What Is a Copyediting Service?

During their work as proofreaders, editors, and AI humanizers, the experts at Editly have mastered the art of humanizing AI text. In the series, “How to Humanize AI Text,” they tap into their experience to provide insight into how to humanize AI. In this post, we take on a question that is near and dear to our hearts—“What is a copyediting service?”.

ChatGPT Text Response to “What is a Copyediting Service?”

Copyediting services are specialized offerings that focus on reviewing written material to improve its clarity, coherence, accuracy, and consistency before publication. Copyediting goes beyond basic proofreading, which typically targets grammatical errors and typos. Instead, copyediting delves deeper, addressing the style, formatting, and overall flow of the text. The primary goal is to ensure that the content is not only error-free but also effective and polished for its intended audience. Here’s what copyediting services typically involve:

1. Correcting Errors

• Grammar and Syntax: Correcting grammatical mistakes, improper syntax, and punctuation errors.
• Spelling: Ensuring that spelling is consistent and correct, considering any regional variations (e.g., American vs. British English).

2. Enhancing Style and Clarity

• Language Use: Refining language to ensure clarity and appropriateness for the target audience. This may involve rephrasing awkward constructions or suggesting improvements for readability.
• Consistency: Maintaining stylistic consistency in terms of tone, terminology, and the use of serial commas, capitalization, and other stylistic elements.

3. Ensuring Coherence and Flow

• Logical Flow: Checking that the text is logically structured and that ideas transition smoothly from one to another.
• Removing Redundancies: Eliminating unnecessary repetition and verbose expressions that do not add value to the content.

4. Fact-Checking

• Accuracy: Verifying factual information, dates, and statistics to ensure the text is accurate and trustworthy.
• References and Citations: Checking the accuracy and format of references and citations, ensuring they adhere to the required style guides (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago).

5. Formatting

• Layout and Design: Ensuring that the document's formatting aligns with publishing standards or specific publication guidelines.
• Headers, Footers, and Page Numbers: Adjusting such elements to meet the specifications of the document’s intended format.

6. Adherence to Style Guides

• Implementation of Style Guides: Applying specific editorial standards and style guides (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style, AP Stylebook) that are relevant to the text’s context, such as academic, technical, or journalistic writing.

7. Legal Checking

• Copyright and Permissions: Ensuring that the text does not violate any copyright laws and that all necessary permissions for use of copyrighted material are obtained.

Who Uses Copyediting Services?

Copyediting services are utilized by a wide range of clients, including:

• Authors preparing books for publication.
• Academics and Researchers submitting papers to journals.
• Businesses creating professional reports, proposals, and marketing materials.
• Publishers ensuring that their content meets high editorial standards before going to print.
• Students needing to refine major papers or theses.

Effective copyediting enhances the quality and effectiveness of written materials, making them clearer, more professional, and more engaging to readers. It is a crucial step in the publishing process for anyone who aims to produce high-quality written content. (430 words)

Human Rewrite of the ChatGPT Text

Copyediting services specialize in reviewing written material to improve its clarity, coherence, accuracy, and consistency. Copyediting goes beyond basic proofreading—which typically targets grammatical errors and typos—to address style, formatting, and overall flow. Its primary goal is to ensure that the content is not only error-free, but also effective and polished for its intended audience. Here’s what copyediting services typically involve:

1. Correcting Errors

• Grammar and Syntax: Correcting grammatical mistakes, improper syntax, and punctuation errors.
• Spelling: Ensuring that spelling is consistent and correct, considering any regional variations.

2. Enhancing Style and Clarity

• Language Use: Refining language to ensure clarity and appropriateness for the target audience. 
• Consistency: Maintaining stylistic consistency in terms of tone, terminology, and the use of serial commas, capitalization, and other stylistic elements.

3. Ensuring Coherence and Flow

• Logical Flow: Checking that the text is logically structured and that ideas transition smoothly.
• Removing Redundancies: Eliminating unnecessary repetition and verbose expressions.

4. Fact-Checking

• Accuracy: Verifying factual information, dates, and statistics.
• References and Citations: Checking the accuracy and format of references and citations, ensuring they adhere to the required style guides (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago).

5. Formatting

• Layout and Design: Ensuring that the document's formatting aligns with publishing standards or specific publication guidelines.
• Headers, Footers, and Page Numbers: Adjusting such elements to meet the specifications of the document’s intended format.

6. Adherence to Style Guides

• Implementation of Style Guides: Applying specific editorial standards and style guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style or AP Stylebook.

7. Legal Checking

• Copyright and Permissions: Ensuring that the text does not violate any copyright laws.

Who Uses Copyediting Services?

• Authors preparing books for publication.
• Academics and Researchers submitting papers to journals.
• Businesses creating professional reports, proposals, and marketing materials.
• Publishers ensuring that their content meets high editorial standards before going to print.
• Students needing to refine major papers or theses.

Effective copyediting enhances the quality and effectiveness of written materials by making them clearer, more professional, and more engaging to readers. (329 words)

The AI Text vs the Humanized Text

Famed philosopher and raconteur Voltaire once remarked that "The secret of being boring is to say everything." By this standard, ChatGPT text is boring indeed. In fact, due to its urge to bloviate and repeat, the ChatGPT response to our question ran all the way to 430 words.

Conversely, our humanized version is only 329 words—or more than 23% shorter than the AI text. We achieved this reduction by targeting unnecessary repetition and redundancy. Or, in other words, by making the text more straightforward and less boring.

The Takeaway

You, too, can practice the above skills and become proficient at humanizing AI texts. But, if you would like an experienced helping hand, then don’t wait to get started on Editly.