Dear Samantha, 

Many thanks! I hope I will be able to help you.

The type of corrections tends to depend on the type of non-fiction. For university work, students are usually writing argumentative (or persuasive) essays or papers. In that case, I focus initially on three major things: 1. that the subject and thesis are defensible and well-defined; 2. that the essay is structured properly, with an introduction and conclusion that present and wrap up the thesis convincingly; and 3. that arguments are included with evidence and properly refuted counterarguments. The length of an essay or paper mainly affects the number of arguments and counterarguments, and the amount of evidence that you can or should include. 

So, for example, in an essay about when to date the beginning of the American Revolution, whether or not you wanted to address the dating of the Declaration of Independence would depend on the length. If you were writing a 10,000-word paper, you would need to discuss the issues of when the Declaration was signed and when it was ratified (neither of them on the official date of July 4). In a 500-word essay, giving July 4 as the date would suffice. These types of humanities papers are not the only writing you will encounter in college, but all writing there, including scientific papers, will follow some equally strict format.

There are different levels of editing. So, for example, if you wanted to get the above writing advice, that would be a constructive edit. Proofreading would entail only correcting grammar and spelling errors, and perhaps some questions of awkward or unacademic style. Since the two issues are addressed in two separate drafts, they would require more than one edit. You don't want to proofread or check your footnotes before you are sure your thesis and structure are solid, for example. I usually assume, unless it is stated otherwise, that the customer wants a proofread, since that is usually what people want. However, I am happy to provide constructive edits as requested, too.

Best,

History Editor