Have you ever stopped and thought about how writers come up with the ideas that they write about? Did they see something in real life that made them write that? What strategies did they use? All of these questions can be explained in chapter seven. This chapter recognizes all the techniques that writers use when coming up with ideas. It discusses how they explore, plan and draft documents, presentations, and visuals. Figure 7.1 on page 229 shows a great example of what questions you need to ask yourself when planning a document. After you have chosen a path to take in planning, you need to then starting asking yourself certain questions. The text then refers at this time to start brainstorming and thinking about the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where, why, and how). Along with these practices, others are referenced as well. Cause and effect analysis and synectics are amongst other procedures you need to think of while planning. Synectics is bringing together diverse people and ideas. Why do projects fail? One of the biggest reasons that projects fail are because of insufficient project planning. In order not to have insufficient project planning, companies turn to different management tools. These tools are a lot more when done with team collaboration so different ideas are brought together. One of the most difficult things when planning a project is making that the project will be logical. To make sure that the project, one must think about the questions that will come with the project. There are many questions or problems that shall arise when presenting your project. The text refers to some of these problems that need to be recognized as; using data from authorities, presenting facts without drawing inferences, drawing inferences, and establishing causal relationships. When speaking to an audience, you need to establish a relationship and make sure they do not become misled. Your audience can be misled by several kinds of poorly drawn causal relationships, including a condition not being sufficient cause, variables not being correlated. Density is one thing one must learn to keep while communicating. When communicating, make sure that you never pack all of your ideas to tightly. It may have an appropriate structure and focus on one topic, but the connections may be too obscured if packed to tightly together. Use headings and subheadings to identify key sections and illustrate objects and concepts to aid understanding to avoid density.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Chapter 8: Revising & Editing
REVISING & EDITING
The revising and editing process is critical to the success of any document. The fundamental purposes are to increase the accessibility, comprehensibility, and usability of any document, presentation or visual. Revising and editing are similar tasks and to avoid any confusion I will attempt to help clarify the main difference. Revising is described as the process of changing overall elements of a document while editing focuses more on the specifics and administrative details. There are 2 types of revision: global revision refers to reorganizing the overall document while local revision refers to individual paragraphs and sentences. In order to ensure an accurate and successful revising and editing process, one must pay close attention to detail and remain consistent on all technical elements. Also, for the most optimal revisions, it is suggested to write a draft, set it aside for awhile, and then go back and thoroughly revise and edit it. Figure 8.1 on p. 263 lists and describes the types of revising and editing. I will briefly describe each:
* Revising: focuses on global aspects of document (content, organization, design)
* Substantive editing: also focuses on global aspects
* Design review: focuses on the overall layout of the design of the document
* Copyediting: focuses on global and local aspects such as format and consistency
* Proofreading: eliminating typographical errors such as grammatical errors
* Administrative editing: focuses on aspects of compliance with the organization’s policies
There are 6 steps an individual must take into consideration regarding the revision process.
1. Get feedback--> ask yourself if you understand the feedback and if not, ask the reviewer to further explain
2. Assess feedback--> ask yourself if you agree with the proposed revisions
3. Make attribution--> ask yourself if the problem resides within the actual text or the reviewer
4. Test text--> locating the specific problematic place in the text
5. Set Goal--> deciding whether you want to fix the problem or leave as is
6. Select Strategy--> Define specific measures to alleviate the problem
**Finally, those 6 steps carry you through the basic revision process.
LEVELS OF EDIT
When editing a document it is important to keep in mind both convention and consistency. Conventions are described as things a particular group views as acceptable while consistency refers to ensuring a document stays within the convention guidelines. Successful editing can improve a document’s technical accuracy as well as present the given information in the most desirable way. Editing involves 4 functions and 9 sub-functions:
1. Content accuracy--> ensuring the content and information of a document is factual and appropriate
2. Design review--> includes both macro and micro levels of organization and overall design appeal of a document
3. Proofreading--> involves a vast amount of responsibilities and requires a thorough understanding of language appropriateness and grammatical knowledge
**In this stage, specific software may be utilized to help alleviate the overwhelming job of editing however; there are some limitations to these tools which include: software cannot identify inconsistent writing styles, confusing sentence structure, or inaccurate material, etc.
4. Administrative responsibilities--> requires knowledge of corporate policies and an understanding of the processes of production and publication
The 9 sub-functions include: substantive edit, format edit, integrity edit, mechanical style, screening edit, language edit, policy edit, clarification edit, and coordination edit. These levels of editing are very specific and can be performed by several people within an organization.
