Speed editing v23 2-april
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Linda Oestreich gave a presentation on speed editing titled "Delivering your best with the least". She outlined several key steps to take when doing a speed edit: 1) Be prepared with the necessary style guides, checklists, and tools; 2) Know your own abilities and limitations as well as how to use your editing tools; 3) Quickly skim the document to understand its length, complexity, organization, purpose, and intended audience; 4) Prioritize which areas of the document to focus on first based on its needs; 5) Edit the document while following your priorities and quality control checks; 6) Know when to stop editing in order to deliver a high quality final product on time.
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Speed editing v23 2-april
- 1. SPEED EDITING Delivering your best with the least Linda Oestreich STC Fellow STC Summit, 5 May 2019 1
- 2. Although retired from full-time work, Linda still teaches editing classes for UCSD Extension and does occasional writing and editing through individual contracts. She is an STC Fellow and a past President of the Society. A graduate of UCSD, she spent the majority of her career as a project manager, people manager, or senior writer /editor for the Department of Defense and various software, oil and gas, and consulting firms. She also worked in Human Resources and Training and Development. She currently volunteers for the San Diego Library READ program, tutoring adults to read. lloriter@cox.net https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindaoestreic h/ LINDA OESTREICH
- 3. INTRO EXERCISE Aviation Security Take 1 minute to review document Put doc aside and write steps you would take to do edit 3
- 4. OVERVIEW Be Prepared — Are you race-ready? Know Yourself and Your tools — Run trials before you race Skim the Job — Review the track Set Priorities and Tasks — Know what, when, and how to win Edit — Run the race Embrace Quality Control — Be bold, but be safe Know When to Stop — Finish a winner 4
- 5. BE PREPARED — ARE YOU RACE READY? Checklists Style guides Style sheets Customized tools Levels of edit 5
- 6. KNOW YOURSELF AND YOUR TOOLS — RUN TRIALS BEFORE YOU RACE Foibles and gotchas Keyboard shortcuts Proven process routines 6
- 7. SKIM THE JOB — REVIEW THE TRACK Review length and complexity Note organization cues Get feel for level of technical accuracy and readability Understand audience and purpose Online or on paper? 7
- 8. SET PRIORITIES AND TASKS — KNOW WHAT, WHEN, AND HOW TO WIN Know levels of edit — how little can you do to make it acceptable? Note legal issues Based on previous step, determine what’s needed for audience/purpose Set process of what’s most important to do first, second, third, etc. Organization Legal issues Paragraph/headings Sentence structure Word level fixes OR edit for Organization Substance Readability Grammar/punctuation/usage Final proof 8
- 9. EDIT — RUN THE RACE Use software to help—but only if you know it and trust it Keep to your list of priorities Review your tasks with your checklists Embrace quality control 9
- 10. EMBRACE QUALITY CONTROL —BE BOLD, BUT BE SAFE Follow appropriate style guide Pay attention to details Ensure technical accuracy Be consistent Watch preferred terminology 10
- 11. EDIT EXERCISE Edit Aviation Security document 1 minute to revise plan (if needed) 5 minutes to edit Discuss 11
- 12. KNOW WHEN TO STOP — FINISH A WINNER 12
- 13. DISCUSSION/QUESTIONS 13 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
- 14. REFERENCES Six Tips to Speed Up How You Edit Medical Documents, https://intelligentediting.com/blog/six-tips-to-speed-up-how-you-edit-medical- documents/ Write Better Legal Documents with an Editing Checklist, https://lawyerist.com/write- better-legal-documents-editing-checklist/ Using Checklists to Increase Consistency and Productivity in Communications Tasks, K. Shrank, https://www.single-sourcing.com/events/checklists-increase-productivity/ The Levels of Edit, January 1980, R. Van Buren & M.F. Buehler, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California The Ultimate Online Editing and Proofreading Checklist, P. Vaughan, https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ultimate-editing-checklist 14
Editor's Notes
- Intro topic—remind folks of Triple Constraint: Quality, Time, Cost: pick two.
- Look at doc. Do not edit now! Just make list of things you would do if you only had 5 minutes to edit it.
- Review of what’s coming…keep to the race theme!
- Things you can do BEFORE the document arrives—always be ready because you know the time will come when you’ll need to speed! Review each of these things and have them handy. Checklists: Your personal one? The company one? For online docs For hardcopy docs For long docs with lots of time For short docs with no time For comprehensive edits For copy edits For Speed Edits! Style guides—company? Industry? Style sheets?—not usually needed for speed editing! Customized tools—prep software before you need it! Save preferences that match the work you do; understand the software so you can get the most from it! Levels of edit Yours? Your company’s? Classic from JPL? Technical accuracy first? Copy edit rules? Legal requirements?
- What are your personal “gotchas”? Be aware of them—be sure they are on your checklists Do you know keyboard shortcuts to save time? Research them; add them to your pit crew! What has worked in the past? Do you edit for major issues first? Do you do it all in one pass? Two? Three? When the heat is on—we often panic. But, if we have a plan for speed editing before we need it, we’ll succeed! And, if you truly are a professional, you’ll test yourself and your tools before you get asked to race!
- So, the job comes in. What now? Skim first! Does it seem well done and will only need minor edits? Is it a mess and will take a Herculean effort to make it barely acceptable? More than likely, it will be something in the middle. Based on your earlier decisions—focus on most important issues first…the less important items may never get done. Be prepared to accept that. Know what your audience will accept. Know that they often do not see what we see!
- This slide is follow-on to the previous one…as you get into the project, you’ll make decisions on the fly as to how you can finish with a product that won’t get you sued—and will (we hope) meet its requirements
- As you edit, remember these things: Software is a tool. As with any tool, you need to use the right one at the right time and know how to use it. It needs to be ready to work. Don’t depend on something that could prove problematic. (for example: No global fixes unless you’re ABSOLUTELY certain of them!) Keep to your checklists for speed edits Do as much as you can to ensure adequate (not perfect) QUALITY!
- Quality control means doing the things noted here… Again, all dependent on time available…
- So, let’s try to apply what we’ve learned… Go back to the document you first looked at. Now, do quick revision of your earlier list/plan. Then do hardcopy edit—noting what queries you MUST ask author if you have technical issues. In most cases, legal issues, content, and knowledge conveyed are most important—style & format follow.
- And, then, you have to run to the meeting…or send the doc back to marketing…or email it back to your boss. You MUST finish and be as satisfied as you can be. Remember: following every grammar/punctuation rule might not be most important thing. Does article do what it’s meant to do? Can the reader get the information he or she needs? Can you put your pen down, stop the car, walk away knowing you did the best you could with the time and resources available? IF so, then you WON!