Proofreading is the polishing stage when, just before it is revealed to the judges, the editor puts the final sheen on your marble sculpture that you've hewn from raw stone, wiping off any dust and making sure the plaque is attached correctly.

Proofreading is the final stage a document goes through before being sent to its final destination (traditionally, being printed). It is performed after the document has had its final layout and design applied. It is a final round to detect mistakes and involves ensuring the entire document is consistent in spelling, grammar and formatting. For example, part of proofreading a document for a British audience would be ensuring British spellings (like "colour" and "recognise") and generally removing all the Oxford commas. It is where the stray word that's snuck onto the next page, inconsistent hyphenation of "nonfiction", and wrongly positions captions are fixed. 

Given this is the final stage before publishing, proofreading is typically light-touch, making minimalistic changes to ensure correctness.

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Copyediting is the stage of correctness when the editor compares your marble sculpture to  the judges' requirements, anatomical textbooks and your original sketches to make sure there are no sixth fingers or dislocated joints, unless you mean for there to be.

A copyeditor works with the author to catch as many spelling and grammar mistakes as possible, highlight inconsistencies in referencing or arguments, bring clarity to the text, reduce word count when necessary and suggest areas that may need further research or factchecking. Copyediting occurs before a document has had its final design and layout applied. A work may go through a few rounds of copyediting before proofreading.

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Line editing is a collaborative stage when the editor draws suggestions on a copy of your sketches, rearranging sections to better convey your artistic vision before you commit them to stone.

Line editing is similar to copyediting but more in-depth and concered with flow and style. It may involve rewriting or rearranging the work; the editor will make suggestions to improve the narrative path your reader is led down. If you want to make sure your whole piece reads smoothly now you've got everything you want in it, line editing is the option to go for - the editor will work on a sentence and paragraph level to bring a compelling and coherent story to your piece.

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Does the thought of going through all references for your article or book fill you with a deep-seated apathy? Does it make you feel like you're staring at an endless pile of unfolded laundry?

I can help! Either as part of editing your work or on its own, I can format your references to fit your target journal's requirements. I am familiar with Harvard, Chicago and APA, and can work from guides to other styles. I will also find missing information, such as DOIs or URLs, to make your references as complete as possible.

 Contact me with a brief description of your requirements and let's start talking.

You can definitely edit your own work; in fact, I reccommend you do! You know best what you want to say and reading over your own work after some time away will allow you to see how well it conveys your intended message.

However, your familiarity with your work means you can't see it with the eyes of its audience. You'll always be reading your work within the context of your subject knowledge. This may mean you don't experience the gaps that other readers will stumble over, whether they are a missing word interupting a sentence, a logical leap based on external information or dropping in a concept or name with an assumed familiarity. When working with an editor, as a pair you will consider how your work fits into the expected knowledge of your intended audience and the editor will use this, their knowledge of English and any style guides from your desired publisher to polish your work.