What Copy Editors Do and Don’t Do

As a copy editor who enjoys working on theses and dissertations, I often work with scholars hiring a copy editor for the first time. Sometimes they can feel unsure about what they’re getting into.

They might wonder, Will my writing be scrutinized and judged? Should I feel embarrassed about grammar mistakes or overlooked gaps in logic? Will the copy editor bulldoze over my writing style?

Such concerns make sense considering the nature of academic scholarship: writing in isolation on the one hand and sharing work under rigorous scrutiny on the other. Copy editing is a great way to help bridge this divide. I’d like to offer reassurance that a copy editor is there to support their clients, not to judge them or change their work.

Freelance copy editors provide a second pair of eyes on writing that may have been weeks, months, or years in the making. If you’ve read over the same sentence a hundred times, would you notice an extra “the” in there? And when you are steeped in the nuances of your ideas, can you always predict how your messages will land for someone coming to them for the first time? Copy editors bring that distance, and they can support you in delivering clean and clear writing to your readers.

A copy editor’s job is to notice things, suggest changes, and help you say what you want to say.

What Copy Editors don’t do:

Rewrite your work.
Make changes according to our personal preference or personal style.
Implement changes without your knowledge (all suggested changes are tracked).
Judge your writing.
Police grammar (a good editor will respect cultural, political, or creative decisions that veer from dominant language rules).
Criticize the writing or the writer.
Have the final say.
Guarantee a perfect manuscript (editors are human!).