Lecture 10
Editing Strategies
for Draft Documents
This lecture is partly based on Chapter 3 in “Effective
Communication for the Technical Professions”, by
Jennifer MacLennan, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press
and
“Making Sense” by Margot Northey and Judi Jewinski,
3rd ed., Oxford University Press
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 1
Today’s topics:
• The elements of editing a draft of a technical
document
• The Seven Cs of professional writing
–
Completeness, Conciseness, Clarity, Coherence,
Correctness, Courtesy, Credibility
• Some common devices of cohesiveness.
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 2
Editing means reconsidering your
message with an eye to its …
•
•
•
•
overall purpose,
suitability to the writing situation,
accommodation of reader needs,
presentation of the writer as credible and
authoritative.
Editing is not just fixing grammar, punctuation
and spelling!
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 3
Polishing Your Writing Style
• Let the draft sit for a while.
• Run the spell-checker and grammar-checker (basic
grammar).
• Read your words out loud.
• Apply the ‘levels of edit’ (next slide)
• Seek help from others.
• Ask style questions.
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 4
The Levels of Edit
•
•
•
•
Step One:
Step Two:
Read for Context
Read for Reader Accommodation
and Relationship
Step Three: Read for Writer’s Credibility
Step Four: Read for Message Quality and
Effectiveness
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 5
Step One: Read for Context
•
•
•
•
•
•
purpose of the document;
number of readers;
political climate and constraints;
time limitations;
economic limitations; and
use to which it will be put.
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 6
Step Two: Read for Reader
Accommodation and Relationship
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Expectations; probable attitude;
receptiveness; interests; needs;
knowledge base; level of understanding;
existing stance on issue;
respect, conciliation (the action of bringing peace
and harmony );
relational history; status needs; and
face issues.
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 7
Step Three: Read for Writer’s Credibility
•
•
•
•
•
•
basis of authority;
organizational or experiential status;
tone; accuracy; logic; style
command of material;
language and usage;
clarity of argument
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 8
Step Four: Read for Message Quality
and Effectiveness
Examine at the level of
• words
• sentences (compound, complex, ...)
• paragraphs
• sections
• whole document
• visuals
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 9
At the word level, check for
•
•
•
•
•
•
spelling, word choice, correct usage,
accuracy, consistency,
political correctness (gender, minority issues)
tone (“As you should be aware, ...”)
technical language (“techno-speak”)
jargon, acronyms (TLAs)
English/Canadian/American spelling
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 10
At the sentence level, check for
•
•
•
•
grammatical correctness
sentence structure
syntactical variety and complexity, coherence,
forcefulness, emphasis, awkwardness,
wordiness, overwriting
style, audibility, and tone
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 11
At the paragraph level, check for
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
topic focus, link to overall purpose,
development of theme,
sentence-to-paragraph coherence,
paragraph-to-paragraph coherence,
paragraph-to-document coherence,
full development of appropriate detail,
ordering of paragraph relative to other
paragraphs in the section, and
tone
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 12
At the section level, check for
• section-to section coherence
• section-to-document coherence
• placement of section within document
• logical structure of section
• parallelism, completeness
• topic focus
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 13
At the document level, check for
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
coherence of overall document
structure, parts complete and in order
conformity to standards of formatting
fulfilment of purpose
appropriateness of title
correctness of references
credit given (to others in a group)
overall impact
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 14
With respect to visuals, check for
•
•
•
•
•
clarity, simplicity, correctness
ease of understanding
placement and positioning
contribution to understanding
easy reproducibility by available technology
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 15
The Seven Cs of Professional
Writing - J. MacLennan*
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Completeness
Conciseness
Clarity
Coherence
Correctness
Courtesy
Credibility
* “Effective Communication for the Technical
Professions”, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 16
Completeness
• Who? What? Where? When? Why?
• How? How many or how much?
