Not a rehash of grammar, but handy, memorable tips you can immediately apply to invigorate your own copy.

1. The Right
and Wrong
Way to Edit

2. Why You Need
an Editor

3. “We all need editors. When we write, we might know
what we mean to say, and we become blind to the
looseness in our language and the gaps in our facts.”
— JEFF BARON

4. “As any editor will tell you, the difference between
good and great takes place in the rewrites.”
— BARRY RITHOLZ

5. How Not to Edit

6. “Editing is heady. You’re in a position of power …
Abuse comes naturally to someone in this position.

7. “Editing is heady. You’re in a position of power …
Abuse comes naturally to someone in this position.
Resist it; it doesn’t help. Concentrate on the text and
its problems, not the writers and their problems.”
— JOSH BERNOFF

8. Tactical vs. Strategic
Editing

9. TACTICAL
• “Copyediting”
• “Proofreading”
• Line by Line

10. TACTICAL
• “Copyediting”
• “Proofreading”
• Line by Line
STRATEGIC
• Editing
• Structure

11. “The writer in me desires what the editor in me
cannot abide. I treasure every precious construction,
every not-so-clever aside. (Like this one.) So the cuts
I make to my own drafts are marginal. I compress
rather than select; shake, never prune. Until another
editor does it for me.”
— CARLOS LOZADA

12. “Writers can’t always
take the long view or
judge adequately
whether their tone or
rhetorical devices are
working as they think
they are. I can’t count
the number of times an
editor has done me that
great service.”
—Margaret Sullivan

13. Is your text
missing necessary
background info?

14. Is your text
missing necessary
background info?
Is it unfair?

15. Is your text
missing necessary
background info?
Is it unfair?
Is it libelous?

16. Is your text
missing necessary
background info?
Is it unfair?
Is it libelous?
Have crucial questions
gone unasked?

17. Explain the
way you to
a golden
retriever

18. The CONNECT software provides a
common gateway which manages services
that package and transport data using
messaging protocols compliant with NHIN
specifications.

19. The CONNECT software provides a
common gateway which manages services
that package and transport data using
messaging protocols compliant with NHIN
specifications.
The CONNECT software is a “common
gateway,” or a sentinel that checks the
credentials of every datum that seeks to
pass through it. As long as the data are
using messaging protocols that comply
with NHIN, CONNECT gives them
permission to proceed.

20. Omit
Needless
Words

21. Included below and attached you will find
media articles that address issues that may
be pertinent to the work the analytics staff
is conducting.

22. Included below and attached you will find
media articles that address issues that may
be pertinent to the work the analytics staff
is conducting.
Please find below and attached articles
that pertain to analytics.

23. The technicians are working on the
processing of work orders.

24. The technicians are working on the
processing of work orders.
The technicians are processing the work
orders.

25. I’m curious to know if these slides were
coordinated with anyone from the MHS
for accuracy purposes.

26. I’m curious to know if these slides were
coordinated with anyone from the MHS
for accuracy purposes.
Did anyone coordinate these slides with
MHS for accuracy?

27. Favor the
Active
Voice

28. The report was written by multiple, cross-
agency stakeholder groups.

29. The report was written by multiple, cross-
agency stakeholder groups.
Multiple, cross-agency stakeholder groups
wrote the report.

30. The report was written by multiple, cross-
agency stakeholder groups.
Stakeholders across various agencies
wrote the report.
Multiple, cross-agency stakeholder groups
wrote the report.

31. It was concluded that additional briefings
were needed for feedback to be solicited.

32. It was concluded that additional briefings
were needed for feedback to be solicited.
Identifying the need for further feedback,
the co-chairs conducted additional
briefings.

33. It was concluded that additional briefings
were needed for feedback to be solicited.
Because they needed more feedback, the
co-chairs conducted more briefings.
Identifying the need for further feedback,
the co-chairs conducted additional
briefings.

34. Use
Specifics

35. When a major weather incident, terrorist threat, or
other emergency affects the American population,
emergency personnel need a way to inform residents
of what to do. Television and radio alerts help spread
the word, but they cannot reach everyone.

36. When a major weather incident, terrorist threat, or
other emergency affects the American population,
emergency personnel need a way to inform residents
of what to do. Television and radio alerts help spread
the word, but they cannot reach everyone.
When a major emergency — a tornado, a bomb
threat, the snowpocalypse that recently blanketed the
Eastern seaboard — breaks out, people panic. Should
I evacuate or shelter in place? For how long should I
take cover in the bathtub? If inside, you can flip on a
TV or radio. If outside, you can congregate and chat.

37. Fortunately, many people carry another method of
communication — a cellular phone. In the future, a
message could be broadcasted to cellular and paging
devices to notify the public of an approaching storm
or other emergency.

38. Fortunately, many people carry another method of
communication — a cellular phone. In the future, a
message could be broadcasted to cellular and paging
devices to notify the public of an approaching storm
or other emergency.
Yet what’s the one thing most of us carry regardless
of where we are — the one thing we’re most likely to
grab in an emergency? Hint: 91% of Americans own
one. That’s right — it’s your cell phone. Portable and
powerful, your cell phone is the perfect vehicle
through which emergency responders can beam
critical, urgent info to you before, during, and after a
disaster.