Incorporating Revision

Revision refers to the process of reviewing one's work and making changes (either local or global) to improve the writing.  Most teachers of writing encourage students to revise their work by creating drafts and going through a process of review -- either by having teacher review drafts or having other students review drafts.

University of Minnesota (2004). Articles>Education>Editing>Writing

Indexing Standards and Usability Tests  

This paper provides reference information and complements the demonstration: 'Using Indexing Standards and Usability Tests' by Deborah Swain and Rebecca Oliver. Information covered in the paper includes historical background on indexing and on the ANSI Z39.4 standard for indexes. Questions about the effectiveness of standards are discussed. In addition, the paper describes one way to conduct a usability test on a back-of-the-book index: random analysis. (Three testing methods will be explained in the demonstration.)

Swain, Deborah E. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Editing>Indexing>Usability

Indexing Technical Documents

If a document contains the information that a reader needs, but if the reader cannot find that information, then the document is useless. Worse than useless, it’s a hindrance. If I know that some information is not available, I won’t waste my time looking for it. However, if I think the information is available, and if I can’t find it after a period of fruitless searching, all I will have achieved is frustration.

TechScribe (2004). Articles>Indexing>Technical Editing

Indexing Technical Documents: An Interview with Lori Lathrop

Indexes are as important to your documentation as your documentation is to the product. Just as it would be difficult, if not impossible, for people to use your product without any documentation, it is equally difficult for people to use documentation without a good index.

Vega, Barbara. Writing World (2001). Articles>Indexing>Technical Editing

Indexing Workshop  

Although we all agree on the importance of a good index, many technical writers find themselves in the position of having to produce an index in a short amount of time with no training or experience.

Winsberg, Freya Y. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Indexing>Editing

The Influence of Text Factors on Readers  

The objectives of the research study presented here are to increase the discipline's knowledge about reader performance with technical documents, help writers and editors better allocate their efforts, and explore multivariate studies of text variables. For this study, subjects read and recalled one of two technical texts. Their recall protocols were analyzed for syntactic and semantic characteristics. Preliminary results suggest that information has a greater chance of being recalled if it is in clauses, independent clauses, more important idea units, or the first paragraph of the document. Additional results will be discussed at the conference.

Spyridakis, Jan H. and Carol S. Isakson. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Editing

Internet Resources for Editors  

This month, I’ll depart slightly from my usual topic and focus on onscreen practices that aren’t actual edits—but that support activities such as fact-checking that we must perform while editing. Specifically, I’ll describe how to use the Internet as a research tool to improve the quality of your editing.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2003). Articles>Editing>Online

Into the 21st Century: The Changing Role of Editors  

The historical perception that defined editors as guardians of the language falls short in describing editors in high-technology environments today. Essential skills for the 21st century require technical editors who can demonstrate sophisticated and extensive tool knowledge, product knowledge, and an appreciation for current professional trends—in addition to being guardians of the language.

Swartz, Michelle A., Gail M. Wilson, Dan Bakely and Barbara S. Muench. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Editing

The Joy of Indexing: How to Make a Good Document Better  

An index is a road map for a document. A good index helps the user find information easily and quickly. It anticipates the user’s needs and provides logical headings and a parallel, consistent structure. Creating an index involves five steps: 1) analyzing the audience; 2) determining the physical appearance and standards of the index; 3) reading and marking the text; 4) producing, editing, and proofing the index; and 5) testing the index for clarity and usability and revising it as necessary.

Gyure, Gloria M.D. and Colleen S. Kelley. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Indexing>Editing

"Just-in-Time" Documentation  

Discusses innovative ways to provide notations in electronic documents using Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Word, and HTML. These methods include inserting text and voice comments, and displaying short messages.

Linderman, R. Ivan. Intercom (2000). Articles>Editing>Online

Keeping Things Consistent When You're the 'Guest' Editor

Consistency is the cornerstone of intelligent editing. In these days of leaner staffs and smaller budgets, however, many organizations don't employ full-time editors and depend on contract or freelance editors to make sure their publications are written in a consistent — and thus coherent — manner.

Goode, Judith. Editorial Eye, The (1996). Articles>Editing>Publishing

Keyboard Shortcuts and Other Tricks  

This column focuses on using a computer to increase the effectiveness (both the productivity and the quality) of editing manuscripts, with an emphasis on tools and techniques rather than issues of grammar and usage.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2003). Articles>Editing>Online

The Knowledge Editor(SM): Innovative Editorial Solutions to Meet Your Quality Objectives  

This paper represents over 30 years cumulative work experience, as both corporate staff members and as consultants, and shares recommendations for providing highly valuable editorial contributions. The authors also introduce a new concept for innovative editorial methods that meet the technological and productivity challenges facing today’s information design organizations.

Holland, Mary T. and Kristen Sutton. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Editing>Collaboration

Knowledge Management - Challenge for Technical Editors

Knowledge management - is it a challenge for technical editors? Shouldn't knowledge management be more than just taken for granted in technical editing? And isn't the technical editor also the knowledge manager, per se?

