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Mechanical Editing
Mechanical editing is the process of proofreading a piece of writing for consistency, either internally or in accordance with the publisher’s house style. Mechanical editors work with: Proper spelling and punctuation are subjective in some cases, where they must be left to the discretion of the copyeditor or the publisher.
 * Spelling
 * Hyphenation
 * Capitalization
 * Punctuation
 * Numbers and numerals
 * Quotations
 * Abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms
 * Italicization, boldfaced type, and underscoring
 * Additional elements such as charts, tables, and graphs
 * Footnotes and endnotes
 * Tables of contents and page numbers
 * Charts, graphs, maps, and their keys
 * Page numbers, headers, and footers

Most publishing firms adopt a widely-recognized style manual such as The Chicago Manual Stylebook or The Associated Press Stylebook. Companies that produce documents and reports, but do not consider themselves publishers in the usual sense, tend to rely on in-house style guides, or on the judgment of the copyeditor.

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Grammar Usage
The goal of the copyeditor is to enforce inviolable rules while respecting personal stylistic preferences. This can be difficult, as some authors will view grammatical revisions on the copyedited manuscript as a challenge to their intellectual ability or professional identity. For this reason, copy editors are encouraged to side with the author. If the author’s preference is at all acceptable, it should be respected. This practice is complicated further by constantly evolving language conventions as recorded by grammar and usage books. Additionally, the expert authors of these grammar and usage books often disagree.

Content Editing
Content editing consists of reorganizing or restructuring the content of a document. This involves any inconsistent parts of the content as well as any variances. Copyeditors can either fix the content by rewriting it or heavily editing it. However, the copyeditor will often point out any difficult passages for the author to resolve on his or her own time (pp. 9). Although copyeditors are not responsible for factual correctness of the document, they can provide comments for the author on any information they know to be incorrect (pp. 9), such as year discrepancies or misleading ideas. This type of fact checking is acceptable for copyeditors that know the document’s subject matter (pp. 10). The copyeditor must also point out any biased language without infringing on the author’s meaning. This includes material “that might form the basis for a lawsuit alleging libel, invasion of privacy, or obscenity”. Some see censoring biased language as political correctness, so it’s important the copyeditor distinguishes between the two (pp. 10). To do this, the copyeditor permits intentional “politically incorrect” views and censors only marginalized, offensive, or exclusive language (pp. 405).

Correlating Parts, Typecoding, and Permissions
Most manuscripts will require the copyeditor to correlate the parts within it. Copyeditors must carry out the following tasks in this process: Some manuscripts may require special cross-checking. For example, in a how-to text, a copyeditor might need to verify that the list of equipment or parts matches the instructions given within said text. Typecoding is the process of identifying which sections of the manuscript are not regular running text. These portions of text, known as elements, include the following: It is the copyeditor's job to typecode (or make note of) all manuscript elements for the publication designer. Hard copy copyeditors are usually asked to pencil in the typecodes in the left margin of the manuscript. On-screen copyeditors may be asked to insert typecodes at the beginning and end of each element. Finally, if the manuscript contains long quotations from a published work that is still under copyright, the copyeditor should remind the author to acquire permission to reprint said quotations. The same goes for the reprinting of tables, charts, graphs, and illustrations that have appeared in print. Rules vary for the reproduction of unpublished materials (letters, diaries, etc.)
 * Verify any cross-references that appear in the text
 * Check the numbering of footnotes, endnotes, tables, and illustrations
 * Specify the placement of tables and illustrations
 * Check the content of the illustrations against the captions and the text
 * Read the list of illustrations against the illustrations and captions
 * Read the table of contents against the manuscript
 * Read the footnotes/endnotes and in-text citations against the bibliography
 * Check the alphabetization of the bibliography or reference list
 * Part and chapter numbers
 * Titles and subtitles
 * Headings and subheadings
 * Lists
 * Extracts
 * Displayed equations
 * Table numbers
 * Source lines
 * Footnotes
 * Figure numbers and captions

Processes
There are several basic procedures that every copyeditors must follow: copyeditors need a system for marking changes to the author’s text (marking), a process for querying the author and the editorial coordinator (querying), a method for keeping track of editorial decisions (recordkeeping), and procedures for incorporating the author’s review of the copyediting into a final manuscript or electronic files (cleanup). These systems were originally developed in an era before that of the computer, but over time these procedures were adapted to exist in a digitaln on-screen space. Each medium (in print and on screen) has its own affordances, and although a copyeditor may prefer one editing process over the other, copyeditors are practically required to use both techniques.

Hard-Copy Editing
Traditional markup copyediting, or hard-copy editing, is still significant because screening tests for employment are administered in hard copy. Also, the The author whose text the copyeditor is editing may prefer hard-copy markup, and copyeditors need to know traditional markup in case documents and materials cannot be exchanged electronically. When editing in hard-copy, all participating parties (the editor, author, typesetter, and proofreader) must understand the marks the copyeditor makes, : whichthat is why there is a universal marking system that signifies these changes. This is also why the copyeditor should write legibly and neatly. Copyeditors working hard-copy write their corrections in the text directly, leaving the margins for querying. Usually the copyeditor is asked to write in a bright color, so the author and other parties can easily recognize the editor’s changes.

On-Screen Editing
Every year, more editing projects are being done on computer and fewer in print. Also, if there is a digital version of a text the copyeditor is editing, they can more easily search words, run spellcheckers, and generate clean copies of messy pages. The first thing copyeditors must do when editing on-screen is to copy the author’s files, as the original document must be preserved. Each word processing program provides various options for how an editor’s markups are shown on screen and on the printout. On screen editing mainly differs from hard-copy editing in the fact that the copyeditor should edit more cleanly on-screen, refraining from saving parts of words, and be careful in maintaining proper line spacing.

Querying
Copyeditors often need to query their authors in order to address questions, comments, or explanations: most of these can be done in the margins of the text, or the comment section when on-screen. The copyeditor must consider when to query and the length and tone of their queries, as querying too frequently or infrequently, cryptically, or sarcastically can result in a negative relationship between the copyeditor and the author.

Goals
Depending on which publication a copyeditor is employed with, his or her goals may change, however there are a few constituencies that must always be served – the author (the person who wrote or compiled the manuscript), the publisher (the person or company that is paying to produce the material), and the readers (the audience for whom the material is being produced). These parties (in conjunction with the copyeditor) work to achieve the same goal, which is to produce an error free publication. The copyeditor strives to improve clarity, coherency, consistency, and correctness – otherwise known as the “4 C’s”. Each of these components serve the copyeditor’s “Cardinal C”, which is communication.