Example 1

Not sure what an editor can do for you?


Take a look at this raw sample of text. This is an example of the kind of written work that you might send to an editor. The author's first language is Bahasa Malayu and English is their second language.

ORIGINAL

The involvement of communities to make a better future of Melaka will need some requirements such as awareness about the values of Melaka and motivation for future engagement in particularly among young people. Awareness about WHS enables youth to reflect on and argue the value of heritage, the management of WHS to preserve the status of World Heritage Site, and so on. WHS awareness facilitates both gaining of knowledge, familiarizing youth with WHS conservation and in encouraging them to participate in the process of WHS conservation (UNESCO, 2002, 1989). Therefore the awareness of young people is a prerequisite of effective participation in conservation of WHS and facilitates it.

The author intends to submit this paper to an international ISI journal. According to the journal publisher's Instructions for Authors, British English spelling conventions are preferred. Otherwise, the publisher uses the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 6th edition) for all other matters of style.

BASIC PROOFREADING

Check and correct spelling, punctuation, capitalisation, and subject-verb agreement.

The involvement of communities to make a better future of Melaka will need some requirements such as awareness about the values of Melaka and motivation for future engagement in particularly among young people. Awareness about WHS enables young people to reflect on and argue the value of heritage, the management of WHS to preserve the status of World Heritage Site, and so on. WHS awareness facilitates both the gaining of knowledge, familiarising youth with WHS conservation, and in encouraging them to participate in the process of WHS conservation (UNESCO, 2002, 1989). Therefore, the awareness of young people is a prerequisite of effective participation in conservation of WHS and facilitates it.

Melaka is the Malay name and everybody in Malaysia knows it as Melaka. Ordinarily, if you are going to publish in an International journal, especially in English, you should use the internationally recognised name, Malacca. However, in this case the author is correct in using the Malay name, Melaka, because the author is citing the name as per the UNESCO World Heritage Listing.

in has been removed due to subject-verb disagreement. 

youth is a stage of development and a noun. In the context of the second sentence, it is the wrong noun. Young people would be more appropriate, so youth has been replaced with young people.

the has been inserted into the third sentence in order to resolve a subject-verb disagreement.

familiarizing was the correct American English spelling, but the journal publisher prefers British English. Hence the change to familiarising.

A comma ( , ) has been inserted after first 'conservation' in the third sentence. This is called an 'Oxford comma' (sometimes called a 'serial comma' or a 'Harvard comma') and occurs before the coordinating conjunction (e.g. 'and') in a serialised list sentence. Strictly speaking, an Oxford comma is unnecessary in British English, but their use in mandatory in American English. An Oxford comma might, however, be used in British English if the article is being submitted to a journal belonging to Oxford University Press or if a publisher as expressed a preference for Fowler's Modern English Usage as a subsidiary style manual. This is an issue not covered by APA (6th edition); because APA uses American English spelling and grammar conventions.

in removed from the third sentence because it serves no grammatical purpose.

A comma ( , ) has also been inserted after the conjunctive adverb therefore. Conjunctive adverbs can occur either at the start of a sentence or in the middle of a sentence. But wherever they are found, conjunctive adverbs are always followed by a comma.

LIGHT EDITING

Includes basic proofreading, plus checking for correct and consistent word usage, and pronoun agreement.

The involvement of communities to make a better future for Malacca will need some requirements such as awareness about the values of Malacca and motivation for future engagement particularly among young people. Awareness about WHS enables young people to reflect on and argue the value of heritage, the management of WHS to preserve the status of WHS, and so on. WHS awareness facilitates both the gaining of knowledge, familiarising youth with WHS conservation, and encouraging them to participate in the process of WHS conservation (UNESCO, 2002, 1989). Therefore, the awareness of young people is a prerequisite for effective participation in conservation of WHS and facilitates it.

Replaced of with for due to preposition disagreement.

World Heritage Site replaced with WHS in order to maintain consistent word/abbreviation usage.

Replaced of with for due to preposition disagreement.

MODERATE EDITING

Includes basic proofreading and light editing. Ensures consistency of tables, figures, headers, footers, headings, and captions.

The involvement of communities in order to make a better future for Malacca will require an awareness of the values of Malacca and motivation for future engagement, particularly among young people. WHS awareness enables young people to reflect on and argue the value of heritage, WHS management to preserve the status of the WHS, and so on. WHS awareness facilitates both the gaining of knowledge, familiarising youth with WHS conservation, and encouraging them to participate in the process of WHS conservation (UNESCO, 2002, 1989). Therefore, the awareness of young people is a prerequisite for effective participation in WHS conservation and facilitates it.

The current example does not have any table, figures, headers, footers, headings, or captions. However, as a minimum, moderate editing at least functions to make your text clearer and easier to understand in English. The result is simple functional English suitable for publication some open-source or non-ISI low-moderate impact journals.

Inserted in order before to in the first sentence to correct the sentence structure. 

Replaced need some requirements such as with require so as to simplify the meaning of the text.

Replaced about (adverb) with of (preposition).

Changed order of words from awareness about WHS to WHS awareness.

Changed order of words from the management of WHS to WHS management.

Changed order of words from conservation of WHS to WHS conservation.

HEAVY EDITING

Includes basic proofreading, light and moderate editing. Checks for active voice usage, mechanics of style, referencing, and clarity of wording. May involve a substantive or complete rewrite of the original paper. This kind of heavy editing is often referred to as English Editing and most ISI or impact journals will insist that authors from non-english speaking backgrounds submit their papers to an English editing service.

Sustaining the WHS status of Malacca demands the involvement of local communities; however as a prerequisite to such involvement, local communities need to be aware of the value of the Malacca site and motivated to engage with it. This is especially true of young people if the site is to be maintained in the future. Awareness of the world heritage status of the site empowers young people to reflect on and argue for the value of their heritage, contribute to the management of the WHS, preserve the WHS status with UNESCO, and so forth. WHS awareness facilitates gaining knowledge, familiarising young people with WHS conservation, and encouraging them to participate in the WHS conservation process (UNESCO, 1989, 2002). Therefore, creating awareness among young people of the value of the WHS is a prerequisite for effective participation in WHS conservation.

As you can see, the entire block of text has been almost completely rewritten in a native English style while still conveying the intended meaning of the original author. Additionally, the UNESCO citation has been corrected per APA (6th edition) guidelines in accordance with the publishers requirements. Multiple works by the same author across different years should be cited in chronological order from the earliest to the latest. This block of text now meets the strict English language standards for acceptance by an ISI or impact journal.