Sturz, Wolfgang. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Knowledge Management>Technical Editing

Learning the Fine Art of Reviewing

If you asked me what the most painful part of being a technical writer is, my answer would be: 'Getting reviews on time. Getting good feedback and inputs on your work.' For me technical writing has been very pleasurable because I hardly got any review comments. My morale has therefore been very high. Project managers, developers and others are so busy trying to come up with good software (read trying to fix all the goof-ups and bugs!) that they usually tend to give documentation lesser importance. User manuals, who reads them anyway? We do not have time for it!

Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2003). Articles>Editing>Collaboration>Technical Writing

Let Editors Edit   

We technician editors need not worry about declining employment if we can show companies the value of the technology of English. If we can demonstrate how editors can make turgid technical authors communicate better with words, sentences, paragraphs, and overall organization, we will be in demand for jobs that are more prestigious and careers that are infinitely more interesting -- because the need is so great.

Bush, Donald W. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Editing>Technical Editing

Loose Ends: Standards and Styles

Several readers have sent me e-mail comments and questions recently that might be of interest to others. (Even Eye readers who don't spend much time on the Web tell us they're interested in picking up this kind of information.)

Ivey, Keith C. Editorial Eye, The (2003). Articles>Style Guides>Editing

Making Technical Reviews More Efficient  

This paper proposes the use of a database to collect and track technical review comments. It discusses the merits of using a database, provides a sample database structure, and describes use of the database in the review process.

Gelb, Janice. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Editing>Online

Masters, Slaves, and Infant Mortality: Language Challenges for Technical Editing      

In this article we explore how some contemporary language usage presents challenges for technical editing. Drawing on scholarship in the rhetoric of science and in critical linguistics, we argue that language does affect our perception of reality. Consequently, the language used in some technical documents needs to be reconsidered or even challenged by technical editors. Present textbooks on technical editing do not directly confront this issue, though some scholars have begun to challenge the use of terms such as 'studgun.' We conclude by demonstrating how a critical analysis of metaphors in everyday technical documents would help students question these language choices and draw attention to the consequences of using them.

Graves, Heather Brodie and Roger Graves. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>Editing>Biomedical

Measuring the Quality of Editorial Peer Review    

The quality of a process can only be tested against its agreed objectives. Editorial peer-review is widely used, yet there appears to be little agreement about how to measure its effects or processes. Ten studies used a variety of instruments to assess the quality of articles that had undergone peer review. Only 1, nonrandomized study compared the quality of articles published in peer-reviewed and non–peer-reviewed journals. The others measured the effects of variations in the peer-review process or used a before-and-after design to measure the effects of standard peer review on accepted articles. Eighteen studies measured the quality of reviewers' reports under different conditions such as blinding or after training. One study compared the time and cost of different review processes.

Jefferson, Tom, Elizabeth Wager and Frank Davidoff. JAMA (2002). Articles>Scientific Communication>Editing

More Than Just Error Correction: Students' Perspectives on Their Revision Processes During Writing    

Drawing on the second phase of a 2-year study of students' linguistic and compositional processes, this article describes students' reflections on their online revision processes, those revisions made during the process of translating thoughts into written text. The data collected were from classroom observation and post hoc interviews with 34 students, who were observed during a writing task in the English classrooms and interviewed subsequently to elicit their reflections and understandings of their own revising processes. The analysis indicates that students tend to conceptualize revision as a macro-strategy and as a task that is predominantly undertaken as a posttextual production reviewing activity. It also indicates that students engage in multiple revising activities during writing, including many revisions that are not concerned with simple matters of surface accuracy, and many students are able to talk about these perceptively and with insight.

Myhill, Debra and Susan Jones. Written Communication (2007). Articles>Writing>Editing

Mystery Fiction and the Technical Communicator: The Editor's Role  

Technical editors can learn much from editors of mystery fiction. Both orchestrate elaborate game-playing and structuring as they serve as the reader's advocate.

Murphy, Avon J. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Editing>Technical Editing

Nancy's Wordsmithy: Rules You Don't Have to Obey, Part III

The funny thing is, this rule should be running out of steam, because certain standards of written English have changed in ways that make the rule at least partly obsolete. Learning it is kind of like learning to change a cloth ribbon on an old manual typewriter.

Allison, Nancy. Boston Broadside (1989). Articles>Writing>Editing>Grammar

The Nature of the Interchange Between Editors and Authors

Editors, if allowed to interact with authors on a level above the comma, could often help authors negotiate new meaning as authors struggle to translate their ideas into writing.

Document Design (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Editing

No Pain, No Shame Editing  

Editing the works of others is truly a tricky business. The balancing act required in dealing with an author’s ego is no less precarious than that of teetering, with toes and teeth clenched, on a high wire. Maintaining a steady equilibrium between the principles of good writing on the one hand and the human factors involved in the process on the other is paramount if editors are to avoid falling—falling from both the reader’s and the author’s favor, that is. Recognizing that editors are advocates for readers as well as for authors makes the endeavor less painful and less shameful for both editors and authors.

Dahm, Rea Etta M. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Editing