Essentially means covering all the bases
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 17
Conciseness and Clarity
(Chapter 13 in “Making Sense”, Northey and Jewinsky)
•
•
•
Make your point and no more
Eliminate unnecessary repetition & redundancy
– “in close proximity”, “future plans”, “each individual
participant”, …
Where possible, replace phrases and clauses with a single
word
– “at the same time as …”
“while …”
– “at this point in time …”
“now …”
– “in the eventuality that …” “if …”
– “in the near future …”
“soon …”
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 18
Conciseness and Clarity
(Chapter 13 in “Making Sense”, Northey and Jewinsky)
•
•
Eliminate unnecessary passive voice
– “Transformers are designed by engineers...”
– “Engineers design transformers...”
However, passive voice is often used in scientific
writing:
– (active) “I turned on the power and observed a
bright flash.”
– (passive) “A bright flash was observed when the
power was turned on.”
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 19
Conciseness and Clarity
(Chapter 13 in “Making Sense”, Northey and Jewinsky)
•
•
•
Three-letter acronyms (TLAs) can be problematic – not so bad
in short reports, or if not too many
Idiomatic expressions* may be OK
– *Phrases that function as a single unit whose meaning
cannot easily be expressed in any other way.
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/b.html
– Be careful when communicating with readers/audiences
who are not native speakers (e.g. “I had a lot of work to do
so I put my nose to the grindstone.”)
Eliminate inflated expressions and buzzwords
– http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/buzz.html
– Google “BS Bingo”
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 20
BS Bingo
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 21
Conciseness and Clarity
Avoid Misused words
accept, except
• all together, altogether (completely)
• allusion, illusion
• alternate (adjective, usually); alternative (noun)
• among many, between two
• amount (uncountables), number (countables)
• ante- (before), anti- (against)
“Making Sense”, 17 pages in Ch. 16!
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 22
Coherence is the product of four
elements:
•
•
•
•
sensible organization
effective use of standard formats
adherence to the “known-new contract”*
explicit linking strategies that help the reader
to follow your reasoning.
*The reader trusts the writer to repeat or clarify one idea
before going on to a new idea.
http://www.d.umn.edu/~dmorriso/readablewriting/Coherenc
e/known-new%20contract.html
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 23
Devices That Create Cohesiveness
•
Key words: Repeat a key word from the previous
clause or sentence in the new clause or sentence.
–
•
“Electric power generation takes many forms. When
power reaches our homes, we are often not aware of its
source.”
Pronouns: Use a pronoun in the new clause or
sentence to refer to a specific noun or noun phrase in
the previous clause or sentence.
– “Edison invented the light bulb. It was one of the
many inventions for which he is famous.”
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 24
Devices (cont’d)
• Synonyms: In the new clause or sentence,
use a synonym for a key word or phrase in the
previous clause or sentence.
• Antonyms: In the new clause or sentence,
use an antonym for a key word or phrase in
the previous clause or sentence.
• Own a dictionary and a thesaurus (or search
on-line)
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 25
Devices (cont’d)
•
•
•
Commonly paired words: Use a word in the new
clause or sentence that is closely associated with a
word in the previous clause or sentence.
– “power generation”, “generator”, “turbine”
Connecting words: Use a specific connecting
word or phrase.
– also, in the same way, just as…, so too,
likewise, similarly
Parallel structure: Place ideas in parallel form.
– “Just as the turbine is essential for power
generation, the transmission line is essential for
power distribution.”
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 26
Key Editing Points to Remember
•
•
•
•
•
•
Always take time to edit your writing to achieve a
crisp and authoritative professional style.
Use the spell-check and grammar-check
programs, but recognize that they are not enough
on their own.
Use the ‘levels of edit’ approach to review your
document for audience adaptation, clarity of
purpose, writer’s credibility, and stylistic
effectiveness.
Always check and double-check your tone.
Try reading your work out loud to catch errors that
your eye will miss.
Repeat the editing process until the message is as
effective as you can make it (or you run out of time!)
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 27
End of Lecture 10
ECE200 - Prof. J. N. McMullin
Lecture 10 - 28