Editing is a skill that many of us – more so than in the past – require in our working lives. Editing involves ensuring documents are polished and ready to face the world. Whether it is a book, newspaper article, email or web content, the process of editing involves reworking a draft, ensuring accuracy in terms of writing guidelines, and adjusting a piece to suit the particular audience and publication it is intended for. Nowadays, there are so many ways we can improve our editing skills. Perhaps the most efficient and effective is that of editor software.
Editing to Impress
In order to develop superior writing and editing skills, a number of principles can assist. These include:
- Describe at the start what the entire piece is about. Don’t use complex language or long-winded sentences. You might think this will impress the reader, but it can actually discredit you. Jargon or a specialized language should be avoided if it is not applicable to the intended audience. Ensure that you clearly state what is fact and what is fiction.
- Revise and evaluate. Try to make sure that you revise and edit a piece after you’ve left it for a while. This will prevent your skimming over any errors in the text due to familiarity. Try to read it for the "bigger picture". You need to evaluate its effectiveness in conveying the intended message (Beagrie, 2004).
Thorough editing can be achieved, according to Sampson (2008), by having another person look at your writing. Another person will be able to provide an overall commentary on the piece rather than looking at just the details.
As for the detailed work, writers sometimes become so close and attached to the piece that they might not pick up even glaring mistakes. In this respect, editor software can perform a similar role to a human proofreader by
checking your document automatically and objectively for common writing errors.
When editing, another great tip is to read the piece as if you were giving a presentation (Sampson. 2008). This will ensure you are really reading the piece rather than skimming over it. It will not only assist in uncovering spelling and punctuation errors, but also demonstrates areas of weak content or parts where sentences don’t flow. Another tip when editing a piece is to actually read the text backwards. This helps you focus on the details.
There is nothing more important when writing than the initial planning stage. The piece should be written with one goal in mind – what it is you want to say. Prepare a rough outline of the subjects to be covered and the sections to be presented. If you follow this outline during the writing process, you are less likely to stray off-course and produce a confusing document.
Editor Software: A Writer’s Best friend
Editing is a skill that takes time to acquire. Fortunately, the right tools can help you to edit your documents more quickly than ever, without losing quality. For example, StyleWriter is an advanced yet user-friendly piece of editor software that helps you edit your document in a clear, consistent style. StyleWriter offers a credible and popular alternative to the human editing tutor and helps you to reduce text by up to one third – providing a clear and concise document.
References
Beagrie, S. (2004) ‘How to … produce powerful business writing’, Personnel Today, 21.
Sampson, B. (2008) ‘Five Tips for Catching (and Correcting) Errors in Your Business Writing’, Cost Engineering, 50 (2): 22-24.