Editing and proofreading for University students

Solid editing and proofreading of university assignments can make a huge difference to grades received. It’s about structure and style as well as spelling and grammar used.

An editor will ensure that a paper has a clear start, middle and end. That the message sent is clear and that the main arguments have been covered. An editor will make certain a student doesn’t make contradictions and that an argument is convincing. An editor will check that there is a logical flow and that the question asked is responded to correctly. An editor will safeguard that your work isn’t too wordy, that the sentences aren’t too long and that you are writing academically or formally. While each university has varying ideas about a particular writing style the significant point to remember is that a scholar’s work can be understood without question.

Sometimes it can be unclear what is acceptable academically, and ideas about good writing style or good academic writing means being cognisant of not using:

• ·         Slang, like this fella, use instead, Mr Peters.
• ·         Jargon, which is language used by a particular group of people, like medical staff or government employees. An example would be a doctor using Rx instead of medication or Code 7 if you are a police officer. The general population doesn’t understand terms that are not generic unless they are in the field themselves.
• ·         Internet jargon, although widely understood now by many are not known or accepted by others. Things like lol and brb and so on are nonsensical unless written personally.
• ·         Do not over use abbreviations such as, ASAP.
• ·         Contractions such as is not instead of isn’t.
• ·         Avoiding personalisation like I think, I feel. This is obviously different when writing reflective pieces.
• ·         Clichés should also be avoided at all cost. They depict a lack of original thought. They stink unless written in a novel or when repeating a factual statement another person has used and the using of square brackets around a cliché is a good idea…as in The good professor mentioned last week it was raining [cats and dogs] all day.

When writing academically and therefore based on research, use language such as tends to, or suggests that rather than it is a fact that, or it is definitely not. In addition, try not to use verbose wording. A bigger word, does not make it better and there is the possibility the writer may get it wrong. Avoid the use of the second person pronoun you. Instead of saying, you will note the difference between…say instead, the difference can be noted in.

Grammar needs to be consistent in terms of tense all the way through. Pronoun reference can be fraught with danger in terms of noun usage. It is ambiguous and may mean rearticulating to ensure precision. Instead of writing, after grandma put her china in the cupboard she sold it, write, grandma sold the china after putting it in the cupboard. The person reading the first line would be unsure if grandma was selling the china or the cupboard.

A student’s job is huge. It is not just ensuring research is captured correctly and that the introduction, body and conclusion is answered fittingly; for the student, the constant thought when writing a paper needs to be that you are writing for the reader. 

As Dr Seuss said; the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.

www.kirstieanders.com

Freelance editor and proofreader

Epic fails without a proofreader/editor

It’s easy to misspell a word here or there or forget important punctuation on occasion, but sometimes those blunders can be embarrassing and even laughable which can really mess with your reputation, especially because readers are laughing at you, not with you! The benefit of having an external proofreader and/or editor is that a good grammar checker will ensure you don’t miss important gear that makes your copy readable and accurate, eliminating all possibility of humiliation.

Things like this!!!! -- need to be used sparingly as they dilute what you are inferring to. They can be taken the wrong way, bringing their own tone and sound angry or even smart arsey. This goes for over using ellipsis, which should be three dots only, not seven. Also, emoticons we use in text? -- not punctuation, :-0 okay? Good punctuation is imperative, it’s powerful. Imagine if I wrote, ‘Let’s eat nana’, instead of ‘Let’s eat, Nana?’ or ‘Wanted: one-night stand’ rather than ‘Wanted: one nightstand’. It matters to get it right or you could be in real trouble.

Sometimes missing letters or words can be catastrophic for a writer. A good spell checker won’t leave you hanging with ‘Boob’ when it was meant to be ‘Bob’, or ‘Joe Bloggs, rapist’, instead of ‘Joe Bloggs, Therapist’ or ‘White Ho reporter, Jane Bloggs’, instead of ‘White House reporter, Jane Bloggs’…see what I mean? Awkward.

