Before you start Editing the Editors Editing the Editors Remember - - PDF document

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Editing the Editors Editing the Editors

Mary Pfotenhauer Aaron McKean State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau

Before you start

• Remember the common goal
• What is the draft for?
• Who is the audience?
• What is my role?
• Who has the last word?
• Remember the outside forces

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi

As you read

Differentiate among the following:

• Something is wrong
• Writing is unclear and must

be fixed

• Understandability could be

improved

• Personal taste and style

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C-MAN suggestions

• Global changes
• Discrepancies
• Omissions
• Possible errors
• Repetition
• Ask for verification
• Ask for clarification
• Provide sources for corrections

CMOS 2.66

Com m unicating w ith drafters

• Put yourself in the writer’s shoes
• Put it in writing, except when you

shouldn’t

• Explain sparingly, at first
• Ask permission instead of forgiveness
• Invite communication
• Teach a lasting lesson

Com m unicating w ith drafters

“Comments should be concise, and they should avoid sounding casual, pedantic, condescending, or indignant.”

• The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.

Com m unicating w ith drafters

• Okay?
• Ask “yes” or “no” questions.
• Do you mean [this] or [that]?
• This is how I read this. Is this what you

intended?

• “I have seen other provisions like this that

include [X]. Should this include [X]?”

• “Did you consider [Y]? “You may want to

consider [Z]”

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Com m unicating w ith drafters

• “It seems...”
• Why?
• Avoid an interrogation
• Blame the reader

“Assumptions are the termites of relationships.”

• Henry Winkler

Last resorts

• Blame the reader, again
• Employ creative tactics
• Put it in writing
• Pick your battles – and make sure you

know why you are fighting them

• Think positive
• Be confident in doing your job

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” - Vince Lombardi

References

Gross, Gerald, ed. Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know About What Editors Do. 3rd ed. New York: Grove Press, 1993. Saller, Carol Fisher. The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. University of Chicago Press. The Chicago Manual of Style. 16th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.