Re: Editing soft vs. hard copy (WAS: Guidelines for using "e" in fron t of terms?)

Subject: Re: Editing soft vs. hard copy (WAS: Guidelines for using "e" in fron t of terms?)
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 11:02:08 -0800

Doug Grossman wrote:

I didn't always edit on-line, but have been doing so exclusively for the past three years. I'm definitely not one to blow my own horn too often, but I consider my straight editing skills to be *my* personal forte as a tech writer, and have been commended many times for my organization skills, grammar, comprehension of sometimes complex textual matter, and attention to detail. It is not uncommon for me to have two errors or less in a 100-page document. We all have our niche, and mine happens to be straight editing, for which (for some odd reason) I seem to possess a natural talent.
Notice that I said "practically no one" edits on-line efficiently. You may be an exception.
But the comment is still true for most people. In my own case, I have certainly learned to edit on line better than I did ten years ago, but my on-line editing is still vastly inferior to my hardcopy editing. Sometimes I'm lazy or pressed for time, and don't edit from hardcopy, but I'm fully aware that I'm not doing my best work when I do.

Incidentally, my comment was based on my experience teaching composition to hundreds of university and college students, from 18 to over 65 for a number of years. Regardless of writing skill, those who could edit on-line as well as they could from hardcopy were obviously a minority. I don't have an exact figure, but I doubt that they were more than about 15%.


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Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

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References:
Editing soft vs. hard copy (WAS: Guidelines for using "e" in fron t of terms?): From: Doug Grossman

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