Editing marks

A Brief Guide to Editing Marks

Updated January 13, 2003 © Teresa J. Lawson

These marks are used as shorthand in marking proofs or manuscripts for correction.

Delete:

The line with a “hook” at the end means to delete what is crossed out.

Capitalize:

Triple underline means to make this lowercase letter into a capital; the word “cap” might also be written and circled.

Stet:

The notation “stet” means “let it stand”; that is, ignore the handwritten change that is underlined with dots, and “let it stand” as it was typed (it means the editor changed her mind about the change).

Lowercase:

The angled line through a capital letter means to make it lowercase; sometimes the letters “l.c.” will be written and circled also.

Spell out:

Spell out what is circled; here, 7 should become “seven” and U.S. becomes “United States” instead.

Run in:

The words “run in” (circled) or a connecting line as shown mean to join the two paragraphs as one.

New paragraph:

The L-shaped mark indicates where a new paragraph should begin; that is, this paragraph should become two paragraphs.

Insert space:

The mark “#” indicates where to insert a space (here, between pg. and 2, between many and more).

Italicize:

An underline indicates that the words should be made italic (where this is feasible) or else underlined.

Close up:

The pair of curved lines indicates “close up”; that is, eliminate the space between (so that “nonsense” becomes one word).

Transpose:

The S-curved line indicates that the letters or words enclosed by it should be transposed (their order reversed); thus: “the of” becomes “of the” and “Untied” becomes “United” instead.

Query:

NOTE: A circle around the editor's handwritten words indicates that they are comments and questions; it tells a typesetter or typist that these words are not meant to be typeset or typed, but are rather explanations and the like.