Important things to remember:
*Use concrete details: Concrete words are generally easier to understand and are more reader friendly than abstract words
*Use direct language: Use plain and simple language. Indirect language can be confusing and thus ineffective for the reader
*Use positive phrasing: Readers and listeners typically respond better to positively phrased words rather than negatively phrased words.
*Eliminate wordiness: Be sure and try to avoid redundancy
*Revise Noun Strings: Try and use additional words to help clarify the intended message. Although it will add words, it will eliminate any ambiguity.
Final thought: The proofreading stage is the final check for any inconsistencies or errors that encompass 5 broad areas: mechanical conventions, grammatical conventions, design conventions, disciplinary conventions, and typographical conventions. On p. 285, figure 8.9 there is a table with numerous proofreading symbols, their meaning, and an example of each.
The revising and editing process is critical to the success of any document. The fundamental purposes are to increase the accessibility, comprehensibility, and usability of any document, presentation or visual. Revising and editing are similar tasks and to avoid any confusion I will attempt to help clarify the main difference. Revising is described as the process of changing overall elements of a document while editing focuses more on the specifics and administrative details. There are 2 types of revision: global revision refers to reorganizing the overall document while local revision refers to individual paragraphs and sentences. In order to ensure an accurate and successful revising and editing process, one must pay close attention to detail and remain consistent on all technical elements. Also, for the most optimal revisions, it is suggested to write a draft, set it aside for awhile, and then go back and thoroughly revise and edit it. Figure 8.1 on p. 263 lists and describes the types of revising and editing. I will briefly describe each:
* Revising: focuses on global aspects of document (content, organization, design)
* Substantive editing: also focuses on global aspects
* Design review: focuses on the overall layout of the design of the document
* Copyediting: focuses on global and local aspects such as format and consistency
* Proofreading: eliminating typographical errors such as grammatical errors
* Administrative editing: focuses on aspects of compliance with the organization’s policies
There are 6 steps an individual must take into consideration regarding the revision process.
1. Get feedback--> ask yourself if you understand the feedback and if not, ask the reviewer to further explain
2. Assess feedback--> ask yourself if you agree with the proposed revisions
3. Make attribution--> ask yourself if the problem resides within the actual text or the reviewer
4. Test text--> locating the specific problematic place in the text
5. Set Goal--> deciding whether you want to fix the problem or leave as is
6. Select Strategy--> Define specific measures to alleviate the problem
**Finally, those 6 steps carry you through the basic revision process.
LEVELS OF EDIT
When editing a document it is important to keep in mind both convention and consistency. Conventions are described as things a particular group views as acceptable while consistency refers to ensuring a document stays within the convention guidelines. Successful editing can improve a document’s technical accuracy as well as present the given information in the most desirable way. Editing involves 4 functions and 9 sub-functions:
1. Content accuracy--> ensuring the content and information of a document is factual and appropriate
2. Design review--> includes both macro and micro levels of organization and overall design appeal of a document
3. Proofreading--> involves a vast amount of responsibilities and requires a thorough understanding of language appropriateness and grammatical knowledge
**In this stage, specific software may be utilized to help alleviate the overwhelming job of editing however; there are some limitations to these tools which include: software cannot identify inconsistent writing styles, confusing sentence structure, or inaccurate material, etc.
4. Administrative responsibilities--> requires knowledge of corporate policies and an understanding of the processes of production and publication
The 9 sub-functions include: substantive edit, format edit, integrity edit, mechanical style, screening edit, language edit, policy edit, clarification edit, and coordination edit. These levels of editing are very specific and can be performed by several people within an organization.
Important things to remember:
*Use concrete details: Concrete words are generally easier to understand and are more reader friendly than abstract words
*Use direct language: Use plain and simple language. Indirect language can be confusing and thus ineffective for the reader
*Use positive phrasing: Readers and listeners typically respond better to positively phrased words rather than negatively phrased words.
*Eliminate wordiness: Be sure and try to avoid redundancy
*Revise Noun Strings: Try and use additional words to help clarify the intended message. Although it will add words, it will eliminate any ambiguity.
Final thought: The proofreading stage is the final check for any inconsistencies or errors that encompass 5 broad areas: mechanical conventions, grammatical conventions, design conventions, disciplinary conventions, and typographical conventions. On p. 285, figure 8.9 there is a table with numerous proofreading symbols, their meaning, and an example of each.
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