The point is, we proofread our writing for grammatical errors and bad spelling, but punctuation is equally significant. It’s hard these days because many of us write blogs and those of us that do, write conversationally; the way we speak. I think that’s fine but in newsprint, newsletters, corporate documentation, websites and student uni dissertations, it needs to be formalised. Cut out the additional ellipses and use em dashes, forget the slang – dress up your language. I know we don’t say, in real life, things like, ‘please don’t hesitate to call me should you require anything further’, we say, ‘give me a call if I can help you with anything else…’ but that’s how we roll and what people expect, unless it’s a novel or piece of creative writing, then there is a colloquialism expectation and acceptance.

On occasion, grammatical errors are mistaken for spelling errors. This is when the spelling is actually correct but used inaccurately, such as ‘the plain descended rapidly’ rather than ‘plane’ or ‘breath easy’, instead of ‘breathe easy’. These are not spelling gaffes, they are grammar blunders, and they are not okay.  

There are plenty of freelance editors and proofreaders out there, it just so happens. I’m the best ;-)…whoops just broke my own rule. www.kirstieanders.com 

Editing Diversity

Having so much access to American television here in Australia means we grow up seeing words spelt the way they spell them the United States. Different to us and mostly not acceptable for Australians to use at school, Uni or in business. Even our spell checkers default at the US spelling often. It drives me nuts when my daughter who is seven says, candy instead of lollies, flashlight instead of torch, drugstore instead of chemist, sidewalk rather than footpath and states she is taking a shower instead of having one. One thing that's easy to remember is that Americans use 'z' in many words, where we use 's' and even pronounce 'Z' contrarily. Examples of 'Z' usage; antagonize versus antagonise, analysed and analysed, appetizer and appetiser and so on. Americans often also shorten words by removing a letter such as, anesthetic and anaesthetic, archeological and archaeological, mold versus mould, favor as opposed to favour and behaviour and behaviour. There are word alterations like center versus centre, color versus colour, tire and tyre, plow and plough and so on and on. So, who have we to blame or thank for all this American drama? The nineteenth century, American lexicographer, Mr Noah Webster, of the dictionary fame. He supposed making the changes away from British language would make America more superior and set them aside. It has certainly set them aside.

The Oxford comma, Harvard comma or serial comma. There are supporters for and against the use of it. It is also known as the pretentious comma and at the end of the day is optional and up to the author unless following a particular style. We in Australia don't use it as often as Americans although there are arguments that it clarifies meanings within sentences that may be confusing otherwise. What is it? It is the comma positioned directly before the coordinating conjunction such as: and, or, or nor in a sequence of three terms or more. An example using the Oxford comma is: I have a recipe, a pot, and an oven. Not using the comma would look like: I have a recipe, a pot and an oven.

€‹The exclamation mark has been called the cheap whore of punctuation. My thoughts are, there is a place for it, but professionally it does not belong. The more the merrier also should not apply and as F. Scott Fitzgerald said 'Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.' It's a useful way of conveying emotions, irony, annoyance, or friendliness when used six at a time for instance as a text, or on Facebook, email or any other electronic means. In addition, this sets up the foundation for others to respond similarly with 17!!!!! or ???????, such as, 'I just jumped out of a plane and my parachute opened!!!!!!' Really?????? Cool!!!!!!' Ridiculous.

I love the logogram ampersand (&) which epitomises 'and' but when used correctly. Not for use willy nilly or in some haphazard manner. It does not save on your word count students. An ampersand originated from Latin of course, as et which meant and. An example of good use could be in a business title like Anders & Wallace Editing or in academic references such as (Anders & Judd, 2007). It wouldn't be appropriate to use to write something like, 'They put the bricks & mortar against the wall.'

Font use looks like fun. But there's a place for countless font practice like on a circus banner or in a comic. That's right people comic sans as whimsical as it is, should be used in a comic - and nowhere else. Particular fonts work better on hardcopy (times new roman, courier or fonts with feet/serif) and others better on screen (Sans-serif, Helvetica, Century gothic, Verdana, Arial or fonts without feet/sans serif). Although pixel resolution has changed you still need to consider small devices. I think use of a particular font or fonts can really affect readability so my advice is not to 'blend it up'. That's okay when making a mixed tape but not for a letter or other document. Keep your readers. Don't use impact for a whole page, or kitch it up with pages of Bradley hand and papyrus... well pffftt. I have no idea what wingdings is for.

