Overview
A copyeditor reads for correctness, consistency and precision. Beyond the spelling, grammar and punctuation a proofreader checks, copyediting addresses word choice ("affect" versus "effect", "comprised of", "significant" used loosely in a quantitative paper), consistent treatment of terms, abbreviations, numbers, units, capitalization and hyphenation, and the rules of your style guide, such as APA 7 number conventions or Chicago's treatment of titles.
Copyediting keeps your sentences largely intact. Where a sentence is grammatical but hard to follow, a copyeditor makes the minimum change for clarity or leaves a query; restructuring sentences for rhythm and flow is line editing. This makes copyediting the right level for a solid draft that is inconsistent or imprecise rather than badly written.
Every copyedit comes with a style sheet: a record of the decisions we made (spellings, abbreviations, capitalization, number style, preferred terms) so your co-authors, your next chapter and any later proofreader can follow the same rules. Changes are tracked and queries are in margin comments.
Who it’s for and the problems it solves
This is for you if you are…
- Researchers preparing a journal article or book chapter where the content is sound but the style is uneven
- Doctoral candidates with a multi-chapter thesis written over several years, where terms and abbreviations drifted between chapters
- Co-authored papers in which each section was written by a different person
- Institutions producing reports, handbooks or accreditation documents that need a single house style
- Students whose university rules permit editing of word choice and consistency (check your policy first)
Common problems we help with
- The same concept appears under three names, and a reviewer asked whether they are different constructs
- Abbreviations are defined twice, or used before they are defined, or never defined at all
- Numbers, units and percentages are formatted differently from one section to the next
- Your journal or department requires APA, Chicago, AMA or a house style, and you are unsure where the text departs from it
- Word choice is slightly off — "prove" where the data only "suggest", or informal phrases in formal prose
What’s included — and what isn’t
Included
- Everything in proofreading: spelling, grammar, punctuation and typographical errors
- Word choice and usage: commonly confused words, imprecise verbs, informal register, hedging that does not match your evidence
- Consistency of terminology, construct and variable names across the whole document
- Abbreviations and acronyms: defined at first use, used consistently, listed if your template requires a list
- Numbers, units, statistics formatting (for example p values, italics for statistical symbols) and percentages per your style guide
- Capitalization, hyphenation, headings levels, bias-free and person-first language where your style guide asks for it
- Cross-references: tables, figures, sections and appendices referred to correctly
- In-text citation format checked for consistency with your required style
- Style sheet recording every decision
Not included
- Recasting sentences for flow, rhythm or concision beyond what correctness requires (see line editing)
- Changing your argument, structure or conclusions
- Verifying facts, data or statistical results
- Adding or finding references
- For assessed student work, any change your institution's policy does not permit — we switch to comments instead
What you receive
- Tracked-changes manuscript
- Every edit visible in Track Changes so you can review, accept or reject each one individually.
- Margin queries
- Questions where only you can decide, for example whether "attitude" and "perception" are meant as distinct constructs, or which of two figures a sentence refers to.
- Style sheet
- A one- to three-page record of spellings, abbreviations, capitalization, number style, terminology and style-guide choices applied, reusable for future chapters and co-authors.
- Clean copy
- A version with edits accepted, for professional and publication documents where that is appropriate.
How it works
Brief and style guide
You send the document, target journal or template, style guide and any existing style sheet or glossary.
Sample and level check
We edit a short sample so you can see the depth of intervention and confirm copyediting is the right level.
Full copyedit
We edit the document and build the style sheet as we go, then run a final consistency sweep using the style sheet as a checklist.
Queries resolved
You answer the margin queries and we can check your answers are applied consistently.
Standards and tools we copyedit against
- Style guides
- APA 7, Chicago (the edition your publisher specifies; the 18th was published in 2024), AMA, MLA 9, Harvard variants, IEEE and journal or university house styles.
- Style sheet
- Built during editing and used as a checklist in a final pass, so a decision made on page 3 is applied on page 230.
- Search-based consistency checks
- Targeted searches for variant spellings, hyphenation, abbreviations and number formats catch inconsistencies a linear read misses.
- Field-appropriate usage
- Conventions such as reporting statistics in italics, SI units with spaces, or the difference between "sex" and "gender" in health research reporting.
- Tracked changes and comments
- Edits in Word Track Changes; judgement calls as margin queries rather than silent changes.
