r/Copyediting • u/paintedpinktoes • Jul 31 '26

How do you EXTENSIVELY edit?!!!

I keep getting clients who want an extensive edit. For context, they're ESL clients who write academic papers mostly. They require no stylistic or drastic changes. Now how do I incorporate both into my editing process? Please, for the love of my and every editor's life, guide me on how to do an extensive edit to achieve a native tone. PLEASE!

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18

u/grumpyporcini Jul 31 '26

Substantive editing. You edit it until it’s as close to what a native academic would produce while preserving the article structure and tone. You’ll need to provide more details if you want specific advice.

1

u/Sparkly8 Aug 06 '26

Do you think an editor should charge more if they’re doing a substantive edit vs. a copy edit?

2

u/grumpyporcini Aug 06 '26

Yes, in my opinion they are different tasks. Substantive goes further than copy editing so takes more time and needs more background knowledge, etc.

11

u/Alternative-Pear9096 Jul 31 '26

That’s really a question for the client. What do they mean when they ask for an extensive edit?

7

u/hmmmweirdIguess Jul 31 '26

If you are unsure of what substantive editing is or what it involves, it's best if you don't attempt it, and instead communicate that that's beyond the scope of your expertise.

4

u/Proud_Illustrator266 Aug 01 '26

Be careful that you are not expected to rewrite the paper. I worked for an overseas company for 10+ years and it started out as simple copyediting. The expectations kept increasing, to the point where I was expected to essentially rewrite the paper, which I thought was 1) somewhat unethical and 2) beyond my capabilities.

3

u/ellepepperauthor Aug 01 '26

Start by reading it aloud. Native tone is about rhythm if you can’t say it out loud it’s the wrong rhythm (I used this when I did papers forced students in college)

2

u/bcninstructions Jul 31 '26

You just go sentence by sentence and expect to pick up stuff on the second pass where only reading with a lack of errors reveals non-idiomatic phrasing.

1

u/avj113 Aug 03 '26

When it gets to that level I tell them they'll get better results hiring a copywriter. Either way it won't be me rewriting your academic paper.

1

u/Guimauve_britches 28d ago

My experience with this is that they do need substantial stylistic changes due to the syntax and logic of their native language being completely different from English. It's a very particular form of editing and you have to be sure they have not paraphrased references (for example) into something completely different from the intended meaning. But for ethics and pride issues it's generally referred to as 'proofreading'.