Editing Skills & Services
Friday, October 7th, 2011
 The term white paperrefers to a research document commissioned for a government department or agencyin eitherthe USor the UK. They arecalledwhite papers because they usually are published as pamphlets on white paper. They are often presented at conferences, and their purpose is to inform policy-makersabout a particular topic and provide them with the information necessary to make decisions.
Since the 1990s, the term has also been used to refer to documents produced by NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), think-tanks or largecorporations. In the commercial sector, white papers function essentially as marketing tools, arguing the benefits of a particular product or technology. (more…)
Tags: cite papers, editing, professional editor, writing
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Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
 Even though using spellchecking functions and tools usually provided in the word processing package of choice seems rather obvious thing to do, not many writers make full use of this highly effective tool. Even though it is not 100% reliable and caution must be used when relaying on spellchecker to detect and correct your writing mistakes, it can still come handy when trying to weed out the typos or basic mistakes even the best of us make, often in haste.
This collection of helpful tips will be based on Microsoft Word 2007, even though similar functions can be found elsewhere and the same rules would apply.
It is usually the best to turn Spell Check function ‘on’ straight away, as the misspelled words would be highlighted immediately. This will greatly help when later proofreading and editing the file, as there will be less likely that something will be missed. In MS word, this is done by selecting ‘Review’ tab in the top left-hand corner of the toolbar. Once there, it is vitally important to first check that the correct language is selected, especially for writers who typically use their word processing application in languages other than English. (more…)
Tags: editing, grammar, spell check, Spelling, writing
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Sunday, September 25th, 2011
 Conjunctions are word that join phrases or parts of sentences. The following are just a few examples: and, but, so, therefore, however, and so on. An easy example of joining words together is ‘I enjoy running and playing tennis.’ You can also join phrases: ‘I could run today or I could play tennis instead.’ You can also use them clause to clause: ‘I went running today but I will also be playing tennis later.’ In this blog, we are going to look at how to punctuate when using conjunctions as this is a common problem within many of the documents we receive at FirstEditing.com.
The website http://www.towson.edu/ows/conjunctions.htm shows you many examples of the different conjunctions and of how they are meant to be used correctly. This website provided the information for this blog and helped me revise how to punctuate conjunctions. (more…)
Tags: conjunction, editing, punctuation, writing
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Sunday, September 4th, 2011
 Most of us wish we had a better vocabulary and more sophisticated word choice. We usually wish we could find better words for emotions, along with better action words. How many times have we written something like “He was mad and so he ran seven miles to burn it off,” only to realize that “mad” is inadequate for what he must have felt when he found out his wife has just had a child with another man, and “ran” doesn’t quite capture the trek up the ragged mountain face that he did as a result. When we feel so inadequate, we tend to head to the Thesaurus. (more…)
Tags: editing, improve word choice, thesaurus, word, writing
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Sunday, August 28th, 2011
 Although writing a thesis statement can be a challenging task, the following tips and examples will help you to achieve this goal much more easily.
The content of your thesis is usually determined by the kind of paper that you’re writing. Theses can take a number of different forms and structures, but the three main types of papers are: expository, analytical and argumentative. Expository papers are usually relatively straightforward, simply presenting the topic to the reader with explanations for clarity. Typically, expository papers do not argue a point or analyze an idea, and is a mere explanation. Analytical papers tend to go a step further; such papers evaluate issues and ideas, exploring the concepts and examining the ideas from various angles. Finally, argumentative papers generally involve both of the previous styles, expository and analytical. An argumentative paper can incorporate elements of exposition and explanation, before moving on to analyzing the ideas, and ultimately, drawing a conclusion. Argumentative papers are used to express the opinions of the author, using evidence and citing from other sources. Argumentative papers try to convince the reader of the accuracy of the author’s opinion.
(more…)
Tags: editing, Thesis Editing, writing
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