Copyediting

Copyediting

Most articles on Wikipedia, as on other Wikimedia projects, would benefit from the harsh love of an editor's pen. Ungainly constructions, abortive attempts at parallelism, missing or deceptive narrative structure, focus on discursive detail unrelated to the subject, dissociation of article content to included quotes or cited sources - the quirks of a single author's writing are at times magnified by distributed collaboration. More than anything, WM content needs people with the editorial skill and the patience to expose the gems hidden within its amalgamated content.

Requests for copyediting

The wikimedia newsletter - available for copyediting in many languages. Leave copyedits and emendations on the appropriate language's talk page.

Proofreading

Do you want to know that I am willing to proof-read a translated text, even if I cannot actually read the original language, to confirm that it has been translated into "correct" English?

Yes, this is exactly what is needed - not only for translations that need a monolingual proofreader for fluent polish, but also for writing by native speakers that has been smoothed out by good copyediting but needs that final perfectionist's gloss.

Requests for Proofreading

A meta-request from Davodd on wikibooks, about how to request proofreaders for a proof-ready wikibook.
See above newsletter, or its final paginated drafts on the [[[:wmf:Wikimedia|Quarto|wikimedia foundation site]]].

Proofreading Examples

See w:Gender role, over the following edits: Copyediting (wikification, clarity, style), Proofreading (grammar/punctuation/spelling, consistency).

Interested Contributors

Copyediting

E Pluribus Anthony
Danny - but not for Quatro or Wikimania
Catherine
Joseph Dwayne (official releases only)
Lee Hunter
lexrow ⁺
Neutrality

Proofreading

Bontenbal
Caimseeks
PaulC
Wren Not doing it professionally at the moment, but have done in the past. Will also check translations from Fr + De into Enlgish (native English speaker)
Pepperthemaster
Phil
+sj+ ⁺
Zatch
Vikiçizer from English into Turkish (native Turkish speaker)
Vortex

Both

Aikisenshi
AlexG
Bdesham -- native English speaker. Drop me a note (preferably at en:). If you need pedantry, I'm your guy :-)
Ffirehorse
HarmonicSphere Ditto (99th percentile).
Cjrs 79 Native Spanish Speaker with knowledge of Latin American regionalisms and with ILR 4 in English.
Yongliu Chinese
Hippodrome
Linn (czech)
Pedant 06:11, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)
RoseParks ⁺
Slowking Man (English, limited Spanish) Anytime, just drop a note on my Talk page.
Trynyti
Yurfxrendenmein (bilingual)
Blerten
Mirv

Comments

I may be willing to help with copyediting and/or proofreading. I recently worked as the copy editor of a small daily newspaper for over three years. I would need more information about expectations and requirements before committing to this task. I majored in French and English in college, but that was many, many moons ago. I am also seeking paid employment; if anyone knows of any job openings for a copy editor or an associate editor, I'd appreciate a referral. _.._ Wiki id: lexrow 2004-10-01

My knowledge of German and French is very old and shaky, so translation is not really an option, but I can nitpick like nobody's business :-) Seriously though, if you want something checked for colloquialisms (whether or not you want them included) or uncommon/incorrect constructions (the Manual for our original Commodore PET comes inexorably to mind :-), there are monolinguists like me who can perform final polishing if you want. --Phil? 10:45, 21 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Count me in with the monolingual perfectionists; in fact, I spend most of my editing time on Wikipedia already doing this kind of work. <grin> -- HarmonicSphere 5:31, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I can do some proofing/betaing. 212.85.6.26

I've been a regular contributor and copy-editor on a well visited British sports site for a number of years. I'd be happy to look at any articles (English only please) that are sent my way. - Boshengro? 1st Nov 2004