Getting your manuscript or paper back after it has been proofread/edited is an exciting time. You’re desperate to dive in for the final push before submission. But, wait, what’s this? Your editor has added lots of comments and queries to your Word document, and now you’re not sure what you should do about some of them.
This blog provides a detailed explanation of what I suggest you do when faced with the most common queries that I raise in a document during proofreading/editing. Plus, if we’ve agreed that I’ll look at your responses to my queries, following this guidance should result in a smooth process for you and for me.
More general advice on reviewing your document after it has been proofread can be found in this blog.
Common query #1: “Please confirm this is OK”
This will have been used where I’ve made a change to the text but I’m not fully confident that it’s correct or perhaps there’s a chance that the original intended meaning of the sentence has been lost.
ACTIONS FOR AUTHOR:
- Check the text highlighted by the comment.
- If it’s OK, mark the comment as resolved.
- If it isn’t OK for whatever reason, change the text as required. Then:
– if you’re confident that your change is OK and it doesn’t need to be checked, mark the comment as resolved, or;
– if you’d like me to check that your change is OK, reply to my original comment with words such as “Please check”.
Please note: There’s no need to reply to my comment to say something like “Thanks” or “Yes, this is OK” – just mark the comment as resolved and move on to the next one.
Common query #2: “Unclear – suggest rewording”
Unfortunately, I don’t understand what has been written here and so I cannot suggest an alternative.
ACTIONS FOR AUTHOR:
- With MS Word’s ‘Track Changes’ switched on, amend the text to phrase things in a different (clearer) way.
- If you’re confident that your change is OK and it doesn’t need to be checked, mark the comment as resolved.
- If you’d like me to check that your change is OK, reply to my original comment with words such as “Please check”.
Please note: It keeps things much clearer if you reply to my comment, as shown above, rather than adding a new comment.
Common query #3: “Unclear – should this be ‘X’ or ‘Y’?”
The text clearly needs an amendment, but I’m unsure about which of the two options to use.
ACTIONS FOR AUTHOR:
- With MS Word’s ‘Track Changes’ switched on, amend the text highlighted by the comment to read ‘X’ or ‘Y’ (or something else), as appropriate.
- If you’ve changed the text to read either ‘X’ or ‘Y’, mark the comment as resolved.
- If you’ve changed the text to something else and you’d like me to check that your change is OK, reply to my original comment with words such as “Please check”.
- If you’ve changed the text to something else and you’re confident that your change is OK, mark the comment as resolved.
Please note: It keeps things much clearer if you reply to my comment, rather than adding a new comment.
Common query #4: “Not listed in bibliography/references”
A reference has been made in the main body of text to work by another author – for example, “Baron (2021) conducted a study on …” – but there’s no entry for a publication by this author shown in the list of references or bibliography at the end of the document.
ACTIONS FOR AUTHOR:
- Add the relevant publication by the highlighted author into the list of references or bibliography.
- Mark the comment as resolved.
Common query #5: “Source needed for quotation”
A quotation, or perhaps some data, has been mentioned in the main text but there’s no indication of the source of this – for example, “During 2019, 2 million tonnes of waste were produced by the industry.”
ACTIONS FOR AUTHOR:
- Add the source of the quotation or data after the highlighted text. In the above example, this might be: “During 2019, 2 million tonnes of waste were produced by the industry (Baron, 2020).”
- If an entry for this source (i.e. “Baron, 2020” in the above example) isn’t already shown in the list of references or bibliography, add one to it.
- Mark the comment as resolved.
Common queries added just for your information:
- “Changed to avoid repetition”
- “Long paragraph split up for readability”
- “Long sentence split up for readability”
These sorts of comments hopefully are self-explanatory and shouldn’t require any further action. If you’re happy with the suggested amendment, simply mark the comment as resolved. If you aren’t happy with the amendment, reject it and mark the comment as resolved.
AT THE END…
When you’ve worked through all of the comments and queries, it should now only be the comments that require further work that are still open (i.e. not greyed out).
