Beyond commas and typos: What to look at when you’re editing

When someone asks you to edit something – really edit it – they’re asking for more than just a check to ensure the punctuation is right.

Beyond making sure your grammar is sound, an editor should be making sure your thinking is sound. A good editor should be your toughest critic, your biggest fan and your smartest audience.

These are the questions to ask when  taking a close look at a piece. Punctuation and AP Style are the least of it.

Does it make sense?

This is the most fundamental and critical role of an editor: Making the words make sense.

It might sound like an obvious thing that the writer already should have handled. But it’s very easy for a writer to get in the deep weeds and not realize that what they’ve written makes total sense in their head, but not on the page. It’s an editor’s job to come in with fresh eyes and really interrogate the piece.

This means making sure the writing makes sense to read, with words used properly and in the right places. But it also means making sure there is enough context and background provided for the intended audience to understand, but not enough to bog the piece down. It means making sure any quoted stats or research seem correct and bolster the argument they’re being used to make. It means taking a step back and asking: What does this really mean?