Editing Checklist

General editing check

Incorporate feedback received into the document.

Before doing so, however, save a copy of the pre-edit draft so that you can refer back to it if you need to.
Label your versions of the manuscript clearly and systematically.

Read for meaning, content, and word choices.

Tone should be correct for the type of writing and consistent.
Change ambiguous wording and rewrite unclear sentences.
Vary your vocabulary. Avoid repeating words too close together. Read your text out loud. Annoying repetitions will jump out at you. Use a thesaurus to help with variety, but also consider rewording and condensing. Shorter is often better.
Check that sentences and paragraphs flow well.
Consider shortening long sentences.
Eliminate repetition and verbosity (unnecessary words).

Check grammar.

Use the Word spelling and grammar checker or Word add-ons, but don’t accept suggestions too quickly – the software might be wrong. Be careful, as well, about clicking “ignore” or “accept all” – there might be exceptions in your document.
Watch for faulty parallelisms (“I like to dance, sing, and drawing”).
Avoid jumping back and forth between the present and past tenses.

Punctuation should be correct and consistent.

Eliminate run-on sentences/comma splices. Separate sentences with a semicolon (if they are closely related) or a period.
Check quotation marks for correct use and placement.

Check spelling.

Some words have more than one spelling; if it isn’t decided by your style guide, choose the one that best suits your audience.
If your publisher requires you to use a specific dictionary and a word has alternative spellings, choose the one that has the definition or the first spelling if two are listed in the same entry.
Check homophones and near homophones. Some common ones are it’s (it is) and its (belonging to it), accept/except, and rite/right/write.
See the note on spelling and grammar checkers above, under grammar.

Capitalization should be correct and consistent.

Almost always capitalize proper nouns (names of people, corporations, and geographical entities).
Check your style guide for its requirements and recommendations.
Some capitalization is optional, but it should be consistent within your document.
Use find and replace functions to locate inconsistencies. You can select capitalization, italicization, and other spelling and formatting options.

Formatting should enhance reader experience.

Hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes should be consistent.
Check publisher requirements and follow them.
Check the spacing of paragraphs, headings, and graphic elements. Check for gaps and strange-looking text wrapping around images and tables.
Scroll through the formatted document page by page, looking for general aesthetic appeal.
Check headers and footers.

Tips and tricks

Make two or more passes through the text looking for different things. Reading for comprehension uses different skills than those used when checking for commas.
When you think you are done, run the spelling and grammar check one last time to pick up any errors that might have been introduced while you were making changes.

Specific to academic texts and other nonfiction works

Style guide adherence:

Follow required heading styles, spelling, visual element presentation (tables, graphs, or images) guidelines.
Check numbers for consistency.
Eliminate redundancy. Your style guide or target publication might have specific rules; e.g., that “in order to” should be shortened to “to.”

Language:

Abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms:

Present the acronym in parentheses following the first mention of a term; e.g., Chicago Manual of Style (CMS)
Consider presenting it again if there is a lot of text between the individual mentions.
Topics that are better known by their initialism or acronym (DNA is one example, but this can depend on your audience) can be referred to by their letters in the text or reversed on the first mention; e.g., DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

Headings:

Is the structure correct? Do subheadings relate correctly to the headings, or should they be at a different level? It can be useful to review the headings on their own, which is easily done by using Word’s heading styles.
Do they make sense? Do they convey the flow of the text?
Do they accurately describe the content under them?
Are they clear? Do they “read” well? Are there any typos?

Superscripts, footnotes, and end notes:

References and citations:

Figures and tables:

Long quotations and block quotes:

Have you followed your style guide’s requirements on presentation of quotations in text or as block quotes?
Are block quotes formatted correctly?