Technical documents provide information that readers need to make decisions or complete tasks. Technical editing ensures that this information is presented in a way that facilitates the reader's understanding. Technical editors offer suggestions for improvement in design of both content and layout and therefore work with the document in both early and late stages.
#14127
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
#14048
Le Métier de Rédacteur Technique
Le rôle du rédacteur technique est de permettre une compréhension et une utilisation simple d'un produit ou d'un service. Pour cela, il utilise un langage clair et pertinent, adapté au public concerné. Le rédacteur se met à la portée de l'utilisateur. Il connaît son public et l'usage qu'il fera du produit. Le niveau de vulgarisation varie donc en fonction de l'utilisateur. Le rédacteur technique est capable d'exécuter une grande variété de tâches.
#29807
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
#31030
Multi-Track Mixing for Location Dialogue
Stereo is rarely recorded as such in the field. Instead, we record monaural sounds and wait until post-production is nearly complete to re-assign these sounds to the audience's left, right, and in-between. Until the film is edited, there is no way to know just where all of the audio elements need to end up. For instance, out on production, it might seem logical to record a car that passes from left to right in stereo, so that you can hear the 'pass by' in your phones whoosh from the left ear to the right ear.
Ginsburg, Fred. Equipment Emporium (2006). Articles>Multimedia>Editing>Audio
#13312
Multiple-File Search and Replace Utilities in Windows
This is a review of some multiple-file search and replace utilities for the Windows operating system. One limitation in Windows is the lack of a good search and replace utility. I've often needed to do a search or search and replace across multiple files. While Windows does have a decent Find utility, it doesn't search and replace. I've found a couple of programs that address this limitation.
Soltys, Keith. IRTC (2001). Resources>Software>Editing
#24352
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
#30356
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
#24731
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
#24345
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.
#25029
Not a Style Guide: Creating a Quick Reference Grammar Guide for Writers
When approached by a group of curriculum design specialists to develop a job aid that would help analysts and trainers solve some of their most common writing problems, the Multinational Customer and Service Education (MC&SE) editing group from Xerox Corporation went to work to produce The Write Stuff: When to Use a Comma and Other Writing Rules. This paper focuses on the Leadership Through Quality process the editors used to develop this reference tool. It also describes how The Write Stuff addresses some of the most common writing problems editors encounter in the course of a working day.
Cowan, Elisabeth J.S., Raymond J. Doughty Paul F. Ferguson, Ted Moss, and Karen Sliva. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Editing>Style Guides
#29130
Noteworthy Observations About Note-Taking by Professionals
In this article we focus on professional readers who have to write recommendations in an online environment. We address the question whether taking notes on screen influences the reading process and the quality of the recommendations in terms of applicability, completeness, and persuasiveness. Seven participants each composed two pieces of advice on technical communication issues. They could use an electronic Notepad whenever they wished. Taking notes appeared to influence advice quality negatively, which may be caused by attention shifts from reading to taking notes on screen. Although we could not find a relationship between the contents of the notes and advice quality, we noted differences in note-taking approaches between the participants.
Melenhorst, Mark, Thea Van Der Geest And Micha√el Steehouder. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2005). Articles>Editing>Quality
#30531
Now That We've Written It, What Do We Do With It?
Maintaining documents after they are published (making technical corrections and clarifications, adding mussing information) is a large and important task - a task that is often pushed aside or overlooked entirely by writing departments. Our writing department was frequently behind in this maintenance work and wanted 10 improve our maintenance service to our customers. We needed to find a new, efficient way to handle the work -- quite a challenge given a shrinking work force and growing workloads. This paper describes the solution we devised, its early successes and its obstacles.
Dettlaff, Judy L. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Content Management>Editing
#27461
Now That You've Got a Double Agent, What Do You Do With 'Em?
Having demonstrated the importance of acquiring a double agent for writing projects, we now want to explain the best ways to successfully indoctrinate a double agent. This paper will help you prepare for, orient, train, and become a mentor for a double agent to help make him or her an effective member of your writing team.
Fisher, Judith R., Karen L. Mobley and Michelle M. Wright. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Writing>Technical Editing>Collaboration
#29520
Une collection de listes de carrière, éditée au coin des rédacteurs techniques.
Rédacteur Technique, Le. Careers>Job Listings>Technical Editing>France
#24336
Success may be defined by monetary rewards or personal satisfaction. An editor follows the path of success by daily seeking inspiration from within, recalling the wisdom of past and current masters of communication, and listening to the prophets of the day.
Hunt, James M. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>Editing
#22687
One Hundred Simple Tech Writing Errors
Here are the 100 writing errors that the author has encountered in his experience. (Followed by the subsequent article 'Ten More Errors in Technical Writing.')
Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2003). Articles>Editing>Grammar>Technical Writing
#10818
One Last Look: The Final Quality Control Review
Virtually everyone in the publications field has a story to tell about 'the one that slipped through' -- a horrible, glaring, embarrassing error that went undetected and made it into print. My personal worst was the time the company I was working for was sending a proposal to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, only our proposal cover said 'Joint Chefs....' There is always plenty of blame to go around when these errors occur, but usually it is the error-prevention system that is faulty.
Cormier, Robin A. Editorial Eye, The (1997). Articles>Editing
#14825
Increasingly, editors are being asked to perform online editing of traditional paper documents, edit documents that will ultimately reside online, or both. Yet many editors are unfamiliar with the new tools and information media that often require us to rethink existing ways of doing our jobs. Editors and other information developers will discuss some of the issues we must face and share their own insights about this emerging area of concern as we move into new, initially intimidating territory.
Hamilton, Karen J. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>Editing>Online
#13768
Online Editing, Mark-Up Models, and the Workplace Lives of Editors and Writers
Despite the fact that most editing is still performed on paper, there are compelling reasons to begin marking copy on the computer.
Farkas, David K. and Steven E. Poltrock. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (1995). Articles>Editing>Online
#15172
Online Editing: Minimizing Your Turnaround Time
Outlines an editing process that minimizes turnaround time by making the most of word processor technology.
Petersen, Judy H. Intercom (2000). Articles>Editing>Online
#18464
Online Technical Writing: Abstracts
An abstract is a summary of a body of information. Sometimes, abstracts are in fact called summaries--sometimes, executive summaries or executive abstracts. There are different kinds of abstracts—your technical report uses two types: the descriptive abstract and the informative abstract.
#27844
Order from Chaos: Developmental Editing
The definition varies from publisher to publisher and from client to client, but basically a developmental editor helps an author develop ideas—or develop a manuscript if it already exists--into a coherent, readable work.
Jaffee, Cyrisse. Editorial Freelancers Association (1991). Articles>Editing
#14278
Just as Socrates said, ‘Every discourse must be organized, like a living being . . .,’ a document must be organized in a logical, coherent fashion, with its parts ‘composed in fitting relation to each other and to the whole.’ Although research has led to more sophisticated guidelines for creating reader-based documents, Socrates’ principles are still valuable. Writing organized, coherent documents is still a primary goal for technical writers—one you should follow as you develop your professional writing style. This file contains text about the refining, bleaching, and deodorizing processes of sunflowerseed oil. Your task is to make this text more organized and coherent so that readers will understand the process.
Burnett, Rebecca E. Thomson (2001). Academic>Course Materials>Editing
#14650
Bush offers suggestions for editing professional journals, rather than technical manuals and proposals.
Bush, Donald W. Intercom (2000). Articles>Editing
#14047
