Editing is the process of preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material with the intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate and complete final product. Modifications can include correcting, condensing, or re-organizing the original material.Mamishev, Alexander, Williams, Sean, Technical Writing for Teams: The STREAM Tools Handbook, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, John Wiley & Sons. Inc., Hoboken, 2009, p. 128.
Editing process The editing process often begins with the author's idea for the work itself, continuing as a collaboration between the author and the editor as the work is created. Editing can involve creative skills, human relations and a precise set of methods. Practicing editing can be a way to reduce language error in future literature works.Diab, N. M. (2010). Effects of peer-versus self-editing on students' revision of language errors in revised drafts. System, 38(1), 85–95.
Editing is a dynamic process. An editor must have the knowledge to identify and to correct errors in a piece of work to refine and deliver its message. However, there are times when correcting an error may change the original message of the work. In such cases, editors must also know when to ignore certain errors and to identify the next best possible course of action, which may involve undoing past corrections. Effective editing comes from not only making corrections, but making corrections that still convey the original message of the work.
Scholarly books and journals
Within the publishing environment, editors of scholarly books are of three main types, each with particular responsibilities: Acquisitions editor (or commissioning editor in Britain), who contracts with the author to produce the copy Project editor or production editor, who sees the copy through its stages from manuscript to bound book and usually assumes most of the budget and schedule responsibilities Copy editor or manuscript editor, who prepares the copy for conversion into printed form.
In the case of multi-author edited volumes, before the manuscript is delivered to the publisher it has undergone substantive and linguistic editing by the volume's editor, who works independently of the publisher.
As for scholarly journals, where spontaneous submissions are more common than commissioned works, the position of journal editor or editor-in-chief replaces the acquisitions editor of the book publishing environment, while the roles of production editor and copy editor remain. However, another editor is sometimes involved in the creation of scholarly research articles. Called the authors' editor, this editor works with authors to get a manuscript fit for purpose before it is submitted to a scholarly journal for publication.
The primary difference between copy editing scholarly books and journals and other sorts of copy editing lies in applying the standards of the publisher to the copy. Most scholarly publishers have a preferred style that usually specifies a particular dictionary and style manual—for example, The Chicago Manual of Style, the MLA Style Manual or the APA Publication Manual in the U.S., or the New Hart's Rules in the U.K.
Editing in the 21st century Editing has a long history dating back to the earliest times of written language. Over time, editing has evolved greatly, particularly with the emergence of new forms of media and language that have led to a move towards multimodality. Today, hardcopies and print are no longer the main focus of editing as new content like film and audio require different kinds of edits.
Technical editing is now more commonly done using applications and websites on devices, which requires editors to be familiar with online platforms like Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, and Google Docs. The significance and intentions behind editing have also changed, moving beyond print due to the continuous advancements in technology. As a result, the grounds and values of editing have changed as well. For instance, text is often shortened and simplified online because of the preference for quick answers among this generation. Additionally, the advancement in social issues has made it possible to offer easy access to vast amounts of information.
How editing is being taught has also changed. Editing writing used to put emphasis on correcting surface-level errors, such as grammar and spelling. While these errors should still be corrected during the editing process, the focus is now shifting towards understanding the meaning of these errors to use the best method to correct them. Simply correcting errors by following a set of rules limits a student's ability to adapt to different situations. Therefore, to make meaningful edits, the student must be able to understand the original message of the writing and why an error was made, whether it was a simple spelling error or incorrect word choice.
Apart from editing written work, video editing has also evolved. Nowadays, non-linear editing is the main way of editing video clips, but in the 1900s, it was linear editing. As computer systems and software have developed, video clips are now able to be uploaded directly to the editing software, making the editing process quicker. With this evolution of editing, creativity has been sped up, editing has become easier, and there are now countless ways for writers to tell stories.
Visual editing
In terms of editing visual content, the two main forms are photographic and cinematic. Photo editing has evolved considerably from humble means, dating back to the early 20th century. During the 1920s, photographers established a new discipline of creative editing by creating collages from multiple photos. By the late 1980s, it became possible to computerize images by running physical photos through a scanner. Over time, software began to develop, aimed toward the manipulation of different qualities of a photo. Today, there are a multitude of applications to choose from to edit the content or qualities of photos; Adobe Photoshop is a common example, as well as other applications such as Adobe Lightroom. Modern photo editing techniques include, but are not limited to linearization, white balance, noise reduction, tone reproduction and compression.
