#editorworld

Editor World LLC was named a Finalist in the Company of the Year – Consumer Services – 10 or Less Employees category in the 16th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, and will ultimately be a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award winner in the program.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees and the companies they run – worldwide.  The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world’s premier business awards.

Editor World provides professional English editing and proofreading services for businesses and individuals around the world, serving as an on-demand, personal editing team. Editor World was founded 9 years ago after Patti Fisher, owner, saw a need for reliable, high-quality document editing services among academic writers and businesses. The company recently added Company Accounts so businesses can make deposits that their employees use for editing and proofreading services, and will continue to evolve in response to clients’ needs.

Finalists for the Stevie Awards were determined by the average scores of more than 150 business professionals around the world, working on seven juries. Their scores will also determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements that will be revealed at the 16th annual awards dinner and presentations in New York.

“This marks the third consecutive year that Editor World has been a finalist for the Company of the Year – Consumer Services Award. I’m proud of what the company continues to accomplish and am honored to be nominated among such great women-led companies,” said Patti Fisher, founder and owner of Editor World.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Finalists in all categories are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.  

A frustrating situation that graduate students sometimes face is having problems with their advisor. Most advisors want to help graduate students and are actively engaged in this academic relationship. However, some graduate students are not so lucky and find themselves working with an advisor who does not respond to verbal or written communication or provide feedback on completed sections of the thesis. This can be a real challenge because the student may have completed all of the required courses, but is not getting feedback from the advisor, which is necessary for moving forward with the thesis. For example, the advisor may not respond to emails or return phone calls, and may even fail to show up for scheduled meetings. 

One option is for the student to politely and reasonably discuss with the advisor the possibility of changing to another faculty advisor. It is important to talk to the advisor before talking to others in the department so he or she doesn't feel blindsided and take offense (this could cause problems for you in your career, particularly if you are in a close-knit discipline). It can be easy to forget that faculty members have a life outside of the university, but students should keep in mind that the advisor may be facing difficult life experiences that are affecting work performance. Discussing concerns with the faculty member could give the advisor an opportunity to think about what is best for the student and how to improve the working relationship. Many departments have a small number of faculty members, so switching advisors may not be possible. In this case, there are several things students can do in an attempt to improve the situation.

First, the student can set up regular meetings with his or her advisor, such as meeting once or twice a week at the same time/day of the week. This can help both the student and advisor establish routine and move things forward. It also gives the student a deadline to focus on, such as writing the methods section, and gives the faculty member a deadline for providing feedback on completed work. If the advisor does not keep up with regular meetings or does not attend scheduled meetings or provide feedback, the student must track this in case s/he later feels he or she must change advisors and/or needs to speak to the Graduate Studies Chair about the situation. After talking with the advisor about any concerns, the student can talk to the Graduate Studies Chair. That person has likely worked with the advisor and can give the student suggestions to improve the situation, or can direct the student to other forms of assistance.

Again, before talking to administrators about the situation, the student needs to communicate his or her viewpoint to the advisor. The point is not to start an argument, but to let the advisor know what the student needs and to give the advisor a chance to respond. The faculty member may not be giving the feedback a student asks for because he/she thinks the student needs to figure it out independently as a scholar. As in any relationship, communication is an ongoing process and is important for moving forward in a healthy way.

It’s no wonder authors are often unsure what editing services they need for their document or manuscript. The term editing seems to be used interchangeably to mean copyediting, proofreading, substantive editing, content editing, and technical editing. So, what does it mean to edit a document?

Editing defined

A simple definition of editing is improving text of some kind, whether it’s going to be published for millions or for a college class. Editing services aim for copy to be well-written, high-quality, and error-free. Editing as a service is important for a range of copy types. Maybe it will appear online as a blog or article, in a journal or newspaper, as an announcement or poster, or as a full-length book.

There are several types of manuscript manipulation techniques that require understanding to fully grasp where editing falls within the publishing process. The related services we’ll cover are copyediting, substantive editing, and proofreading.

Substantive editing

Substantive editing, also referred to as developmental editing, addresses the organization of ideas within a document, and dives deeper into meaning and tone for the intended audience than copyediting does. A substantive editor will pay attention to how ideas are organized, phrasing, and readability.

Developmental or substantive editors will also pay attention to consistency of tone, language, and word usage throughout the entire document. They may or may not be responsible for correcting grammatical or spelling errors, as their focus is on the complete presentation of the text.

Copyediting

Copyeditors typically provide editing services on a line-by-line, or sentence-by-sentence, basis. This means they will make suggestions for sentence structure, flow, and word choice and will correct any errors they come across in grammar, spelling, or punctuation. They’ll check formatting and alignment with applicable style guides, such as the Chicago Manual of Style or the American Psychological Association (APA) style. These style guides are especially particular about the references and citation lists in academic or technical works.

Copyediting typically does not include providing suggestions about the style and consistency of the entire document, especially if it is a book-length work. Copyediting is more laser-focused on each sentence, word, and paragraph. Sometimes copyeditors communicate with authors, but often they do not.

Proofreading

Proofreading can be thought of as the “surface” type of editing. Proofreaders look for typos and errors in text that has already been through editing. Their job is to catch anything that the editor or copyeditor may have missed. They don’t pay attention to global issues or tone.

Editing and copyediting, as opposed to proofreading, can include grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, style, consistency, word choice, tone, paragraph length, and much more. Often when people say “editing” they are referring to a deeper substantive or developmental edit. Sometimes, however, “editing” is used to mean proofreading.

This is why it’s always a good idea to clarify if you’re uncertain about what kind of service you need for your document, or if you’ve been asked to edit something. A simple clarifying answer will divulge whether the document should be scanned for errors or if it should be reworked to improve the quality of the writing.

Engaging with an editor is always a good idea for school papers; online publications like blogs, newsletters, or articles; important mailings; webpage copy; or self-published books. Each project will differ in its needs for developmental editing or proofreading. It’s thus important to consider how deep the text should be reviewed to reach the ultimate goal of communicating with the intended audience.