Editing Tips

Advice on the skills you need as a freelance proofreader and editor. Check out our editing tips and advice to develop your abilities and impress your clients.

  • Narrative Structure: A Guide to Freytag’s Pyramid

    Narrative Structure: A Guide to Freytag’s Pyramid

    Oct 05, 2022

    • Creative Writing
    • Editing Tips
    • Proofreading Tips

    If you’re a fiction editor, understanding narrative structure can help you assess your client’s work. One of the more common ways of conceptualizing narrative structure is Freytag’s Pyramid, which we will look at in today’s post. Read on to find out more about Freytag’s Pyramid and how to use it when editing. What is Freytag’s […]

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  • Common Fallacies (and How to Fix Them)

    Common Fallacies (and How to Fix Them)

    Oct 01, 2022

    • Academic Editing
    • Common Errors
    • Editing Tips
    • Proofreading Tips

    Logical fallacies are deceptive or false arguments that use faulty reasoning to shift the direction of a discussion away from the main point. Whether you’re writing a critical essay or having a heated discussion with your neighbor, being aware of logical fallacies can help you build stronger arguments and establish credibility. As an academic editor, […]

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Narrative Structure: The Hero’s Journey

  • What Is an Executive Summary? (And How to Edit One)

    Sep 21, 2022

    • Business Editing
    • Editing Tips
    • Proofreading Tips

    If you’re a proofreader or editor who specializes in business writing, you’ll need to know how to edit an executive summary. An executive summary is a short overview of a business document that outlines the basic topics covered. In today’s post, we’ll explain executive summaries in more detail before giving you some tips on how […]

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  • How to Proofread and Edit an Academic CV

    Sep 15, 2022

    • Academic Editing
    • Editing Tips
    • Proofreading Tips

    If you’ve worked with professional CVs before, you may feel prepared to proofread and edit an academic CV. But there are some important differences between professional and academic CVs that you should know about. In this blog post, we give a brief guide to the content and structure of an academic CV and set out […]

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  • The Inverted Pyramid in Journalism

    Sep 14, 2022

    • Business Editing
    • Editing Tips
    • Proofreading Tips

    The inverted pyramid is a handy tool used by journalists and business writers to structure their work. Understanding the inverted pyramid and how it’s used will help you to edit this form of writing. In this post, we explain the basics of the inverted pyramid so that you can use it to help assess your […]

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  • How to Use the 5 “W”s (and 1 H)

    Sep 01, 2022

    • Business Editing
    • Editing Tips
    • Proofreading Tips

    The five “W”s are a principle widely used in journalism and copywriting, so they are worth understanding if you want to edit these types of writing. In this post, we’ll set out the basics of the five “W”s and how you can use them as an editor. What Are the Five “W”s? The five “W”s […]

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  • Proofreading Tips: When Should You Write Out Numbers in Full?

    Aug 12, 2022

    • Editing Tips

    Style guides vary a lot on even the basics of how to write numbers. APA style, for instance, recommends writing out numbers under 10 as words and using numerals for larger numbers. But Chicago style recommends writing out numbers up to and including 100. And MLA style recommends writing out any number that can be […]

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  • Common Clichés (And How to Avoid Them)

    Aug 10, 2022

    • Common Errors
    • Editing Tips
    • Proofreading Tips

    Part of your job as a proofreader or editor is to help your client avoid clichés in their writing. This will involve highlighting overused terms and phrases and suggesting less clichéd alternatives. But to do this, you’ll first need to know what clichéd language is and how to spot it. This is where our guide […]

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  • 5 Questions to Ask When Editing a Listicle

    5 Questions to Ask When Editing a Listicle

    Aug 03, 2022

    • Business Editing
    • Editing Tips
    • Formatting
    • Proofreading Tips

    If you edit articles or blog posts for business clients, at some point you’ll probably need to edit one of the most popular formats out there nowadays – the listicle. As the name suggests, a listicle is a piece of writing that organizes its sections as a numbered list – just like this post, in […]

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  • How to Spot a Credible Source

    How to Spot a Credible Source

    Jul 28, 2022

    • Academic Editing
    • Editing Tips
    • Proofreading Tips
    • Referencing and Citations

    As an academic editor, part of your job may involve making sure your client has backed up their argument by citing credible sources. But how can you tell if a source is reliable or not? In this post, we’ll take a look at what makes a source credible and what to do if you spot […]

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