example of an edited page

An example of an edited manuscript. This is particularly messy, and has clearly gone through several hands and likely several drafts, but it gives you some idea of the work that goes into real line-editing.

Your work, of course, is expected to be readable, neat, clean, but again, don't be afraid to not only query the author, but make changes where they need to be made. However, do not make changes simply for the sake of making changes. If a manuscript is fine as it is, then let it STET. This is but one example. I'll post a cleaner example as well.