Any piece of writing has no single particular version that you can say it is ‘superior’. Instead, there are different options and a broad range of strategies that you can use to improve content or text. These tactics are known as the 7 levels of editing. They enable the editor to respond to a draft and produce a publication that is of high-quality. They are performed without necessarily following any order and you don’t need to use all of them.
The 7 levels of editing include:
1. Light copyediting/Proofreading
It is more concerned with the text’s visual characteristics and it’s the lightest level of editing. Light copyediting/proofreading only deals with glaring and minor errors such as punctuation corrections, grammar, and spelling.
2. Medium Copyediting
The medium copyediting also includes level 1, in addition to addressing consistency and correcting a few of the finer details. They include ensuring word choices are appropriately used, logical and consistent usage of abbreviations, structural formatting (e.g. headings) and numbers.
3. Stylistic Editing
At the stylistic editing or level 3, the writer’s style is addressed which includes over-usage of certain phrases or words, wordiness, tone appropriateness, and organizational structure (or lack of transitional phrases). At this level, the length of the sentences, punctuation and tone formality will change if the text is published.
4. Structural Level
At level 4, major changes will take place and the editor will now look beyond the sentence level. The focus will shift to the internal structure of the paragraph. Are the ideas in the paragraph fully explained or logical? Are the paragraphs too few or many? Is the order of information ideal? At the structural level, the editor is still limited to work on what is provided in the existing text.
5.Substantive Editing
At this level, the editor goes beyond what is provided in the content and looks into the context of the writing piece such as the targeted audience, writing purpose, where the text will be published and the intended accomplishment of the text by the author. The editor can even change the introductory text or general approach to make it more appropriate. More details or content can also be added or minor rewriting conducted.
6.Revision Editing
At the 6th level, the text will not need other options of editing, for instance, you cannot proofread a content that requires revision. Revision means that the writer or the author will have to change or modify some of the decisions he or she made in the original text. It can also require changing the text’s structure, redefinition of the purpose or the content’s audience, reworking on the content substantively or doing away with what does not work in the content.
7.Rewriting
At the rewriting level, it usually means writing over the text again or changing what had been written by the author. It also means changing the structure, tone, style and sometimes even a substantive content portion. It can involve returning to sources and performing new research. It doesn’t necessarily mean fixing the writer’s or author’s text but starting over it or part of it again.
The writers or the authors and the editors need to know the 7 editing levels to have precise discussions of what their texts need to look better. The author will be able to easily agree on editing costs. These editing levels will also provide a framework and understand what needs to be done to analyze and develop editing expertise.