I have 35 years experience in teaching English,at college level to undergraduate students.
Essentials in writing include,not just an in-depth knowledge in the subject, but also good presentation. Persons with a good subject-knowledge often suffer from a lack of written skills. One may speak at length about a house one wants to build, but when it comes to actual building, the engineer, the builder and the interior decorator are called in. The editor, is an engineer, builder and decorator - all in one.
His services make any writing presentable. He arranges the arguments in order, decorates it with proper jargons, and finally makes it completely readable and useful.
As a teacher, teaching to non-native speakers, I can easily recognize the mistakes, they usually do. These mistakes can very well be identified and corrected. I will look into any writing from spelling to orderly writing. I can re-word and re-write passages to make them meaningful. Change the use of words according to context and subject matter — specialized vocabulary; jargons or re-placing jargons with words understood by laymen.
