Editor Essentials

Below is a list of common issues an Editor may encounter at CloudCrowd. It's required that Editors process each piece of content according to the following groundwork.

Check for Clarity

Make sure you don’t have to reread content to understand its meaning.

• Examine areas where “this” is used as a noun:

  For example:

  “John dumped his trash in the road and sped home. This cost him an arm and a leg in municipal fines.”

  Notice that in the example it’s unclear whether it was speeding home or dumping his trash in the street that led to the fines.

• Sentences should not be overly long or complicated. Nor should paragraphs.

  Shorter is nearly always better, although sentence and paragraph lengths should vary.




Check for Flow

Edit the content so that it flows, both in terms of meaning and readability. Pay close attention to:

• Organizing ideas within a piece as a whole.

  The content must consist of an assertion of fact followed by supporting details building up to a conclusion.

• Organizing ideas within a paragraph.

  Organization of paragraphs should follow the basic organization of ideas outlined above: a statement of fact or thesis followed by supporting details.

• Verifying writer’s Audience Awareness.

  Editor ensures that the content suits its intended audience through word choice and tone.

• Improving and adding Transitions.

  Transitions must link a paragraph or section to the one before it in a way that furthers proving the argument made in the piece without repeating what’s already been stated.

• Excising awkward sentences/Transitions.

  Editor should check to make sure these requirements are met in each sentence:

  • Are pronouns used properly?
  • Does the pronoun agree with the noun phrase?
  • Are there other noun phrases between a noun and its pronoun (if so, a pronoun shouldn’t be used)? Does each verb agree with its subject?
  • Does the verb tense accurately portray when the action occurred?
  • Are any words missing or repeated (Read the sentence aloud to help identify redundancy or gaps)?
  • Is it a complete sentence?
  • Is there a verb?
  • Is there a subject?
  • Is there a subject for every verb, and vice versa?
• Removing the use of expletives (not swear words), or “there” + a form of “to be”.

  For example:

  “There are many people who visit the space station” (uses expletives) should be “Many people visit the space station.

• Removing Passive Voice.

  Passive voice should be removed most of the time, but good writing contains a mixture of active and passive voice.

  For example:

  “There is a considerable range of skills demonstrated by AAA auto insurance agents” should be “AAA auto insurance agents demonstrate a considerable range of skills.”




Remove Fluff

Fluff, or redundant or unnecessary language, should always be removed.

• If verbiage does not add to accomplishing the task’s objective, remove it.
• If a sentence explains an idea that’s already been explained earlier in the document, remove it.
• If a sentence appears to be “padding” to meet word count and doesn’t add value to the writing, remove it.
  • If an editor removes so much fluff that the content goes below 90 percent of the required word count, the editor must write content to bring the document within the acceptable 10 percent margin.