Yes, we know you're eager to dive into your document now that your mission is clear. But wait just a bit longer. First, spend some time setting up shop.
Like any trade, editorial work has basic techniques and tools that make the finished product easier to create and higher in quality. They don't take long to master, and they can make the difference between a smooth path to a great result and a bumpy ride to a mixed one. Here's how to edit like a pro:
No editor or proofreader lifts a pencil or touches a mouse without a few essential reference works at the ready. At minimum, you should have:
• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, eleventh edition (to check spellings, capitalizations, and hyphenations)
• The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (for guidance on grammar, usage, punctuation, names, titles, numbers, and a thousand other details)
After these two, the universe of optional extras expands. Here are some of the brightest stars in it:
• The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
• The Associated Press Stylebook
• The Careful Writer, by Theodore M. Bernstein
• The Copyeditor's Handbook, by Amy Einsohn
• Edit Yourself, by Bruce Ross-Larson
• The Elephants of Style, by Bill Walsh
• Garner's Modern American Usage, by Bryan A. Garner
• The Gremlins of Grammar, by Toni Boyle and K.D. Sullivan
• Woe Is I, by Patricia T. O'Conner
• Word Court, by Barbara Wallraff
• Words Into Type, 3rd edition, by Marjorie E. Skillin and Robert M. Gay
In the last chapter we alerted you to a couple of these (The Associated Press Stylebook and The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language), and you'll find more worthy reference sources in "For Reference and Reading" at the back of the book. As we've already said, some clients may ask you to make something other than Chicago or Webster's your primary resource. But even if they don't, you'll want another opinion from time to time.
Why? Two reasons. First, because while all these sources deal with the same subject—use of the English language—each has something different to contribute. They don't all cover the same topics from the same perspective.
Second, "correct" English can be a slippery target in ten shades of gray, so when faced with a usage dilemma, it's a help to hear from more than one authority. If the experts agree, you can feel comfortable following their lead, and when they don't, you can feel comfortable choosing one of several valid options, knowing you're not violating any hard-and-fast rule.
Tip
If you're working with words in a field that uses specialized terminology—law, finance, medicine, real estate, high tech, etc.—be aware that many special-topic, industry-specific dictionaries and other reference sources are available. Having the right one at your elbow can save much time and many queries.
In addition to online versions of some of the hard-copy reference tools just listed, the Internet offers a nearly endless supply of editorial guidance. It's also the quickest, easiest way to double-check almost any fact, as long as you remember one thing: just because it's posted on the Internet doesn't mean it's correct. Carefully consider the source of any information you find online and try to corroborate it before you use it.
For some sites to consider in starting your own online reference library, see "Online Editorial Resources" at the end of this chapter.
If we could offer only one bit of editorial advice, it would be this: keep and use a style sheet. Really. It's that important.
A style sheet is nothing more—and nothing less—than a listing of anything a writer, editor, or proofreader wants to remember and keep consistent while working through a piece of writing (for a sample, see the "Starter Style Sheet" at the end of this chapter). That includes particular spellings, capitalizations, abbreviations, punctuation, number and formatting conventions, and anything else that's quirky, that crops up repeatedly, or that might be hard to remember. Different things go on style sheets for different reasons.
Some style sheet entries are records of decisions made about items that appear in more than one way in a piece of writing—will it be catsup or ketchup, OK or okay? Webster's considers either, um, OK, so it's up to you to settle on one and stick with it.
How to choose? If you're working for a client, and that client has a preference, the client's choice goes on your style sheet and you make sure the term is used that way everywhere it appears.
If there is no client preference, and no other reason to choose one form or the other, you opt for efficiency and choose the one that appears most often. That way, to keep things consistent, you'll need to mark fewer changes overall.
