In my work for Mormon Insights, I copyedited twenty-five articles over the course of the semester. Here are links to the articles that, as of now, have been published on the website:
Though I do not have copyediting samples using the "track changes" feature on Microsoft Word, I am able to provide editing samples upon request. Please visit the Contact page for inquiries. The More Editing Samples page provides additional copyediting samples with the "track changes" feature enabled.
Following are three substantive editing samples from a previous semester in which I edited potential submissions for Mormon Insights.
Mormon Insights Submissions
"Clarity in Confusion"
This article was written as a "My Message" contest submission for BYU Magazine, as well as an ELang 410 assignment. The "My Message" article was limited to 250-500 words and supposed to be focused on a personal experience related to an LDS hymn or children's song; as a class assignment, the author was required to include a kicker, links to other insights, and tags with the article. This message is about a time the author found inspiration and humility in the hymn "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go."
The author's writing was already beautiful; the edits that I made to this article were mostly substantive and focused on choosing words that would not offend any particular audience as well as increasing clarity.
"Our Divine Self-Worth"
This article was written for Mormon Insights and an ELang 410 assignment. The length was limited to 250 words and the article was written about a talk that Mormon Insights had never highlighted on their website before. The talk that the author chose is called "The Value of Self-Esteem" by James E. Faust. This particular article is directed toward people who need a reminder of their divine potential.
The author chose to use a numbering system to emphasize the points that President Faust made in his talk; I thought this was a perfect approach. The author's organization of the article was excellent and she covered all of the most important topics. My editing was mostly focused on clarification. Some of the points that were made were not explained as well as I would have liked--or the explanations did not make sense to me or connect with the topic--so I asked for the author to be a little more clear in her writing.
"Are You Really There?"
This article, like the first one, was written to be a "My Message" submission for Mormon Insights, about a personal experience with an LDS hymn or children's song. The author of this article chose to write about the hymn "I Am a Child of God," and how the lyrics brought peace to her in a heartbreaking time and taught her to direct her questions heavenward. She wrote this article for those who might forget that Heavenly Father has all the answers we need; we simply need to ask for them.
Editing this article was a unique experience for me because I understood the author from a very similar personal experience, which helped me clearly understand what the author was trying to say and how she wanted to communicate how she felt. From my similar experience, I knew which words or phrases in the author's article might offend people who have questions or doubts, so I suggested that she change those. Additionally, her article, though very nicely written, needed a little more cohesion, so I offered ways for her to make changes that would bring everything together.