As an editor and proofreader, my role is to sort through the diversity and confusion of the written word to guide and advise for excellent readability and credibility. 

http://www.kirstieanders.com

Credibility and grammar

Good grammar gives people credibility. It’s critical. You lose integrity if what you put on paper is incorrect or lazy. Using improper grammar in social media, in papers, emails, or websites makes other people assume that you are stupid. Your words and use of grammar portrays who you are; they reflect you, they get you hired, they help you pass subjects at university, and as a company they help people trust you. 

Hold back on dropping commas throughout your sentences like bombs over Hiroshima. Read it aloud. Does it sound good or does it sound like a machine gun? Details. Attention to detail is ensuring high standards, and giving your devotion and attention to the details of your work. It means that your end result is polished. 

As a writer, editor and proofreader I know it’s easy to make mistakes when rushing. Even wordsmiths need to pause and mentally work stuff out. My problem words are affect versus effect. My Apostrophes, colons and commas can be thrown around like a sock in a tumble dryer so get it proofread. Check your words for plurals, it’s women for more than one, not woman. 

A key aspect to remember is readability. If the reader has to slam on the brakes at something s/he scans or needs to go back to re-read because it was confusing – you’ll lose them. When we write ourselves, we have in our heads, how it’s supposed to sound. This could lead to ghost words. Words we think are there but aren’t. A Proofreader is brilliant at picking this up. A proofreader will also remove or suggest you remove superfluous words such as ‘that’. Less is more. People don’t want to read waffle. They want to get to the point. Know your their, there and they’re’ s, your and you’re, and it’s and its. Get it stuck in your head, but if you can’t, get a proofreader. Here, I can recommend one at www.kirstieanders.com  

Ask me

Not Noah’s boat that housed millions of coupled animals, no. This is a language disaster. Try though I may I just can’t get past it. When someone says to me ‘Arks your friend if I can borrow her pen’ or ‘I'm arksking you to come over here', I could die...well almost. I will never, ever be ready for 'arks'...unless of course it’s God sending a message about it raining for 40 days and 40 nights to drown us right out.
Ark ɑːk/ noun 1. (in the Bible) the ship built by Noah to save his family and two of every kind of animal from the flood; Noah's ark. o archaic a ship or boat. plural noun: arks

People!!!! - get it right. It’s ASK. Arse-K. Always has been (well since the 1600’s), always will be. ‘Ask me a question’, or ‘Ask me what my favourite colour is’...I don't care, just don't arks me...it’s wrong, it's frigging lazy and it's a boat built cubit by cubit. My thoughts are, if it’s cultural, that’s okay. If it’s a speech impediment, that's okay...if not...don’t use it. It discredit’s you. Most of you are not gangsters, rappers or from the Caribbean. Back in Chaucer’s day he used ‘I ax’...Chaucer wrote between 1374 to 1386. The olden days. Even Shakespeare used ‘Ask’. Stop it...it’s ARRRSSSKKKK...Ask. It’s just ask.

Why is a real person best?

People! Don’t trust your spell check only. Well not to capture more than misspelled words anyway and sometimes it finds it hard to distinguish between US spelling and Australian spelling so may still get it wrong.

Don’t rely on tools for digital accuracy either; they may pick up spelling but not always grammar mistakes and if they do pick up some grammatical errors they sometimes replace them with incorrect suggestions. You just can’t beat the eye of a human proofreader. Digital will cost you in more ways than one and will get you 50% but not 100%. A real proofreader/editor will cost you too but you can often negotiate and your work will be dead right.

There are a number of online programs you c

an use such as Ginger, Whitesmoke, Text to speed, After the deadline, Microsoft word, Online correction, Grammar check, Reverso, Spellcheck plus, Paper rater, turnitin…just to name a few and then there’s me. Try them yourself. On their landing page they give you an opportunity to trial a passage. I tried with all of the above and not once did it pick up all the errors. Truthfully they often managed 80% of the spelling errors, sometimes more but missed the grammatical errors nearly 100% of the time. I looked into these programs to be a backup for my editing and proofreading work but was disappointed with the results. Certainly for spelling but then just go with Microsoft word which is free and more accurate than the other programs I trialled. If you're keen to get it right first time check out my website and contact me for a quote via my website www.kirstieanders.com

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

Proofread

Proofreading your own work is incredibly important and doable. It's about examining what you have written carefully to correct typographical faults. Prior to proofreading your document, ensure you have given yourself some space from the text especially if you have just finished writing it. Print it off and read it aloud. This can help with picking up run-on sentences and other issues you might miss reading to yourself. You can also read it backwards, the words come in a strange and unusual order and will make it easier to pick up errors. It is easier to pick up mistakes from a printout rather than on screen. You are also able to feel more intimate with the work on paper. You can use a computers spell check however, but this may not discern variances between US English and Australian English and may miss some properly spelt words in incorrect places such as their, there and they're and weather and whether or which and witch.

