Editing Projects

Editor's Statement

Technical Editing:

Technical editing is a collaborative effort between writer, editor, and publisher to create an accessible, accurate, clear, coherent, and consistent project that meets the needs of its audience. To me, technical editing means understanding the needs of the readers and the goals of the writers and publishers and then translating those needs and goals into effective communication. This effective communication involves meeting reader's expectations by ensuring the final product follows grammatical rules and aligns with its respective house/editorial style.

Principles and Goals:

The principles that guide my work include

maintaining a compassionate and respectful collaboration with the writer, publisher, and other editors
critically considering every edit and query to ensure it serves the needs of the readers
Treating every edit and query as part of a conversation with the writer
adapting to the needs of my clients
creating inclusive and accessible projects
striving for quality while maintaining efficiency

As an editor, I aim to honor and support the writer's work by being conscientious, considerate, creative, inquisitive, adaptive, and attentive to the needs of the audience.

My principles and goals are informed by

my personal experience of engaging with text I found confusing
my professional experience interning as a grant writer at CU Denver where I collaborated with other interns, my supervisors, and writers to copyedit grant applications for clarity, consistency, accessibility, and alignment with funder's requirements
my academic experience of engaging in a copyedit of a technical memorandum; a deeper, technical edit of a academic research article; and a substantive edit of a family handbook for a child development center.

Each experience has informed my approach to editing--to be open, curious, adaptive, creative, and considerate.

Growth:

I aim to continue growing as an editor by continuing to explore the role of an editor, engage with different projects and resources, communicate and collaborate with other editors, and learn how to make a project as inclusive and accessible to the audience as possible.

Approach:

I approach editing as both reader and writer. I read the writer's work and consider how well I understand it (which includes the information architecture, grammar, syntax, and diction). I consider what edits are necessary to support the intended readers' understanding of the piece by considering aspects of the writing like consistency, clarity, and alignment with style guides. I also consider inclusive language and accessibility for screen readers and people with disabilities that affect reading and comprehension. At the same time, I aim to retain the author's unique voice.

I begin editing usually with line edits, focusing on grammar, punctuation, inclusive language, consistency, clarity, and alignment with style guides before digging deeper into the structure of the document, accessibility, logic, and meaning.

I enjoy collaboration and project management. With both, I aim to be open and curious. I think these goals foster communication and creativity to create a project that meets everyone's needs and goals as closely as possible. I set smaller goals and earlier deadlines ahead of firm deadlines. These goals and deadlines allow me to revisit my earlier edits and queries, which continue to develop as I read and become more familiar with the document. I actively communicate with colleagues, and I treat my editing work as though I am communicating with the writer in person. I understand editing as a conversation between writer and editor.

Goals:

I would like to work on projects within environmental conservation, psychology, and other scientific fields. I enjoy copyediting and substantive editing.

Child Development Center Handbook

Summary: With a classmate, I engaged in a comprehensive edit of a Family Handbook for a college's Child Development Center at the request of the college. We also created a style sheet, recording decisions we made.

Roles: Technical Editor

Skills:

Comprehensive editing (copyediting, legal editing, and analysis-based editing for usability, inclusiveness, accessibility, organization, completeness, logic, and accuracy)
Collaborating
Communicating with client
Researching
Recognizing that there are multiple options and points of view that are valid and valuable
Brainstorming organization of sentences, paragraphs, and sections
Ensuring clear, functional communication with writer (through query) and reader (through editing)
Evaluating a issue based on multiple perspectives, while accounting for personal biases
Evaluating alternatives using a set of criteria
Selecting and implementing effective solutions
Considering audience and stakeholder interests, rhetorical writing strategies, and information design
Seeking out, responding to, and integrating feedback on editing work

Project narrative: My classmate and I began our project by reviewing the handbook and meeting with the clients to identify their goals for the handbook and describe the scope of our editing work. We then began to create a style sheet to ensure our edits aligned with our client's style guides. My classmate and I collaborated asynchronously on the document, through weekly Zoom meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and through text messages.

