An auxiliary screen unit is provided in conjunction with a desktop personal computer, for use in connection with editing a reading operations. The auxiliary screen unit has a touch-sensitive screen and stylus by means of which a user may operate a graphical user interface to select, highlight or otherwise edit text; edits may be performed on text displayed on the computer screen in the normal way using a mouse and a graphical user interface. The auxiliary screen unit and the computer are connected directly to each other so that text selected on one screen may be imported directly onto the other screen. Such an apparatus thus provides similar functional capability to that of paper, which is still the medium of choice for formulating edits.