8.4: Levels of edit

When you begin an editing project, avoid the temptation of diving in and making any-and-all changes that you think will be valuable. Instead, find out what "level of edit" you need to perform, and stick to it.

A "level of edit" defines how "deep" you should go with your edits. Levels range from superficial to extremely deep. Many different levels of edit can exist; experts disagree about how many levels of edit are necessary and what the different levels should involve, and some types of materials may not require specific levels of edit. Even so, you can use three basic levels for most technical editing projects:

• Consistency and correctness. Edit for surface-level issues such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, word use, page numbering, cross-references, and color consistency. Changes from these edits will not deeply impact the document as a whole.
• Visual readability. Edit for substantive issues such as typeface choices and consistency; graphic elements' locations, sizes, labels, and captions; and document layout. Changes from these edits may have ripple effects across a document and create new errors with consistency and correctness.
• Content and structure. Edit for deep issues such as internal organization, sentence structures, logical flaws, image appropriateness, and overall meaning. Changes from these edits often require fundamental changes in the document and may create entirely new problems with other levels of edit.

When you edit any technical materials, do multiple passes through the material, moving from the deepest to the most superficial level of edit. That way, you will avoid wasting your time on marking up or correcting surface-level problems that will be deleted anyway.

If you see a problem that is outside your responsibility as an editor—for example, if you see a logical problem but you're only responsible for fixing comma splices—note the issue and contact someone with the authority to correct the problem.

Editors' resources

When you edit technical materials, consult a style guide or style sheet, and create a style sheet of your own.

Style guides

A style guide is an existing, authoritative source that lays out rules for the materials you are editing. For example, you have almost definitely used a dictionary at some point in your life, and if you have taken a first-year composition course, you have used a writer's handbook. Both of these examples are style guides.

Many technical editors use their employers' own in-house style guides, but many technical editors also use commercially-available style guides. Some that are commonly used in technical communication include Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, the APA Publication Manual, and the Chicago Manual of Style.

Specialized style guides for highly technical subject matter also exist. If you are editing materials that require specialized knowledge, consult an appropriate style guide. For example, if you're editing documentation for factory-control equipment that will be exported to Russia, refer to The English-Russian Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Automation.

Always be prepared to justify your edits with a style guide reference. If you make up your own rules or follow your gut instinct instead of following a style guide, your author may reject your edits, or worse, you may introduce new errors.

Style sheets

Style sheets are small-scale, local style guides that provide consistent, quick-reference answers to common problems. Technical editors often develop style sheets to cover separate-but-related projects or different phases of a major project, and to make sure that all the editors on a project are following the same rules.

You should compile your own style sheet every time you edit anything. Do not simply list every error you encounter. Instead, list recurring errors or problems with answers that you need to look up frequently, and alphabetize the contents to make them easy to navigate. Click here for an example style sheet.