Editng

[Marilynne Smith <mrsmith -at- CTS -dot- COM>]

At 02:15 PM 10/3/97 -0500, Tracy Boyington wrote:
>> What do you mean when you use the word "copyedit"?
>
>Our copyeditors check for grammar, spelling, style, and formatting
>errors.
>
>> Substantive Edit
>
>In my organization, the project manager does a substantive edit. This is
>not checking for technical accuracy or spelling/grammar errors (although
>they may be caught at this time), but more of a "is this going in the
>right direction" edit... does it cover everything it needs to cover, is
>it instructionally sound (which probably won't apply to your situation),
>and other things specific to our products.
>
>> Proofread
>
>Our proofreaders check the copyedited copy against the final formatted
>copy and make sure all marked corrections have been made.
>
>Tracy
>--
>==============================================
>Tracy Boyington   tracy_boyington -at- okvotech -dot- org
>Oklahoma Department of Vocational and Technical Education
>Stillwater, OK, USA
>http://www.okvotech.org/cimc/home.htm
>==============================================

Copyediting is fine once the copy is readable.  When I edit something I
also check:

    Did the writer stick to the outline?  Are things in logical order?
    Does the document present the topic using the correct point of view?
Will the reader feel like the material is written for them?
    Does this document make sense?  (Often it's been rewritten so many
times it no longer makes sense.)
    I check all the things said for substantive edit.
    References, are they correct and suitable?
    I try to check everything - to make sure we have all the ducks in a row.
    I ask myself, is this ready for publication?  Have we done a good job.
    If there is no copyeditor, I do a copy edit on the final version.

Marilynne

---------------------------------------------------------------
Marilynne Smith
Writing, Editing, and Online Documentation
---------------------------------------------------------------

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