Wikipedia:Basic copyediting

This help page is a how-to guide. It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus.

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Discovering that Wikipedia pages need basic copyediting, i.e., correcting for grammar, spelling, readability, or layout, may surprise new visitors to the site, but this is the "encyclopedia that anyone can edit": it is not perfect yet! Thousands of articles need simple improvements you can make without being an expert in the subject. Copyediting involves the "five Cs": making the article clear, correct, concise, comprehensible, and consistent.^[1] The following is a guide for new copyeditors.