Peer edits?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

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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