Copyediting in practice: before and after
The examples below show the typical depth of a copyedit: the sentence keeps its shape, but word choice, consistency and style-guide conventions are corrected.
- Before: "The questionnaire was comprised of 24 items, and the results prove that SES effects wellbeing (p=.03)." After: "The questionnaire comprised 24 items, and the results suggest that socioeconomic status (SES) affects well-being (p = .03)."
- Before (chapter 2): "e-learning"; (chapter 4): "E-Learning"; (chapter 5): "elearning". After: "e-learning" throughout, recorded in the style sheet.
- Query rather than change: "You use 'teacher self-efficacy' and 'teacher confidence' in section 3.2. Are these the same construct? If so, I suggest using one term."
Copyediting or line editing?
The two overlap, and in UK publishing "copyediting" often includes some sentence-level smoothing. We keep the distinction clear so you know what to expect: copyediting asks "is this correct, consistent and precise?"; line editing asks "does this sentence read as well as it could?". If your sentences are long, tangled or repetitive, line editing will do more for you. If they are clear but inconsistent, copyediting is the efficient choice.
Why a style sheet matters for long and co-authored work
Long documents are written in pieces. A thesis drafted over three years, or a paper with five authors, accumulates small inconsistencies that no single read-through catches. The style sheet turns our decisions into a shared reference: you can hand it to co-authors, use it for the next chapter, or give it to a proofreader at page-proof stage.
What the work can look like
Illustrative example — fictional data
Illustrative excerpt: copyedit with style-sheet entries
Two education researchers send a 9,000-word co-authored article for a journal using APA 7. Sections were drafted separately. The sentences and decisions below are invented to show the format of the deliverable.
Tracked edit
Before: "Over 50% of the 312 teachers (N=312) said that professional development (PD) was 'not useful', whilst Professional Development in rural schools was rated higher." After: "More than half of the teachers (n = 312) rated professional development (PD) as "not useful," whereas PD in rural schools was rated higher."
Margin query
"Section 2 defines PD as 'formal courses only', but section 4 includes peer observation. Should the definition be broadened, or should section 4 use a different term?"
Style sheet entries
PD — define at first use in abstract and again in main text (APA). Use n for subsample, N for total sample. Double quotation marks; punctuation inside (American). "whereas" not "whilst". Numbers 10 and above as numerals; percentages with % after numerals.
Illustrative example only: the authors, sample and text are invented. Real style sheets follow your journal's or institution's guide.
What you’ll need to provide
- The document in Word (or LaTeX source by agreement)
- The required style guide and edition, author guidelines or university template
- Any glossary, list of abbreviations or existing style sheet
- Notes on deliberate choices (a term you use in a special sense, a spelling your field prefers)
- For student work, your institution's policy on editing support
You don’t need everything ready to ask for a quote — tell us what you have and we’ll say what’s missing.
What affects price and turnaround
Price depends on
- Word count in scope and whether tables, figure captions, footnotes and appendices are included
- Consistency of the draft — multi-author or multi-year documents need more decisions
- Complexity of the style guide or house style to be applied
- Density of technical content: statistics, equations, legal or medical terminology
- Whether a clean copy and style sheet for future documents are required
Turnaround depends on
- Document length and the number of consistency decisions to resolve
- How quickly you can answer queries that affect the rest of the document
- Whether the style guide and template are supplied at the start
Every project is quoted individually. How we price our work.
Questions people ask before starting
Do you change my meaning when you change word choice?
We aim not to. Where a word choice changes the strength of a claim — "prove" to "suggest", for instance — we make the edit in tracked changes and explain it, or leave a query if the right word depends on your evidence. You decide.
My co-authors use British spelling and I use American. What happens?
Tell us which variant your journal or publisher wants and we apply it throughout, including -ise/-ize and punctuation conventions. The style sheet records the choice so later additions match.
Can copyediting be used on my dissertation?
It depends on your university. Many policies allow correction of spelling, grammar and punctuation but not changes to word choice or expression in assessed work. Send us your policy; if copyediting goes beyond it, we limit our work to what is allowed and use comments for the rest.
Will you format my references?
We check that in-text citations follow your style consistently. A full reference-list conversion to APA 7, Vancouver or another style is offered as a separate citation and referencing check.
What is a style sheet and do I need one?
It is a short record of editorial decisions — spellings, abbreviations, capitalization, number style and preferred terms. You do not need to provide one; we create it. It becomes useful when you revise, add chapters or pass the text to co-authors.