Line editing and proofreading
Grammar, usage, style, consistency, and references, worked through line by line so the writing never gets in the way of what you’re trying to say.
This is the service people usually mean when they say editing: your draft is finished and the argument is sound, but the language needs a bit of polish.
We work through the document line by line, and you get it back in Word with tracked changes, so you can see every decision we made.
What we do
Grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Readers notice this layer only when it’s wrong, so we make sure the mechanics are flawless.
Usage and style-guide compliance. Tell us whether you’re working to APA, OSCOLA, Chicago, AP, IEEE, a journal’s own requirements, or your house style, and we’ll apply it throughout. If you don’t have one, we’ll recommend a sensible authority to follow.
Consistency in language and layout. We keep hyphenation, capitalization, the way numbers and dates are set, and the terms you’ve settled on consistent from the first page to the last. These are small things, but readers notice them when they’re messy.
Clarity and flow. We fix sentences that make the reader work too hard and paragraphs that arrive in the wrong order, and we flag anything that needs a decision from you.
References and cross-references. We format references to your style guide and check that each source exists, since hallucinated references are common in AI-assisted drafts.
Proofreading
If you only need a final read before it goes out, choose the line editing service: proofreading takes fewer hours because we’re checking rather than reworking.
Send it as late in your process as you can because a proofread is only useful on a document that isn’t still being worked on.
Where the line sits
Line editing improves the writing you’ve done; it doesn’t restructure the document or fill gaps in the argument.
If the draft isn’t working yet, or some sections haven’t been written yet, you may want to look at our developmental editing service instead.
What it costs
$60 an hour, or $70 for medical, legal, and technical content.
Billing is hourly at our standard rates. If you’re working to a fixed budget, tell us and we’ll adjust the scope to fit.
Send us the draft
Send the document and your deadline, and we’ll agree the scope with you before quoting.
Get a quote