Tip
Sometimes you'll make a style decision, only to reverse it later. If you're working on hard copy, and you know an item can be treated in more than one way, it's often helpful, early on, to note on the style sheet where (page number or other locator) the term appears along with the term itself. You might see two or three OKs early on, and add the abbreviated form to your style sheet. Then later, you realize the author has shifted to—and stayed with—okay. If you've noted the location of those OKs, it's quick work to go back and change them to okay. If you're working electronically, it's not as important to note the locations—you can always simply do a search for the term you want to change.
Other things go on style sheets because they're unusual or even unique (such as people's names) and may never find their way into Webster's. You might be hard-pressed to remember, ten pages after you first see it, that ESPI stands for Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry. But if you enter that acronym and what it stands for on your style sheet when you first see and confirm it, and then refer to the style sheet whenever you see the term again, you'll never let it slip by as Electronic Speckle Patterned Interferometry.
What else goes on a style sheet? Lots of things. Spellings for standard English words and terms that appear in your document but that you can't seem to remember no matter how many times you look them up (and we all have those blind spots), how foreign words are handled, how often to spell out acronyms, what information goes in tables, how lists are introduced—there's no such thing as trivia when building a style sheet. It all matters, and anything is fair game. If there's any chance you (or the person who comes after you) will wonder about and want to confirm a spelling or some other detail, take a few seconds and note it on your style sheet.
Tip
If you're working electronically, keep your style sheet document open but minimized, so you can add or refer to it quickly. Try to enter words alphabetically, but don't worry if the order is a little off—you can always highlight and alphabetize your list later, in a flash, using your software's sorting function (in Word, go to Table > Sort).
So what doesn't go on a style sheet? Normally, unless you need a memory jog, you wouldn't include familiar English words and phrases that appear in Webster's or another general-purpose dictionary, or proper names that are well known. Turtle, Burma, and daffodil probably don't belong on a style sheet. But terrapin, Myanmar, and Narcissus might.
Tip
If you have lots of information under any one style sheet heading, it's easier to find what you're looking for if you break it down further. For instance, under the heading "Numbers, Dates, and Times," you might have the subheadings "Units of Measure," "Mathematical Operators," and "Years."
There are two reasons to keep a style sheet: to make sure you remember editorial decisions and details and to help others do the same.
If a style sheet already exists for your document, that means someone besides you—maybe the author, maybe a previous editor—has already thought about maintaining consistency as the writing makes its way through other hands. Bravo! Be sure to review any existing style sheet carefully, follow the conventions shown on it, and add to it as you discover new things.
And sometimes the effort to achieve consistency extends to more than just the work in hand. A style sheet can be developed and maintained for a single document, but it can also be created for a client or department or for an entire organization (a house style sheet), to keep writing consistent no matter how many wordsmiths are at work. The more tightly focused the style sheet, the more priority you should give it. For instance, in case of conflict, a department style sheet would trump a house style sheet, and a document style sheet would trump both. Be sure to use, add to, and pass on any and all style sheets that pertain to your project.
Tip
If more than one person will work on a piece of writing, let any relevant style sheets travel with it, so everyone who works on it can use the same conventions. If more than one person will add to a style sheet, date each version of the style sheet and ask each person to note his or her entries with a different color or symbol. That way everyone will know what's most current and who has added what.
Even when only one person is building a style sheet, if others will receive updated versions of it, it's very helpful to highlight in the most recent edition what's new since the previous one so the recipient can see changes and additions at a glance.
Keeping and using a style sheet will give you writing that's—from the standpoint of style—98 percent consistent. Here's how to squeeze out that last 2 percent: in addition to a style sheet, keep an informal search list as you work.
It's just a fact that no one can note every editorial error or inconsistency when reading something for the first time. For one thing, until you've seen a word, term, or formatting element more than once, and seen it used differently, you can't even know that there is inconsistency.
Always, as you work through a document, you'll notice details and think "Oh! Is that correct? Did that appear earlier? How was it handled?" If a decision needs to be made, you make it and add it to the style sheet. But what about those possible earlier occurrences? That's where a search list comes in.
