You’ve been staring at the same words so long they barely make sense anymore. You’re pretty sure you followed the style requirements… but you’re not 100% confident. And you don’t think reading it through just one more time will help you catch anything.

You’re right. You need an editor.

Let me be your fresh set of eyes. I’ll help you polish your work til it shines, ironing out finicky formatting details and catching inconsistencies, typos, and grammar issues. That last sentence had a serial comma in it -- but if your chosen style doesn’t use it, I’ll cut it out.

Have a complicated style guide, such as university requirements for a thesis or dissertation? No problem.

I’m fluent in AP and APA, and getting reacquainted with CMS and CSE. If all that looks like alphabet soup, don’t worry; I’ll ask you some questions about your project requirements, and we’ll work from there.

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Here’s some of what I do:

Copyediting

They say the devil’s in the details -- but luckily for you, I’m incredibly focused on them.

I’ll look for spelling, grammar, and punctuation issues, to start. I’ll also consider word choice, weed out “crutch” words, and help you rephrase awkward sentences. I’ll check for consistency -- if your study participant is named “Jasmine” in the introduction, she doesn’t become “J” in the discussion.

I’ll make sure your work is easy to read and understand; if something’s unclear, I’ll highlight it and suggest a way to fix it.

I’ll also make sure your formatting matches your chosen style guide, and that it’s consistent throughout. In a copy edit, I might also help you format page numbers, a table of contents, a reference list, or other elements.

Proofreading

You didn’t think it could get more detailed than copyediting… but it can, and it does.

Once your document has been edited and typeset (usually, turned into a PDF), I’ll go over it with my finest-tooth comb, making sure spacing and placement are correct. I’ll look for any weird line breaks, heading issues, or strange formatting.

After I highlight any final errors, you’ll be confident your work is ready to share with the world.

Not sure what you need? Get in touch and we’ll see if I’m a fit for your project.

 

“Heather retained my voice and my words while also pushing me to write the best story possible. Each time she edited my work, I knew it would become a piece I'd be proud to share — and one that contained zero errors or holes in reporting.”

— Carson Kohler, Staff Writer at The Penny Hoarder