Prioritize copy-editing moves by checking focus, audience, organization, and development before sentence-level polish.
Copy editing starts with risk, not commas. A clean line can still be the wrong line, so start by asking what the copy must help the reader do. Use a two-pass order when the draft is messy. First, run the higher-order pass: purpose, audience, organization, completeness, claims, and reader action. Second, run the lower-order pass: grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, numbers, consistency, and house style. This protects you from polishing a paragraph that later needs to be moved, cut, or rewritten. Higher order first Check whether the piece has one job and whether the reader can find that job quickly. If…
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