A search list is a set of very informal notes you keep strictly for yourself as an adjunct to the style sheet, a place to jot down words or any other items you want to be sure you go back and verify and correct as needed before you hand off your project.
Whenever you think of something you want to check for consistency, write it on your search list. Then you can keep an eye out for search list items as you do a second reading, or if you're working electronically, you can do separate global searches for each item at the very end (see "Do It in Stages" later in this chapter for a detailed discussion of this process).
It takes very little time to keep and act on a search list, but it's the surest way to know that your document and your style sheet are in perfect agreement.
It's almost time to take pen or pencil in hand or scoot up to the keyboard. Here's how to use those tools when you do.
Editorial professionals working on hard copy use a special vocabulary of marks to indicate changes in a piece of writing. It's a type of shorthand understood by most people who work with words. You don't have to use these marks, as long as you and whoever will interpret them understand the marks you do use, but many people find it convenient to use the standard marks, just because they are so widely understood. To view the entire lexicon, see "Standard Editorial Marks" at the end of this chapter.
Editors and proofreaders use the same marks, but because of space constraints, they often use them differently. Most editors place marks within the text itself, because they usually work on double-spaced pages that have not yet been formatted and have the room to do so.
Proofreaders, on the other hand, often read a document late in the editorial process, after the piece has taken its final designed and single-spaced form. For them, there is no room to indicate changes within the text. So proofreaders—and editors, when space is tight—put marks in the margins, with a caret in the text to indicate the location of the change. Here's a bit of hard-copy markup, as both an editor (above) and a proofreader (below) would approach it:
If a change involves adding more text than will fit either between lines or in the margin, you can write it on a separate sheet, label it A, insert the sheet immediately following the page to which it applies, and indicate with a caret in the text and a note in the margin where the new text should go ("Insert A").
Tip
If you're working on hard copy, you might need to fax your changes to someone else. If you do, be careful to keep all markings dark (using an erasable pen, not a pencil) and well away from the edges of the page, because fax transmissions can cut off margins.
Today most writing is done on a computer screen, and most editing is done the same way. The majority of your editing will be done using word processing software, such as Microsoft Word, or using Adobe Acrobat to edit PDF files. Using electronic markup, you never have to worry about squeezing words between two lines, erasing something (in ink!) if you change your mind, or running out of room for new text or a comment.
For example, both Word and Acrobat have reviewing and markup tools that let one or more people insert and delete text and add comments and queries very clearly.
These are great advantages, but there are more: Using electronic editing tools, you can search for every occurrence of a term. And in Word you can also search for a heading level to quickly be sure they all match and numbers are sequential, you can run a spell-checker to catch what your eyes may have missed, you can alphabetize lists with one click, you can record a macro to perform tedious tasks with one keystroke, and much more. (For more on these gifts from the editing gods, see Part Three.)
Electronic editing is not only far more convenient; it can also produce a far cleaner and more consistent result than hard-copy editing. Get to know all the editing tools your software offers; it will be time well spent.
Tip
Before you make a mark, with either pencil or keyboard, be sure you have a clean copy of the original work safely duplicated or saved. And if you're working electronically, be sure to save often (every few minutes) and back up regularly (every few hours) to preserve your hard work.
For backing up your work, you can use external media such as CDs, Memory Sticks, or even a separate external hard drive.
As you review almost any piece of writing, you'll find you have questions. In the world of editing, they're called queries. Knowing what to ask—and when and how—is a bit of an art, and mastering it can make all the difference between useful answers from happy authors who appreciate your professionalism, and partial answers—or nonanswers—from testy authors you've unwittingly offended or annoyed.
Questions that arise while editing can be about almost anything that seems confusing, incorrect, or inconsistent. "Marseilles, France, or Marseilles, Illinois?" "Don Blake is referred to as the CEO on page 1, but the president on page 4. Which is correct?"
