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Frequently Asked Questions

Please click on any of the following questions to have the page scroll down to the answer. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please contact us directly.

We use the excellent definitions of the Editors’ Association of Canada to explain the work we do. Note that the following definitions have been quoted directly.

Developmental / Project Editing: Co-ordinating and editing a project from proposal or rough manuscript to final manuscript.

Substantive or Structural Editing: Clarifying and/or reorganizing a manuscript for content and structure. Changes may be suggested to or drafted for the author. May include negotiating changes with author.

Stylistic Editing: Clarifying meaning, eliminating jargon, smoothing language and other non-mechanical line-by-line editing. May include checking or correcting reading level; creating or recasting tables and/or figures; negotiating changes with author.

Rewriting: Creating a new manuscript or parts of a manuscript on the basis of content and research supplied by an author. May include some research and writing of original material.

Copy Editing: Editing for grammar, spelling, punctuation and other mechanics of style; checking for consistency of mechanics and internal consistency of facts; marking head levels and approximate placement of art; notifying designer of any unusual production requirements. May include Canadianizing; metrication; providing or changing system of citations; writing or editing captions and/or credit lines; writing running heads; listing permissions needed and/or obtaining them; providing or editing prelims, back matter, cover copy and/or CIP data. May also include negotiating changes with author. N.B. “Copy editing” is often loosely used to include stylistic and even structural editing, fact checking and mark-up. It is not so used by the Editors’ Association of Canada.

Fact Checking / Reference Checking: Checking accuracy of facts and/or quotes by reference to original sources used by author and/or from other sources.

We have poured our way through literally thousands of pages of text over the years. Our senior editor has been writing and editing since 1992. (Note from Karen: Boy, that makes me sound old!) We are knowledgeable about business and academic writing, familiar with the style guides, and experienced in consulting on major projects.

We have worked with students in a variety of degree programs from many Canadian and American universities, including Royal Roads University (British Columbia), University of British Columbia, Adler School of Professional Psychology (Vancouver Campus), Simon Fraser University (British Columbia), Kwantlen Polytechnic University (British Columbia), University of Calgary (Alberta), Concordia University (Edmonton, Alberta), McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario), University of Guelph (Ontario), McGill University (Montreal, Quebec), City University of Seattle (Washington), Gonzaga University (Spokane, Washington), University of Portland (Oregon), John F. Kennedy University (Pleasant Hill, California), and Cambridge College (Cambridge, Massachusetts). If you don’t see your university in this list, don’t worry. All we need is a copy of your requirements and we’re good to go.

We do the majority of our work electronically. Clients send their documents as email attachments. All changes are made directly into the document, which is returned by email. Electronic editing has two main advantages over paper editing. First, there is less room for error: you do not have to decipher proofreader’s marks, nor do you have to input changes and risk typing new errors. Second, it is time- and cost-efficient: edits are made once, not twice, and it is much quicker to use a keyboard than to write by hand. The details of this procedure, including important do’s and don’ts, are clearly explained to new clients.

We track our edits using the track changes feature of Microsoft Word. This marks any change made to a document, such as deleting, moving, or adding text. It is then a simple matter for you to review the changes and accept as appropriate. For clients who are unfamiliar with this feature of Word, we provide a detailed explanation before we begin working together.

Yes, we do! When we make substantial changes requiring explanation, or where we have a question or need more information, we insert a comment. As with the other features of Word that we employ regularly, working with comments is explained carefully to new clients. Comments facilitate the working process by enabling us to clarify exactly what we are thinking and doing without compromising document integrity. Likewise, clients are encouraged to use comments to communicate with us.

If a Documedic editor has made an edit that you’re questioning, whether or not we’ve inserted an explanatory comment, we encourage you to speak up about it. There is likely a good reason behind our revision. One of the benefits of hiring an editor for stylistic and copy editing is the opportunity to be reminded of the finer points of written English that perhaps you don’t recall from your grade school days. However, if you want to revert to the original, that is unquestionably your prerogative. After all, it’s your document, so you have the final say.

For smaller documents or sections of larger projects, we can usually have an edited version returned to you in short order. Depending on our workload, we may be able to accommodate rush jobs. If our work together is on-going, it is helpful to notify us in advance if you require a certain section back more quickly. Our objective is to serve you; thus, we will endeavour to meet your needs as best we can.

We typically charge an hourly rate, but may also quote on a per-project basis. Not-for-profit organizations and full-time students are offered a discounted rate. Rush jobs may have a surcharge added, depending on circumstances. You will find that our rates are extremely competitive for the quality of work that we provide. Please contact us for the details.

We do the majority of our billing through PayPal. Clients can pay from an existing account or with a credit card, whichever they prefer, without having to share any financial information with us. The PayPal request will come from Smitix Services Ltd., our parent company. If clients prefer, they may also send payment by cheque.

Anything that saves us time can save you money, and often there are a number of things that can be done to prepare a document before sending it our way. This is especially the case with long documents such as theses. We offer clients helpful checklists for document preparation, although of course you can also choose to leave everything to us. Additionally, clear communication and a well-thought-out editing process can eliminate costly and time-consuming duplication of effort. The Documedic process has been honed over time to minimize misunderstanding as much as possible.

We see a wide range of writing skills and compliance with style guidelines, which makes it difficult to estimate total time and cost without first reviewing a sample of your writing. Documedic will provide a free initial consultation, outlining what needs to be done and how long it will likely take. While we strive to give accurate estimates, the actual cost may vary. If the student is not familiar with APA or Chicago style, there may be extensive formatting to be done, usually involving spacing, margins, headings, tables and figures, the reference list, quotes, and text citations. There may be problems with the orderly presentation of ideas, the smoothness and economy of expression, or the precision and clarity of sentence and paragraph structure, which we can note for you to work on. This is especially so if the student does not have a lot of experience with academic writing. For students unsure of how to put together an academic paper, Documedic editors are happy to act as guides and consultants throughout the writing process. In this case, the earlier we are brought in, the better. Remember, though, we cannot write your paper for you!

By this we assume you mean, please make sure the big picture formatting and references are in order but don’t worry about the rest. Certainly, if time or money are tight, we can limit the scope of our edit and focus on areas of your choosing. It’s important to clarify, however, that when we think “APA style” or “Chicago style,” we are thinking in terms of the entire style guide: manuscript structure; writing style, including organization and headings, bias reduction, and grammar and usage; mechanics, such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, numbers, and statistics; tables and figures; and crediting sources, including citations, quotes, and the reference list. We don’t typically pick some things to look for while overlooking others.

We can accommodate Word 97, 98, 2000, 2001/Word X, 2002/XP, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2010.

Working from Mac to PC shouldn’t be a problem. We do experience odd glitches, but they are usually easy to overcome.

Yes! We have edited many newsletters in Publisher and many PowerPoint presentations. Adobe files must be unlocked for editing before sending. We routinely convert the final copy of clients’ Word documents into Adobe pdf format to send alongside the Word file. This gives clients more options for file sharing without compromising document integrity.