There are typically four levels of editing: developmental editing, copy editing, line editing, and proofreading.
Developmental Editing: Also known as substantive or conceptual editing, this is the most in-depth level of editing. It includes revising and restructuring the manuscript to ensure its argument is well-structured, consistent, and logically sound. It looks at the big-picture elements such as the order and structure of the chapters, the flow of the argument, the language and any areas that might need further explanation.
Copy Editing: This level of editing focuses on content, clarity, and readability. It includes making sure that the writing is consistent in style, grammar, and punctuation, as well as checking consistency of spelling, facts and figures, layout, and formatting.
Line Editing: This level of editing concentrates on improving the quality of the language and the writing. It focuses on making the writing clear and concise. It may look at sentence structure, word choice and more to ensure that the writing is smooth and flows well.
Proofreading: The final level of editing is usually referred to as proofreading. This is the most superficial level, used to check that all proofreading marks and typos have been fixed. It also involves checking capitalization, punctuation, spelling, hyphenation and layout.
