What we do
Hone and polish your words
I am a freelance editor in the editorial and information science sectors. I work mainly as a proofreader, rewriter and copy-editor, in large part in the scientific, technical and medical (STM), alternative medicine and business & finance sectors. I have done a great deal of work with authors who use English as a second language.
I have worked on projects for a variety of publishers, chiefly on books and journals but also for organisations and individuals on a wide range of documents including reports, instruction manuals, promotional materials, educational materials, and theses and dissertations.  I also engage in abstracting, keyword indexing for information retrieval, and cataloguing and classification, either in-house or remotely.
I work on hard copy or onscreen as required.
Abstracting
Preparation of informative or descriptive abstracts.
Informative
Fairly short – from 200 words to a page or more. Includes:
• purpose of the work (objectives)
• method used
• scope of the work
• results
• conclusions and recommendations
Descriptive
Short – usually less than 100 words. Includes:
• purpose of the work (objectives)
• method used
• scope of the work
Doesn’t include:
• results
• conclusions and recommendations
Copy-editing
Markup of a submitted manuscript.
or
Markup of PDFs using the Adobe editing tool, with concomitant preparation of Word documents for listing of queries to the author. This is a far simpler and more efficient system than applying BSI stamps: changes, comments and queries can be readily made locally and these are automatically listed in a side panel. Individual items can be clicked on in the panel to immediately locate the piece of text in question.
NB: this process can also be described as proofreading or hybrid proof-editing.
or
Electronic markup of Word documents with straight, non-tracked editing and with coding of text and preparation of a list of codes for the typesetter
or
Use of Track Changes in Word (NB: this can also fall under the remit of proofreading).
Proofreading and collation
Markup of a submitted manuscript using BSI symbols.
or
Markup of PDFs by using the Adobe editing tool, with concomitant preparation of Word documents for listing of queries to the author and comments. In my view this is a far simpler and more efficient system than applying BSI stamps: changes, comments and queries can be readily made locally and these are automatically listed in a side panel. Individual items can be clicked on in the panel to immediately locate the piece of text in question. (NB: this process can also be described as proofreading or hybrid proof-editing.)
Should collation form part of the brief, I will update the edited file by taking in the changes required by the author.
or
Use of Track Changes in Word (NB: this can also fall under the remit of copy-editing).
Rewriting
Mainly for authors with English as a second language; however, a degree of rewriting is sometimes necessary on files from any source. I have worked with authors from many different countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, the UAE, the UK, and the United States.
Please note
The work might involve any combination of the above and I will be happy to discuss this with the client.