I approached this document as if I were a family reading the handbook for the first time, and I focused on the intended readers' needs, inclusive language, and readability (including grammar, spelling, logic, consistency, and clarity). As a former employee at the Child Development Center and a parent, my classmate shared her expertise to help us identify usability, logic, and accessibility issues. Additionally, I researched information presented in the handbook and about child development centers to familiarize myself with the content.

Once we finished our edits, we created a copy of our edits and cleaned them up (removing back-and-forth communication and editing queries to reflect our final decisions). Next, we addressed information architecture and began reorganizing the document by information most crucial to families everyday interactions with the center and to build a relationship with the families.

We then created a final copy of the handbook to demonstrate to our clients what the document could look like if they chose to accept our inline edits and many of our queries. The final copy includes a title page, table of contents, new appendices, and footnotes to references.

Academic Article for a Journal

Summary: I engaged in a technical edit of an academic research article that the author is preparing to submit to a peer reviewed academic journal. I also created a style sheet, recording any decisions I made.

Roles: Technical Editor

Skills:

Technical editing (copyediting and analysis-based editing for unbiased language, organization, consistency, completeness, logic, and accuracy)
Collaborating
Researching
Recognizing there are multiple options and points of view that are valid and valuable
Ensuring clear, functional communication with writer (through query) and reader (through editing)
Evaluating alternatives using a set of criteria
Selecting and implementing effective solutions
Considering audience and stakeholder interests, rhetorical writing strategies, and information design
Seeking out, responding to, and integrating feedback on editing work

Project narrative: I began this project by focusing on line edits (specifically for grammar, spelling, and alignment with style guide and journal's submission criteria). I then queried for parallel structure, concision, unbiased language, missing information, logic, clarity, and structure. I finished by cross-referencing the in-text citations with the references and adding missing information in the references. When I came across information that was newer to me or that I didn't understand and wasn't sure if I should edit or query, I researched the information to deepen my understanding of the topic. I also met with my professor and another classmate to discuss questions that developed as I edited the article.

Technical Memorandum

Summary: I copyedited a technical memorandum for internal use and created a style sheet, recording any decisions I made.

Roles: Copyeditor

Skills:

Copyediting (mechanics, grammar, usage, and consistency) with some analysis-based editing for logic, organization, meaning, clarity, and accuracy.
Collaborating
Recognizing there are multiple options and points of view that are valid and valuable
Ensuring clear, functional communication with writer (through query) and reader (through editing)
Evaluating alternatives using a set of criteria
Selecting and implementing effective solutions
Seeking out, responding to, and integrating feedback on editing work

Project narrative: I began this project by focusing on line edits, specifically grammar, diction, meaning, clarity, passive voice, and consistency. I also started to add queries regarding logic, organization, redundancy, consistency, accuracy, meaning, and clarity with my initial round of edits but especially with the consecutive rounds of edits. With edits and queries that I had questions about, I met with my professor to discuss potential options for proceeding with the edits and queries. Additionally, I used an asynchronous discussion board to collaborate with classmates with questions and regarding different potential edits that we could suggest.

Copyediting and Feedback

Summary: With a colleague, I copyedited and provided feedback on a grant proposal to research the impact of making music in community on humans' well-being. This grant proposal was for an international (Templeton World Charity Foundation) grant.

Roles: Copyeditor

Skills:

International grant proposal writing
Copyediting
Client communication
Collaboration
Written communication - clarity and cohesion

Project narrative: The client requested that the grant writing intern team at the University of Colorado Denver copyedit and review their proposal to ensure it aligned with the request for proposal.

A colleague and I reviewed the grant application and request for proposal. We copyedited the grant application to ensure it was cohesive, clear, and grammatically accurate. We provided these copy edits through Google suggestions and comments. Additionally, we provided inline feedback through Google comments to draw attention to parts of the grant and suggest how it could potentially align more closely with the grant criteria. My colleague and I collaborated asynchronously to provide feedback on each other's feedback.