My Editing Process: Collaborative, Multi-Pass Editing
"Read your work out loud."
"Focus on higher order concerns first, and leave lower order concerns until the final stage of the writing process."
"Use a style sheet."
"Complete your edits in different passes. Only correct errors pertaining to the pass you are working on."
"Focus on higher order concerns first, and leave lower order concerns until the final stage of the writing process."
"Use a style sheet."
"Complete your edits in different passes. Only correct errors pertaining to the pass you are working on."
Figure 1. List of Editing Passes
The statements above represent forms of editing advice I give to a variety
of students nearly every day in the Writing Center. This advice has
come to embody my personal editing philosophy. Yet, these strategies
didn’t always seem so clear.
Before my time in the MA program at UALR, I would not have considered editing one of my strongest skills. I could edit, but I lacked the confidence that I was doing it in the most systematic and efficient way. However, through diverse experiences such as working with basic writers one-on-one in the Writing Center, creating a robust style manual for a non- profit organization, and working as an acquisition editor for a non fiction publication, I have discovered flexible editing and revision strategies that allow me to successfully edit both my own and other's work. The key? Collaboration, multi-pass editing, and the use of a style sheet.
Collaboration
“If you find a good editor, marry him [or her],” I heard Dr. Sally Crisp say once. Though the sentiment seems silly, I appreciate its value. The most successful editing requires input from a variety of subject matter experts at multiple stages in the writing process.
Multi-Pass Editing
Multi-pass editing, as I learned, entails reviewing a piece of writing multiple times, each time only looking for specific error patterns. Figure 1 gives an example list of editing passes my partner and I completed for a collaborative project.
Before my time in the MA program at UALR, I would not have considered editing one of my strongest skills. I could edit, but I lacked the confidence that I was doing it in the most systematic and efficient way. However, through diverse experiences such as working with basic writers one-on-one in the Writing Center, creating a robust style manual for a non- profit organization, and working as an acquisition editor for a non fiction publication, I have discovered flexible editing and revision strategies that allow me to successfully edit both my own and other's work. The key? Collaboration, multi-pass editing, and the use of a style sheet.
Collaboration
“If you find a good editor, marry him [or her],” I heard Dr. Sally Crisp say once. Though the sentiment seems silly, I appreciate its value. The most successful editing requires input from a variety of subject matter experts at multiple stages in the writing process.
Multi-Pass Editing
Multi-pass editing, as I learned, entails reviewing a piece of writing multiple times, each time only looking for specific error patterns. Figure 1 gives an example list of editing passes my partner and I completed for a collaborative project.
Figure 2. Example of a Style Sheet
Style Sheet
Multi-pass editing is conducted by using a style sheet, or an organizational chart that helps writers catalog certain words or symbols to ensure that they remain consistent across a document or multiple documents. Figure 2 gives an example of what one of my style sheets looks like.
Connection to Coursework
In Technical Style and Editing—a course which emphasizes editing technical, business, government, and scientific reports—our semester-long project was to write a style manual for an organization of our choice. As I came to learn, a style manual is like a large version of a style sheet for an organization. It was in this class that terms such as level of edit, editing pass, and style sheet became part of my vocabulary.
In Editing for Publication, a class that provided hands-on experience in pre-production editing for a non fiction publication called Quills & Pixels, I learned that editing is all about maintaining a relationship with the author. During the first section of the class, I created an acquisition plan to strategize how I would acquire submissions as well as a peer review form that assisted the class in the selection process of academic writing. After we had selected the pieces for our publication, I began the manuscript editing and editorial correspondence process with two authors—one who was resistant and whose work ultimately had to be declined and the other one who was compliant and was able follow through with publication. At the end of the semester, I had successfully prepared a manuscript for publication as well as made a new friend with an author.
Though it’s taken some time for these editing concepts to solidify and the practices to become natural, this program has taught me that in the same way that successful writing takes place over the course of multiple drafts, so, too, does editing take place with multiple passes.
Multi-pass editing is conducted by using a style sheet, or an organizational chart that helps writers catalog certain words or symbols to ensure that they remain consistent across a document or multiple documents. Figure 2 gives an example of what one of my style sheets looks like.
Connection to Coursework
In Technical Style and Editing—a course which emphasizes editing technical, business, government, and scientific reports—our semester-long project was to write a style manual for an organization of our choice. As I came to learn, a style manual is like a large version of a style sheet for an organization. It was in this class that terms such as level of edit, editing pass, and style sheet became part of my vocabulary.
In Editing for Publication, a class that provided hands-on experience in pre-production editing for a non fiction publication called Quills & Pixels, I learned that editing is all about maintaining a relationship with the author. During the first section of the class, I created an acquisition plan to strategize how I would acquire submissions as well as a peer review form that assisted the class in the selection process of academic writing. After we had selected the pieces for our publication, I began the manuscript editing and editorial correspondence process with two authors—one who was resistant and whose work ultimately had to be declined and the other one who was compliant and was able follow through with publication. At the end of the semester, I had successfully prepared a manuscript for publication as well as made a new friend with an author.
Though it’s taken some time for these editing concepts to solidify and the practices to become natural, this program has taught me that in the same way that successful writing takes place over the course of multiple drafts, so, too, does editing take place with multiple passes.
