Sophisticated Editors
Guide!

Our Work Ethics

To be a part of the FinestEditing team, our editors need to natively speak English and have professional knowledge and awareness of grammar, spelling, punctuation and other conventions. We also expect our editors to accept jobs they know they can do, and hand over tasks they cannot. Alternatively, you may look for assistance if you need to clear any misunderstandings promptly.
Being an editor, you have the right to refuse work that you feel offended by. However, work that has been accepted needs to be completed with the utmost care and effort without holding any prejudices. We also do not condone any attempts at inserting comments of argumentative and critical nature into client work, and the modification of text for similar purposes.
All editing work will be done using the editing style mentioned by the client. However, the lack of any instruction may prompt you to use this guide as a reference. A regular editing session includes the steps mentioned above and does not include the following steps.

• Addition of content
• Performing Research
• Criticism
• Verification of references
• Uncalled Commentary except on errors

In case, clients have any additional demands, kindly contact representatives of FinestEditing for help.

Punctuation

Depending on the style guide prescribed by the client, you may need to look up punctuation usage in their particular guides. However, in the absence of one, you are required to consult this guide or the APA, Harvard or Chicago guides for reference.

Commas

• In general cases, the use of a serial comma (Oxford Comma) is preferred. This is also the case when the clients are inconsistent. However, if the client's work has a clear use of the normal comma, the serial comma will not be used.
• The use of the serial comma is better to provide clarity to the sentence, although it might be beneficial to restructure the sentence for the same purpose.

Hyphens

• Use hyphens when necessary to clarify words, but be aware that they are not used in many prefixes and words as is.
• In case the selected style guide does not provide an answer, you are encouraged to consult a dictionary to resolve your doubts. Our dictionary of choice is Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

Dashes

• Dashes will be used as per the client style and preference. The usage of a hyphen or double hyphens is not allowed. The dash to be used will also be decided based on its usage in the client’s work along with the grammatical rules.

Apostrophes

• Apostrophes must be used to signify contractions and possessive terms, not plurals. As an example; the horse’s mouth, and Chris’ friend.

Colon

• A colon is used as a means of introduction. This can include a long list, quotation or explanations. Do keep in mind that a colon should only be used in a complete sentence. The first letter after the colon is always capital.

Word Conventions

Editors at Finest Editing make sure the appropriate usage of word conventions; here are some common words that are misused in the paper.

Few and less

• Less is a term used for unknown quantities while fewer is used for quantifiable ones.

Login and Log in

• In this case, “login” is the noun but “log in” is the verb form.

In to, Into

• “Into” is used when referring to the positional change, while “In to” signifies the path of an action.

Who and Whom

• Who refers to the subject of a conversation while whom is the object in question.

Commonly misused words

• Lifestyle, not life-style
• Email, not e-mail
• While, avoid whilst
• Online, not on-line
• Internet will always be capitalized.

Our formatting styles

This section will be covering the styles we expect our writers to follow. Although you do need to keep in mind that the style chosen by the customer holds considerably more weight and will supersede our own, the lack of a mentioned style or observed adherence would mean that this guide would have to be used instead. As such, our guidelines below cover the majority of the aspects although you may have to look deeper into the style guide used for any further help.

Abbreviations

• Acronyms will not contain periods, but abbreviations will contain them.

Capitalization

• In appropriate contexts, you may be required to capitalize words regardless of formatting styles. This includes job positions and other titles. However, the preference of clients must be preferred if observed consistently in the document.

Currency

• The symbols shall be placed closer to the numbers. Additionally, currencies sharing the same symbol can be differentiated using the prefix of the country concerned, such as AU$ for Australian dollars.

Language

• He should not be used to summarize “he or she”. “They” is also not a substitute for “He or she” but can be used for plurals. Use gender-neutral terms wherever possible.

References

• The referencing style provided by the client must be followed at all costs, but the main thing to keep in mind. Depending on the author choice, you may have to follow the style mentioned and look up the details yourself.

Editing Checklist

After the editing process is complete, the only thing left is to pass it through the checklist and ensure that all steps have been completed.

• Grammatical corrections are completed.Vocabulary and words are appropriately used.
• Vocabulary and words are appropriately used.
• The entire tone of the argument and format is consistent.
• The document is free of any extra lines and extra spaces
• The references are complete
• Cross-references are accurate

The general rule here is to ensure all aspects of the writing are completely and thoroughly checked. This would allow you to deliver a quality work to the client without sacrificing on quality.