing class, which specifically focused on grammar, punctuation and a few areas of substantive editing to help progressing professional writers identify common errors in their writing before publication. The following 11 copyediting tips from the class are important to keep in mind when writing any professional documents (articles, government documents, speeches, etc.):

  1. Always use the spelling format that pertains to your locations. For example: Canadians spell colour, while Americans spell color.
  2. Make sure to appropriately use common words that sound alike. This includes:
    • Than/Then Example: I have less than $50 in my bank account. First, I want to get dinner and then, we can watch a movie.
    • Their/There/They’reExample: I have their cat (refers to someone’s possession/belongings).We went to France and stayed there for a week (refers being in a place or position).

      Sam and Alex said that they’re coming to the party as well (a contraction of they and are).

  1. Insert commas between the components of a series but NOT before the final and, or or nor. For example: Jane is responsible for pension investments, accounting, governance and compliance.
  2. Always attempt to write in present tense, unless you are speaking about an event in the past. For example, Barack Obama is the president of the United States. George Bush was the president of America years ago.
  3. Remain consistent when referring to a person by their first name while writing. Do not switch to referring to them by their surname.
  4. Spell out whole numbers before 10 (for example, one, two three). Use figures for numbers that are 10 and above (for example, 10, 11, 12).
  5. If you refer to an organization several times, bracketed abbreviations can be used. For example, York Federation of Students or YFS.
  6. Always capitalize the first letters of the names of educational institutions. For example, York University, Seneca College.
  7. For academic degrees, try to follow the original style for abbreviations in your writing. For example, BA, MBA, BsC.
  8. Always use the full forms of words. For example, department, NOT dept.
  9. Spell out the names of all places. For example, United States NOT US. For Canadian provinces and territories, use the following abbreviations after the name of a community:
    ·      Alta. ·      N.B. ·      N.S. ·      Que.
    ·      B.C. ·      N.L. ·      Ont. ·      Sask.
    ·      Man. ·      N.W.T. ·      P.E.I.

 

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