And sometimes you'll want to explain a change to the writer, who might otherwise not see the reason for it: "Change for consistency with earlier usage" or "Per Webster's."
Other times you'll want to both explain and query: "I've assumed you mean Marseilles, France, not Marseilles, Illinois. Correct?"
It's not necessary to explain every correction, of course; you can simply change compliment to complement or effect to affect with no comment. But you might want to explain why you've made it the president instead of the President ("Lowercase per department style sheet and Chicago"). If you make such a change many times, one explanation—the first time you make the change—is enough.
Important: If you make the same change three times, before making it again, check with the author, another person in a position to know, or an existing style sheet to be sure you're not changing something that should remain the way it appears. If it's not convenient to get an immediate answer, add the item to a list of questions to be resolved before you complete your work (see "Fewer Is Better"). Then, until you get your answer, if you're working on hard copy, keep track of where the item appears.
When it comes to querying, think of yourself as a diplomat with a critical mission on a tight word budget. Focus on being three things—concise, precise, and polite:
• Use as few words as possible to express your exact meaning. The author's time, like yours, is at a premium; chattiness is rarely appreciated and can obscure your vital question. Ask "Does this statistic apply to all years or just 2004?" instead of "You know, I'm wondering if this amount is really right for the whole decade. Can you tell me if it is or if it covers only 2004?"
• Ask for exactly the information you need, leaving no room for ambiguity. "Should the value be 24, 25, or 26?" will almost always elicit the response you need. "Is 24 correct?" could result in a frustrating "No."
• Keep the tone of your query unfailingly respectful. Under no circumstances should you ever seem to criticize or rebuke the writer. "Sloppy transition; please fix" not only antagonizes the writer but also gives him or her little information about what you want. Instead, say "Will readers understand how this point follows from the previous one? Can you clarify?"
As we noted, everyone has limited time. And when it comes to answering questions, people can also have limited patience. When deciding what and how to query, keep those things in mind. Query only the items you can't reasonably resolve on your own, and do it in a way (and at a time) that's most efficient.
Necessary queries fall into two groups:
• Items the author can answer later, while reviewing your work
• Questions best resolved before you complete your work
If a question pertains to just one or a few spots in a piece of writing, it's fine to simply attach individual queries for the author's review.
But if there's a question about something that appears frequently in the work, and the answer might result in many changes, try to resolve it early on.
For example, if the same person's name appears as both Smith and Smithe, and that person is mentioned frequently, try to verify the correct form, with either the author or another trusted authority. A quick phone call or e-mail should clear up the confusion; then you can confidently make any needed changes as you come across each instance, and no one will have to sift through the whole document later to find them all.
If there are several such issues, rather than calling or e-mailing the author with each one, keep a running list and seek answers to all of them at once. The best time is just after you've completed your first reading and before you start your second (see "Do It in Stages" later in this chapter).
If it's not possible to get an answer to a pervasive issue before you finish your work, you can use a global query. A global query is one that is attached where an inconsistency or possible error first appears but that applies to every instance of the item in the entire work. "Global: Is it Smith or Smithe? Please verify and make consistent throughout."
That's easy enough to ask (maybe too easy; make sure you limit such requests to times when you really have no other option), but it might be difficult for the author to do. Should the author be unable to make all the changes, there's one more way to ensure they are made, even after the work leaves your hands. A proofreader who will be doing a final careful check once all the edits have been incorporated can be alerted to any global items still outstanding and make the needed adjustments.
Tip
Often the best way to alert the author and others to global issues is in a cover letter, returned with the finished job. Even if you don't have specific questions or requests, you'll almost always want to let the author know a bit about what you've done and how you've approached the project. A cover letter is the perfect place to do that.
If there's an art to asking editorial questions, there's a craft to actually attaching them to the page. How you do it depends on whether you're working on hard copy or an electronic file.