Proofreading is done following editing, which involves inspecting content to make certain that concepts are expressed clearly, logically forming an intelligible and meaningful whole. Proofreading is done in finer detail and is last so needs to be flawless. This is why often, it's worth looking at an independent proofreader. When you proofread work that you have written yourself, you are so familiar with it that you see what you think you have written rather than what you really wrote.

A professional proofreader examines text critically and carefully and is expected to be consistently accurate in focusing on surface errors like spelling mistakes, or errors in punctuation, syntax and grammar. A proofreader will also check your clarity of expression. A writer of any document works hard to get the right words down and after working on something for some time, can start to miss common slip-ups and often don't have the time to spend to ensure professional and high quality work. Fresh, qualified eyes on a project can make all the difference with regards to a writers reputation, making a proofreader indispensable. Proofreaders can proofread novels, academic papers, people whose second language is English, corporate or government official papers, business documents such as manuals, websites, marketing materials, personal documents such as resumes, letters and emails.

In any case, it is important to be clear and avoid embarrassment. It's important to get merit for your work not your English writing ability. Get marked for your ideas rather than your grammar. Work with someone who consistently returns timely documents that have been proofread and/or edited with precision.

Please see my website for all your proofreading work. http://kirstieanders.com

I use Microsoft Word's Track Changes. Every suggestion I make on your document will be 'tracked', and any query or comment will appear in the margin.

When I return your copy edited documents with the tracked-changes and the completed copy, it will show all changes and queries. This will give you, the author, complete control over the final version. You can go through the tracked-changes, and accept or reject any changes, reading my comments in the margin, and you can choose whether or not to take on my suggestions. It will always be your work and your say.

Editors do!

Why do we edit something? For the reader of course. The writer and editor work together to put something out there that is clear, elegant and correct. It's all about readability. We have all read something that feels uncomfortable to read; too many capitals, inconsistencies, poor grammar, confusing sentence structure or ambiguity, waffle and spelling mistakes. A poorly written piece of work can grate on nerves and in all likeliness prevent someone from finishing the rest of your work. Sometimes all it needs is a fresh pair of eyes from someone who knows what to scan for.

Editors can edit anything from essays, dissertations, books, brochures, websites, reports, resumes, letters, newsletter articles, and advertisements. An editor is able to improve effectiveness in terms of reading the target audience to convey information. Skills needed by an editor is reading skills, social skills to be tactful and patient, concentration, initiative and good attention to detail.

Copy editing occurs to remove mistakes, inconsistencies, or meagre styles of expression that could irritate or mislead readers and humiliate the author. During copy editing, the editor will check out all the aspects of that paper that makes for good reading and remove mistakes. Substantive editing focuses on the content, structure, language and style of a document. Some restructuring and rewording might also be done in the interests of accessibility, clarity, a cohesive style and tone, and a tighter reader focus.

As the writer, there are a few things to keep in mind. It is incredibly hard to get a draft right the first time around. You overlook errors because you are so familiar with the work. Don't make excuses or apologise, see it as a work in progress, not a final piece. Don't expect an editor or a proofreader to re-write your work. They can make suggestions, research or fact check and recommend alterations but they won't write your paper. You need to know what you might need. If you are writing a novel and you think your characters aren't interesting enough or possibly too one dimensional, a developmental editor can assist you to create depth and make them come to life, make your story line punchier and help with writers block. An editor can certainly make your paper, book, brochure more appealing and readable but they can't guarantee you an A+, High distinction or sell your book any more successfully. A professional editor and or proofreader can make your work the best it can be all the same.

Make your work the best it can possibly be with a professional editor and proofreader;http://kirstieanders16.wix.com/editingproofreading#