Every piece of work that originates from an author has a flow of narration of the events and the information. While describing the content, the work can have various errors and issues. The identification of the errors in a piece of work is done by two main processes. They are editing and revising.
Editing vs Revising
The main difference between editing and revising is that editing works on the previous data while revising can alter the data and bring in new data. Editing can mark all the changes that are required in a content while revising can include rewriting of the entire content.
The process which includes selection and preparation of visual, written, audible, photographic, or cinematic content by an entity or a person to share some information or a message is known as editing. The components that are covered in the process of editing are spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and other related issues.
On the other hand, the process of rearrangement, addition, or removal of words, sentences, or even paragraphs in a piece of writing is known as revising. The components that are covered in revising are the addition of new ideas and descriptive words, sharing more detail in the ideas, clarification of the existing thoughts, elimination of all the unnecessary elements and other related issues
Comparison Table Between Editing and Revising
What is Editing?
The process which includes selection and preparation of visual, written, audible, photographic, or cinematic content by an entity or a person to share some information or a message is known as editing. The process of editing can involve other sub-process is like organization, correction, modification, condensation so that the result is accurate, correct, complete, and consistent.
The process of editing requires creative skills, a set of precise methods, and even human relations. Editing begins on the authors’ idea of the work and then continues as a collaboration of the author and the editor on the work. Publishing houses have various prominent editorial positions which can range from junior level to senior executive editors.
Depending upon the position of the editor, the job role can include just editing a piece of work to releasing the work for final publication. The top editorial position at most publications is known as an executive editor or chief editor. The chief editor may be supported by a managing editor to help in the management of various sections.
In the industry of book publishing, the job role of editors include the organization of anthologies and other compilations to produce a defined edition of the authors’ work. In a multi-author book, they manage and organize the contributions of each author. There are even copy editors who help in correcting the grammar, spelling, and alignment of writings. Copy editors can even write headlines and work on sensitive issues at newspaper or wire services.
What is Revising?
The process of rearrangement, addition, or removal of words, sentences, or even paragraphs in a piece of writing is known as revising. Revision of work can be practiced during the composing process or after the piece is entirely completed. A piece of work can involve multiple rounds of revision before reaching a final draft.
Revision examines the completed work closely and can point out serious flaws in the arrangement of the material or other issues. The revision aims to work at uncovering weaknesses, identification of a thesis, clarifying any unclear position, reconsideration of the organizing structure, and various other related positions. Revising refers to a larger category of writing behavior.
A manuscript of content undergoing revising would have a correction in the narrative style to convey the meaning or can even have changes in the way any reader word interprets, perceive or experience the piece of work. Revising can conduct an entire revision of the previous work. This makes the story of the content stronger and provides clarity to the idea.
Various components are followed in the revision of work like the addition of new ideas, the addition of more descriptive words, sharing more detail in the ideas, clarification of the existing thoughts, elimination of all the unnecessary elements, and improvement of the overall understanding of the ideas that are being presented to the readers.
Main Differences Between Editing and Revising
- Editing is usually done by an editor while revising can be done by the author himself.
- Editing brings out mistakes of grammar, spelling, or punctuation in a written work while revising brings out alternatives in a written work.
- Editing only trims the story while revising can change the narrative of the story.
- Editing does not deal with the flow of the content while revising checks the consistency and the flow of the content.
- Editing works on the previous data while revising can alter the data and bring in new data.
Conclusion
Every content before reaching the public and the readers have to go through rounds of checking to identify the various issues and mistakes present in the content. The checking can be done by the author himself/herself or by other people like editors, proofreaders, and other personnel. For checking a piece of work, the various types of processes are editing and revising.
The end goal of both processes is to make sure that the final piece of work is clear, complete, cohesive, and consistent throughout while the delivery of the idea. However, both the processes operate in different ways. The application of both processes is in different areas. A combination of both the checking process can produce excellent results.
References
- https://search.proquest.com/openview/7e6db7670159d823ccfb3752fefe51ac/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
- https://api.taylorfrancis.com/content/books/mono/download?identifierName=doi&identifierValue=10.4324/9781315767130&type=googlepdf