On Hard Copy. When working on paper, you have two options. If there's room, you can write your query in the page margin. Otherwise, break out some sticky notes, write your message on one, and attach it to the edge of the page, near the item in question. If the note is very lengthy, you can write it on a separate sheet, insert the sheet immediately after the page to which it applies, and direct the reviewer to it in the margin ("See query next page").
It's a good idea to write the page and line number on each note, too, in case the note falls off or is placed incorrectly, and to help the author quickly locate the area in question.
Tip
When writing queries in the margin of a page, it's helpful to differentiate between questions ("Change OK?") and instructions ("bf") by drawing a box around one and a circle around the other:
In an Electronic File. When working onscreen, you can use your software's comments feature to place queries in the margin, or in boxes when using Adobe Acrobat.
In Word, you can also insert queries directly into the text, setting them off between characters (such as multiple asterisks or curly braces) that don't appear elsewhere:
{{Q: 2004 or 2005?}}}
That way a search for the character(s) will quickly turn up all the queries in the document. Ask the person who will answer the queries how he or she would prefer to see them.
However you attach queries, be sure to take a few moments at the end of your work to reread them for accuracy, brevity, diplomacy, and typos. Clean, nicely worded queries reflect a respectful, professional attitude and are far more likely to elicit the same in the person who answers them.
Just to review: no one can catch every glitch in a document of any length when first reading it. We don't care how sharp, experienced, or dedicated you are, it just can't be done. It's in the nature of editing to make discoveries and decisions as the work progresses. As you do, you'll be adding them to your style sheet and search list, then doubling back to verify items in the early part of the project.
So unless you're dealing with a three-line memo, the only way to do a good, thorough editorial review is to do it in stages, with different objectives at each one. If you keep your focus on just one or a few things at a time, you're far less likely to be distracted or to overlook details.
The stages that follow outline a general approach to any editorial project; for a more detailed approach tailored specifically to proofreading, see the "Professional 8-Stage Proofreading Checklist" in Appendix B.
Before you begin marking, look quickly through the document to get an overall sense of it. How long is it? Are all the parts there? Does it seem generally well constructed, or will it need lots of help? Will you need to use any special reference materials as you work? Are there many tables, lots of formulas, numerous illustrations?
This preliminary assessment will help you understand the amount and level of work required, how best to budget your time, what additional materials, if any, you'll need, and whether you'll be able to complete the project in the time allotted.
Once you have a feel for the project, start reading the document at the beginning, character by character, word by word, and line by line. As you go, watch for anything amiss—incorrect spelling, grammar, punctuation, or usage; headings that don't match the text that follows; references to illustrations that don't exist; numbers out of sequence; italics that are misplaced or missing; anything and everything that might confuse readers or distract them, for even a fraction of a second, from the author's message.
If you're working above the level of proofreading, be on the lookout, too, as appropriate, for errors of fact or in logic, faulty transitions, awkward wordings, or ineffective presentation. (For more on what to look for as you work, see Part Two.)
Keep in mind the golden rule of editing and proofreading: Never assume. If there's the slightest doubt about any item, always check and verify it.
This first pass is where most of the editorial work gets done and is the slowest going, as you correct, reword, query, consult references, and develop your style sheet.
Tip
Just as a style sheet can help you keep track of conventions, a checklist can help you remember to look at all the right things as you edit. For a collection of reliable reminders, see the checklists in Part Two and Appendix B.
With your style sheet complete and as many global queries answered as possible, read through the entire document a second time, looking for anything you might have missed on the first pass and making any needed alterations to ensure consistency and accuracy. If you're working onscreen, it's often helpful at this stage to read the material without the markup visible (for more on that, see Chapter 6). That way you'll see the results of your first-pass edits more clearly.
Don't expect this pass to be swift; although you won't be marking as much as you did on the first pass, you'll need to read the material just as carefully.
