The title of this article caught my attention. Its use of direction combined with its vagueness made me curious to see what it was about. I soon figured out it was an article about editing and proofreading, the different degrees of each, and how to do them sufficiently with a time constraint. It was organized into different subheadings, all of which were titled with a different question that editors and proofreaders have surely pondered. They ranged from "What level of work will you do?", to "Who will answer your questions?". Beneath each subheading, Sullivan and Eggleston went on to answer these questions, and to give advice on how to accomplish editing and proofreading tasks effectively.
I liked how the authors put the editing process into a continuum. It stretched from proofreading all the way to substantive editing. These types of editing are very different, ranging from just a basic skim through, looking for misspellings and grammatical errors, to suggesting new approaches and ideas. I know that I personally seem to always edit substantively, even though at times only proofreading is necessary.
This article also focused in on the idea of identifying and keeping in mind the intended audience. This is an idea that has been repeated throughout the many articles we have read, which has helped me realize just how important attending to the audience's limitations is.
Another element of this article that I particularly appreciated were the little "TIPS" boxes. These took some of the major ideas of the article and made them into little blurbs, which all seemed very helpful to a rookie editor.
I find that I also edit substantively most of the time, even if the occasion only calls for a simple proofread. I've been both an editor (for my high school newspaper) and, of course, the person whose work is edited so when I write something I try to be both people. I try to be my own editor and try to make changes based on the things that I haven't liked in other people's work. Of course, I would still be considered a "rookie" editor, despite any past experience so I also found the tip boxes to be helpful, as well like you mentioned. I also found the points about keeping the audience in mind relevant to how I write for the newspaper. I mentioned in my blog that I try to keep the intended audience for each article which then influences how I go about editing my work.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of audience do you normally keep in mind when you write?
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