The McGraw-Hill Desk Reference for Editors, Writers, and Proofreaders by Sullivan, K.D. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Page The McGraw-Hill Desk Reference for Editors, Writers, and Proofreaders Copyright Page CD Content Contents Preface Acknowledgments PART ONE Gearing Up to Edit

1 Before You Begin

What Level of Work Will You Do? Who Is the Audience? When Is It Due? What Format Is It In? Which References Will You Use? Who Will Answer Your Questions? Tools

Project Information Checklist

2 Techniques and Tools

Consult the Experts

The World Wide Reference Department

Do It with Style

Follow the Leader and Pass It Around The Last Word in Style

Make Your Mark

On Hard Copy In Electronic Files

Learn the Art of Asking

What to Ask and What to Tell Choosing Your Words Fewer Is Better Going Global Making Queries Stick Reviewing Your Queries

Do It in Stages

The Preliminary Skim The First Pass The Second Pass The Final (Short) Passes

Tools

Standard Editorial Marks Starter Style Sheet Online Editorial Resources

PART TWO The 3 Cs: What to Look for as You Work

3 Is It Correct?

The Pieces of the Puzzle The Rules of the Game

Agreement Is All-Important Apostrophes Are for Possessives, Not Plurals Capitals Can Clutter Commas Are Crucial Conjunctions Can Open; Prepositions Can Close Hyphens Are Helpful (but Not Always Right) Dashes Are Indispensable Infinitives Can (and Sometimes Should) Come Apart Danglers Can Deceive Numbers Need Consistency Punctuation Can Pile Up Semicolons Are Sophisticated Colons Wear Coattails

Which Word When?

A or An? Bad or Badly? It’s or Its? Less or Fewer? Like or As? Was or Were? Which or That? Who or Whom?

Tools

Words Most Often Confused Words Most Often Misspelled Is It Correct? Checklist

4 Is It Consistent?

Style Sheets, Revisited Method, 1; Madness, 0 A Crash Course in Consistency

Fast and Loose Facts Spelling Capitalization Punctuation Numbers Fonts Icons and Symbols Vertical Lists Tables Document Titles and Headings Captions and Labels Page Numbers, Headers, and Footers Tables of Contents

Tools

Is It Consistent? Checklist

5 Is It Clear (and Compelling)?

Proofreading Copyediting

Light Copyediting

Medium Copyediting Heavy Copyediting Substantive Editing

Where Clear and Compelling Come From The Level of Writing The Overall Structure The Word Choice and Tone The Clear and Compelling Makeover

Tools

12 Tips for Compelling Writing Wordiness Watch List Buzzwords to Banish Writing for the World: A Guide to Globalization Is It Clear and Compelling? Checklist

PART THREE Onscreen and Online

6 Microsoft Word Documents

Track Changes—the Better Red Pencil

Using Track Changes

Beyond Track Changes

Checking Spelling and Grammar Searching Inserting Breaks Inserting Symbols Alphabetizing

Formatting

Make Word Less Helpful Take Advantage of the Toolbars Make Yourself a Macro Make Bullets and Numbers Behave Use Fonts with Finesse Set the Spacing Take Tables in Stride

Advanced Options

Add Automatic Tables of Contents Insert Hyperlinks Check the Word Count Compare Text Check Heading Levels

Returning Finished Files Tools

Editing in Word—a Quick Reference Handy Keyboard Shortcuts

7 PDF Documents

Different Routes, Same Destination

Working on Paper Working on Paper and Onscreen Working Onscreen Only

The Tools You’ll Use (or See) the Most

The Hand Tool The Top-Drawer Editorial Tools A Few Comments About Comments Viewing Comments Printing

Some Second-Drawer Tools

Attach a File as a Comment Upload for Browser-Based Review

Beyond Comments and Tools

Edit

Completing Your Work Tools

Editing PDFs—a Quick Reference

8 PowerPoint Files

Powers You Have and Powers You Don’t

Marking Up Printouts Editing Embeds The Direct Approach Inserting Comments and Recording Changes in PowerPoint PowerPoint Printing

Tools

PowerPoint Editing—a Quick Reference

9 Web Sites

Where Language Goes, Rules Follow Links, Banners, Buttons, and Bars Real Marks for Virtual Pages

Marking Changes on Hard Copy Using an Electronic Reporting Form Using a Screen Capture

What to Watch for on the Web

Is It Correct? Is It Consistent? Is It Clear (and Compelling)? Does It Work?

Tools

Sample Electronic Reporting Form Checklist for Web Editing

Appendix A: Specialty Editing

Special Topics, Not Special Skills Advertising

Advertising Style—a Whole Different Animal Trademark Symbols

Annual Reports with Financials Catalogs Computer-Related Text Tools

Checklist for Computer-Related Text

Appendix B: Editorial Extras

Testing, Testing... Testing, Testing... Proofreading Answer Key Testing, Testing... Editing Answer Key Expanded/Professional Style Sheet Template Professional 8-Stage Proofreading Checklist Complete Editorial Checklist

Glossary For Reference and Reading Index For Download

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