At the end of the second pass, your search list will probably still contain several small items you want to verify—spellings, heading styles and wordings, numerical sequences, and anything else you want to be certain is correct and consistent. The best way to be sure you've found each item and brought it into line is to search separately and sequentially through the whole document for each item, one at a time. (Naturally, global searches for individual words or phrases are easiest to do when working on an electronic file.)
This one-thing-at-a-time approach will also help you ensure the highest level of accuracy and consistency in other elements of the project, too. At this final stage, look separately at such things as:
• Section numbers and titles
• Text headings
• Lists and tables
• Captions and labels
• Page numbers, headers, and footers
• Table of contents entries
Looking for specific search-list items or at particular project elements individually won't take long, and you'll be surprised at what you pick up on these final brief passes that you didn't see when you were deciding whether a pronoun was correct or a verb was in the right tense.
And finally, if you're using word processing software such as Word, the very last pass is the spell-check. It's not infallible, but it's easy to run, and it's another set of (electronic) eyes. Every typo a spell-checker catches is one more a reader will never see. (Unfortunately, as of this writing, Adobe Acrobat would check the spelling only in the comments inserted in a PDF document, not in the actual text of the document.)
Tip
In addition to a spell-check at the end of your work, do a search for double spaces. Although a single space is considered correct these days, many writers still tap the space bar twice after a period or a colon. And extra spaces are very easy to insert or overlook while editing. Fortunately, they're also easy to delete once you've found them.
These are the proofreader's marks used by editorial professionals and lots of other people, too, to indicate desired changes in writing that's on hard copy.
The typical style sheet that follows has space for the editorial detail and decisions you're most likely to want to record. To give you an idea of what to include, we've shown some sample entries. But remember, they're only examples. Your customized style sheet should include information specific to your project, client or department, or organization.
For a style sheet with space for all the detail the pickiest editorial professional might desire, see the "Expanded/Professional Style Sheet Template" in Appendix B.
When you're working with words, you'll have questions. Find answers to many of them, quickly and easily, at the Web sites that follow. (Note: The information here was current at the time of this writing, but on the Web change is the only constant. Be prepared to do a little detective work should any of these addresses change.)
1. Acronym Finder (acronymfinder.com). Find definitions in seconds for almost any acronym, abbreviation, or initialism. A terrific tool; lets you sort by category and industry.
2. Answers.com (answers.com). If you have questions, Answers.com has upto-date answers. It's like an encyclopedia crossed with a dictionary crossed with Google.
3. AP Stylebook (apstylebook.com). The journalist's standard style guide is available online by subscription for $20 per year. With a site license, you can also customize it with your own entries.
4. Bartleby.com (bartleby.com). This is your dream library, online. From reference books to poetry to fiction to the classics, this site has the books—and the search tools. Look up facts, nail down quotations, or read a whole book, right here.
5. The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (chicagomanualofstyle.org/search.html). This search tool speeds you to answers in the print version of the editor's standard style guide.
6. Google (google.com). How are others using a term or spelling a name? This giant database will tell you. But remember—it simply contains what's published, mistakes and all. If you can, make sure several Google sources agree before you use what you find.
7. Guide to Grammar & Writing (ccc.commnet.edu/grammar). This site will fill you in, good-naturedly, on anything you'd like to know about grammar and composition. Nicely indexed and easy to use.
8. Merriam-Webster Online (m-w.com). If you can't spell a word, how do you look it up? Answer: Go to this site. All of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is here, plus search options that steer you to correct spellings, and more. You can use the tenth edition at no charge or subscribe to use the eleventh edition. And if you already own the hard copy of the eleventh, a year's subscription is free.
9. Thesaurus.com (thesaurus.reference.com). Have your way with words. This is your online look-up tool for synonyms and antonyms.
10. Webopedia.com (webopedia.com). A great source for computer and Internet technology terms and definitions.
11. yourDictionary.com (yourdictionary.com). How do you say hello in Hindi? Find out here. This site links to online dictionaries that translate English into more than three hundred languages and vice versa. It has a world of information on English words, too.
