Wikipedia:How to copy-edit

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WP:COPYEDIT

Copy-editing (also "copyediting") refers to the improvement of prose, including its grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and paragraphing, and the correction of misspellings; it extends to the improvement of tone, style, cohesion and texture, and the removal of redundant wording. Copy-editing is sometimes defined as the checking of consistency and accuracy, although on Wikipedia it does not necessarily involve the checking of facts in articles. The term originated in the production of printed media. Author and copy-editor are often the same Wikipedian.

When you copy-edit a page, you are helping Wikipedia to express ideas in the clearest and most accurate way possible. You are improving the credibility of the project and its articles. Mistakes, no matter how trivial, detract from Wikipedia's authority on the Internet, and should be corrected immediately.

Talk pages have a different function, and generally should not be copy-edited. If you have a question or comment, the talk page of an article is the place for it. While it is quite acceptable to copy-edit your own contributions to a talk page, please resist the temptation to modify the talk page entries of other Wikipedians.

For general page editing help, see Wikipedia:How to edit a page.

Contents

[edit] Articles that need copy-editing

[edit] Correcting spelling

Please correct any mistakes that you find (even if they are very minor typos), because this contributes greatly to maintaining Wikipedia as a professional-quality resource. The Google toolbar has a spell-checker for Web fields which can assist you in amending articles efficiently.

The English language edition of Wikipedia has no preference for American, British, or other variants of the language. It is important, however, for usage to remain consistent within a single page. It has occasionally been asserted that if a page refers to a European topic then British English is appropriate, and when treating a topic in the Americas, American should be used. Although this is not official policy, it is advisable to follow this rule to resolve a dispute. Review the entire page before deciding that flavour, colour, metre or defence (or, on the other hand, flavor, color, meter, or defense) is a mistake. Note that maximizing the occurrence of "ize", and thus "iza" and "izi" is acceptable in all varieties of standard English, and mandatory in Canadian and US English; however, the maximal use of the "s" in these contexts is now considerably more common than the "z" in British and Irish usage, and is almost universal in Australian, New Zealand and South African English. The use of s and z in these contexts should remain consistent within a page.

[edit] Commonly required copy-edits

  • Words that are mentioned rather than used should be italicized. For example: "The term style can refer to the layout and context of an article."
  • Headings should generally be nouns (History) and not prepositional phrases (About the history of...).
  • Headings should be in sentence case and have only a single capital letter (apart from proper nouns, etc). For example: Differences in defining art.
  • Titles of works (art, literature, etc.) should be italicized rather than placed in quotes: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
  • Shortened word forms (don't, can't, etc.) should be changed to the non-contracted forms where not in quotations.
  • Confusion of its and it's: It's is a contraction of "it is" and should be used without contraction where not in quotations, as above. Its is the possessive of it, and should be used in the same way as my, his, her, our etc.
  • Constructions such as "London, England" call for a comma or other appropriate punctuation at the end. Similarly, the year is also set off with punctuation, as in "June 10, 1993", when dates are written in the American style of writing the day between the month and the year.
  • External links generally belong at the end of an article under a heading titled External links or External link. References are an exception and should match the link in the reference section; these are then handled automatically.
  • Misplaced formality is a significant problem on Wikipedia. Words and phrases such as "in order to", "whilst", and "utilize" are unnecessary in an encyclopedia; instead, use "to", "while", and "use" respectively.
  • Vague terms of size, such as "a number of" and "a vast majority of", are usually redundant; consider "several" and "most" as alternatives.

[edit] Summary note

When you make a copy-edit, leave a note in the Summary field detailing what changes you made. Summary notes for copy-edits should be short and concise and mention that the edit in question is a correction or enhancement. Spelling and grammar corrections generally count as minor edits; stylistic corrections generally do not. Example summary notes:
copy-edit: Corrected minor typo
copy-edit: Reworded introductory paragraph for clarity
copy-edit: Reworked history section for more encyclopedic style
hopefully not:
Reworked awful English, corrected author's bad language skills
or
The last copyedit was horrible; making much better followups (see Etiquette section below)
and never:
Reworked pitiful excuse for English. Is the author retarded or something? My five-year-old child can spell better than that!'

Your summary note should be concise and roughly detail the change (the history and differences will show detailed information if needed.) If you are performing a followup copyedit, it is perhaps best to never mention the previous copy-edit except to say followup edits or additional improvements.

For common summary-note abbreviations, see Wikipedia:Edit summary legend.

[edit] Etiquette

If you are taking the trouble to copy-edit a page, please remember that the original author took the trouble to write a new page for Wikipedia and that however good or bad it is, the article is probably a valuable contribution. Your summary note should be concise and polite.

If you are the author of a page that has been copy-edited, please try not to take corrections personally. This can be especially hard with stylistic differences. Copy-editors are usually trying to make the article better, which reflects well on both the original author and the copy-editor.

There are times when caution is advisable. A copy-edit should address only technical aspects of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Specialized or controversial topics may require specific wording for accuracy and NPOV. One solution is to solicit a copy-edit from an editor with expertise in the subject. Another good alternative is to post potential copy-edits to the talk page for discussion so the article remains balanced and accurate while the copy-editor avoids the risk of prolonging a content dispute.

Just as some writers are better than others, some copy-editors are better than others. In extreme cases, an impartial Wikipedian questions whether English is the editor's first language. If a variety of editors revert your copy-edits to several articles, then odds are that your changes have not been productive. Remember that copy-editing is a specific talent and many intelligent people are better at other things.

[edit] Questions on proper English

If you need help with English grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc., try asking a question on Wikipedia:Reference desk/Language or Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Grammar.

[edit] More advice

[edit] External links

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