At this website, the working definition of an editor is someone who can understand and comment on the content, logic, and structure of an article/paper or book. An editor should always offer constructive criticism. Authors should expect and welcome well-considered and clear advice. They should expect editors to ask questions about any aspect of the work, including the context such as the intended audience and publication - i.e. anything that can help the editor suggest improvements. The author always has last word, and can choose to ignore any comments, questions and suggestions, because it is the author, not the editor, who is responsible for the final outcome. Thorough work like that just described requires time. Editors should spend time both reading and thinking about a piece of writing. Of course they should do this as efficiently and quickly as possible. Editors should also adjust their efforts according to the request of the author. An author may ask for a superficial treatment (e.g.a check of spelling or grammar only, or brushing-up, or proof-reading), because that is all that he or she can afford, or because time is limited. Even if a superficial treatment is requested and provided, the editor should also make sure that the author understands the true extent of any problems that have been seen. This should all be done as positively as possible. If the relationship permits (e.g. when an experienced editor if giving advice to an inexperienced writer), editors should also remark on the good points of a piece of writing, to encourage the writer.

Editing, reading, and rewriting may be similar activities, or they may vary - there do not appear to be any universal definitions. Proofreading is almost always regarded as something that should be done last, just before publication. It should not be used to catch and solve major problems. That is more properly the role of editing, as it is defined for this website. Unfortunately, definitions of editing and other kinds of help vary, even within one language such as English. When editors, writers, and publishers attempt to communicate across language boundaries, then the potential for mis-understanding is compounded. In English, various terms and phrases are used to indicate people who help writers. Here are some: Checker Brush-up assistant Editor Reader Rewriter Proofreader What do you think these terms mean? What other terms are used in English? What terms are used in other languages and how can these terms be translated? Please ask questions or comment on these matters in our discussion forum, if you have time and interest. This will help all of us when we make editing offers or requests.