Re: Peer edits?

["Brandi Fox" <herring_b -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

There is also a good article on Technical Editing in this month's STC
Intercom publication.

"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> wrote in message
news:131411 -at- techwr-l -dot-  -dot-  -dot- 
>
> Dave Stewart reports: <<My company will be instituting a peer editing
> process in the coming weeks.>>
>
> Not as useful as actually hiring a trained editor, but I suppose it's
better
> than nothing.
>
> <<I've read about the benefits and challenges of peer editing, and I'm
> trying to come up with an initial list of items we should be looking for
in
> each other's documents.>>
>
> Apart from company style, there are essentially three types of things you
> should look for, in order of decreasing importance:
> 1. Substantive edits: Is the information correct? Is the sequence logical
> and effective? Is the information complete (contains everything the reader
> needs to know and most of the things they'd like to know)? Does the text
> contradict the graphics and tables or vice versa? Is everything you
> referenced (tables, figures, headings, chapters, sections) in the text
> present, under the same name you used in the reference? Is it present near
> where it's cited (for figures and tables) so readers don't have to flip
> through dozens of pages to find it?
> 2. Copyediting: Is the text easy to understand? Does it use standard
> terminology? Is it well written (grammatically correct too)? Is it
> consistent both within the document (each word is used the same way) and
> with other documents you've produced or are in the process of producing?
> 3. Cosmetic stuff: Are the commas in the right place? Are the correct
styles
> and fonts and etc. used to format the text? Any typos?
>
> That's just the tip of the iceberg; editing involves a lot more than this.
> Pick up any really good textbook on editing for details. (Check out John
> Renish's bibliography at www.raycomm.com for a list of editing
references.)
> If none of you has professional experience as an editor, consider joining
> the copyediting-l list (see note below) so you can ask professionals how
> they'd do things. (I'm there regularly, as are many other techwhirlers.)
>
> Note: Copyediting-l is available at
> http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/copyediting-l.html You can subscribe
> directly at
> http://listserv.indiana.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=copyediting-l&A=1%20
> but unfortunately, because of changes in the way the Domain Name System
> (DNS) is updated, recent updates have made this second url unavailable to
> some DNS servers. The problem should solve itself eventually;
>
> --Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
> geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
> "User's advocate" online monthly at
> www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html
>
> Tarzan's rule of data processing: Never let go of one vine until you have
a
> solid hold of the next.--Anon.
>
>
>



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