The other form of visual editing is cinematic editing. Cinematic editing entails anything that is to be used as cinematic material, mainly films. Cinematic editing dates back to the early 1900s when American filmmaker, D.W. Griffith, produced the first films that essentially paved the way for the editing techniques that are still used today. The progression of technology brought about advancements in gear, which meant filmmakers were able to achieve new techniques in the post-production process through editing. Editors went from physically cutting and rearranging film to working on virtual timelines using software like DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere Pro.
Self-editing Self-editing is the process of evaluating one's own writing and fixing errors. This does not require any specialized knowledge, and simply aims to improve the overall quality of a literary work. It is an essential part of the editing process, benefiting both language learners and those writing in their native language. In writing studies, self-editing is often discussed as being part of the revision process. It includes drafting, feedback, and rewriting, and is understood as being important for developing autonomy in writing, particularly in second-language (L2) writing settings.
Students often find learning about editing rewarding in both learning a languageFerris, Dana R; Hsiang Liu; Aparna Sinha; Manuel Senna. (2013). Written corrective feedback for individual L2 writers. Journal of Second Language Writing 22.3, 307–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2012.09.009 and improving language skills. However, the writing field currently debates whether self-editing is the best way to reduce errors in student writing. Some studies have shown that self-editing is more effective at reducing language errors in the short term than peer-editing.Diab, N. M. (2016). A comparison of peer, teacher and self-feedback on the reduction of language errors in student essays. System, 57, 55–65. However, in the long term, both approaches have similar effects on students. Others have found that the collaborative dialogue provided by peer-editing is better at reducing language errors than self-editing.
There is an ongoing discussion regarding feedback practices in L2 writing contexts. Some researchers have claimed that grammar correction is ineffective, however others have found that the available evidence was not sufficient to eliminate grammar correction from L2 classrooms. Student feedback may contribute to improvements in grammatical accuracy, while written feedback is also associated with positive short-term revisions and long-term language growth.
Today, self-editing is being taught in numerous ways. Some researchers have found a significant improvement in student essays through self-editing worksheets.Holbrook, G., & Park, V. J. (2017). Student perceptions of the effectiveness of self-editing on their writing: towards a self-regulated approach. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, 12. https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.v0i12.425 Others have experimented with mobile apps. Similar to the worksheets, these mobile based editing exercises have been shown to reduce error specifically in English learners' papers. Just as applications like Google Docs and Grammarly can highlight grammatical errors, these applications may teach students to identify these mistakes, among others, by themselves. Researchers have compared self-editing and peer-editing in the editing process. Experiments, using pre-test/post-test comparison group designs, examined how each approach affects student editing, and distinguished between rule-based language errors, such as grammar rules, and non rule-based errors, such as inaccurate word choice or unstructured sentences. These studies have shown that peer-editing may be associated with greater reduction in certain rule-based errors, while less consistent in non rule-based errors.
More recent research has examined written feedback across certain educational contexts. Some studies have explored how students engage with teacher feedback, depending on the different levels of engagement, particularly within L2 writers. Other research has investigated technology-based writing environments comparing peer feedback versus automated technology feedback. Findings from these studies suggest that automated revising tools paired with peer review led to a greater improvement in writing than automated revising tools without the peer review.
Scholarship in the writing studies field has examined self-editing, peer-editing and teacher feedback independently and collaboratively. Some research has explored how the effectiveness of these different approaches varies depending on the proficiency of the writer. While there hasn't yet been a definitive answer on the best editing techniques to improve language errors, numerous studies have shown that learning to edit helps in both learning a language and improving native language skills.
Technical editing
Technical editing involves reviewing text written on a technical topic, identifying usage errors and ensuring adherence to a style guide. It aims to improve the clarity of the text or message from the author to the reader. Technical editing is actually the umbrella term for all the different kinds of edits that might occur.