Tautologies and Feedback

When writing a paper, using a trillion purposeless words are a waste of time. They’re unnecessarily filling. It’s like pouring custard on a custard tart. Why would you do it? It is an obvious striving to reach that word count that looms ahead of you and you have run out of references or things to say. Thing is, your lecturer knows this.  You’re probably better off being under the word count than adding verbose jargon.  Reading papers like this as an editor and proofreader is like listening to a wordy little tune by Paul Simon about a bat faced girl.  No-one really enjoys that. My red pen comes out and slashes at these words with teeth bared and great resolve and gladness.  Superfluous words like tautologies of; in  addition or worse - in addition to that, furthermore, also, still, moreover, henceforth (personal disgust), hereafter, nonetheless, nevertheless. Then there is the over use of ‘the’ and ‘so’.  You don’t need to use ‘the’ all the time. ‘The best practice’ for example is okay, in fact superior being called ‘best practice’.  I can often see thesaurus suggestions jump out at me in paragraphs that have required paraphrasing. Phrases like ‘a large proportion’ instead of the word, ‘many’. ‘By virtue of the fact that’, actually just ‘because’ would do. What about ‘sum total’ isn’t that the same thing? Or ‘unexpected surprise?’  However, (there just did it myself, but sometimes it is necessary, you can’t always just leap into a room without knocking first) reading page after page where an author has consistently and persistently used the same phrase at every paragraph without pause, like ‘in addition’ rather than mixing it up just a bit really does my head in. 

It’s funny, or maybe not that funny, that authors have asked me after proofreading and/or editing many works, what I thought of the paper as a whole. I do understand this but find it immaterial too. My role is to correct it, make it better, they want the feedback. I feel that it’s a bit like when a defendant asks his/her lawyer, ‘do you think I'm innocent?’ and the lawyer says, ‘it’s not what I think, it’s what I can prove’. It doesn't matter what I think, it’s what I can do to make it the best it can be. But I understand that feedback is important and I'm the one reading their work so it makes sense. What I have noticed is that when I give feedback, the client develops more of a trust with me and I feel more supportive. It alters our relationship just that little bit and in a positive way because I have gone from just some entity making red and blue marks on their papers to someone who has some feeling and opinion about what they have written. I think they deserve feedback and make a point now to give some encouraging comments as well as suggestions of what they might need to change to make it great. Proofreader and editor? http://kirstieanders16.wix.com/editingproofreading