Thesis/Research Writing
Monday, April 6th, 2009
You’ve lost sleep, skipped meals and as for a social life-what’s that? But you have that paper well-researched and have just put the finishing touches on the last draft. Now you want someone else, a professional, to examine your baby and make sure it’s as perfect as possible. After all, a course grade-maybe a degree-is riding on that sucker.
But what sort of editing do you need, standard or technical? What level of editing will ensure that the fruits of your labor are presented as clearly and accurately as possible?
For term papers, research papers, theses, dissertations and even journal articles, your best bet is technical editing. Why?
Well, let’s look at standard editing first: an editor doing a standard edit will check for subject-verb agreement and other grammatical gaffes, make sure verb tenses are correct in context, alert you to continuity problems and often suggest fixes, and so forth.
“But that’s what I need, right?” you ask, scratching your head in confusion.
Well, yes, you need that and more-and that’s where technical editing comes in.
When an editor does a technical edit, s/he does all of the above plus-and this is a very important plus-checks your citations/footnotes, references, captions, headings and subheadings for accuracy and adherence to the style guide required by your instructor, committee or journal, in addition to providing feedback on how the paper reads and alerting you to areas that might confuse the reader or that look as if they’re missing citations.
“Oh, nobody ever really looks at the citations and references,” you laugh, shrugging.
Trust me: they do. Profs can be almost insanely persnickety about things like margins and proper in-text citations, and if your content is amazingly well-written but you used the wrong margins or the wrong style guide, what you’ve written won’t matter: the prof will fail you, anyway. After all that hard work, your paper could be rejected because of easily-fixable errors that a professional editor could have caught and corrected.
This is where technical editing can be a lifesaver…and maybe a degree-saver, too. Take the time to have your paper edited by a professional, and be sure to ask for a technical edit. Professional technical editing by a firm such as FirstEditing can make sure your glowing content isn’t obscured by glaring technical errors.
Tags: citation, Professional Technical Editing, references, Standard Edit, Standard Editing, Technical Edit, Technical Editing
Posted in Technical Editing, Thesis/Research Writing | No Comments »
Monday, January 5th, 2009
 “I’m a good writer; I don’t need anyone else to read my stuff.” Ever said or thought that? Well, maybe it’s true that you’ve committed Strunk & White to memory; your work is polished, professional and print-ready; and publishers are scrambling to be the first to sign you.
On the other hand, maybe, just maybe, you’re like the vast majority of the human race and have issues with the use of “who” and “whom” and are never quite sure where to properly place that comma—or should it be a semi-colon?
This is where a professional editor can be a lifesaver. Professional editors know the proper use of “who” and “whom.” Further, they’re familiar all the mystifying little rules of grammar and punctuation that befuddle the average writer. It’s not only their job to know these things; it’s also their passion. You see, professional editors are those annoying people who just can’t help themselves: grammatical and punctuation errors seem to leap out at them, even in published books or magazines. They’re the ones who will read a passage in a great work of literature and, instead of sighing over its perfection, mull ways it could have been differently worded. They think nothing of telling store owners—politely, of course!—that their outside sign reads “hear” when it should read “here.”
So what exactly does this mean for the aspiring novelist or the student with a paper due yesterday?
A professional editor can check your work for mistakes that your word processing program’s grammar/spell check missed. S/he can suggest ways to better word sentences and even move entire paragraphs around to make your work read more clearly and logically. Professional editors can help ensure your work conforms to the style guide your instructor or publisher requires. In short, a professional editor can take your unpolished manuscript and turn it into a polished gem, ready for submission to those who will decide its ultimate fate.
And isn’t the ultimate fate of your work what it’s all about? A research paper turned in with numerous grammatical errors or using the wrong style guide will receive a failing grade. A novel submitted to a publisher with run-on sentences and improper use of quotation marks will be tossed into the reject pile.
Don’t let your hard work be for naught: before turning in that term paper or submitting that novel to a publisher, take the time to hire a professional editor through a firm such as FirstEditing (www.firstediting.com). It’s worth the money spent to make sure your work is as perfect as humanly possible.
Tags: Christian Publication, Professional Editing, Professional Editor, Proofreading, Technical Editing, Thesis Editing, Writing for Publication
Posted in Christian Writing, Editing Skills & Services, Thesis/Research Writing, Writing for Publication | No Comments »
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
So now that you’ve gone through the final edit of your manuscript, before you submit your work, you have to take a look at the formatting and ask yourself, “How does it look?”
If you are submitting it to a publisher or agent, you really have to find out their requirements and follow them to a “T.” However, if who you are submitting your work to has no specific guidelines for submission, then you’ll just want to submit the clearest, cleanest copy you can. There are many books on the market that help with formatting—everything from query letters to manuscripts.
What your manuscript looks like says a lot about you as a writer. If you have several different fonts going on, some paragraphs are indented while others are not, or you flip-flop between capitalizing certain words it not only looks sloppy, but it shows that you don’t care much about your work and you may not be taken seriously. It also shows that you are an amateur. Whether you are a novice at writing or not, you can still present a clean copy. If this is something that you are submitting to a publisher, it can prevent your manuscript from even being read. Editors won’t waste their time trying to sift through a hodge-podge mix of formats.
The most important thing when thinking about your manuscript presentation is that consistency is key. If you start out putting your chapter headings in bold text, then continue throughout. If you start capitalizing a specific word or term in chapter one, then continue in that form. You get the idea. The inconsistencies can also be disconcerting to the reader; that is, if they continue to read it.
Obviously, a perfectly manicured and pristinely formatted manuscript cannot help you with poorly written content. So yes, the content is of utmost importance; but the appearance of your manuscript is what the reader, editor, agent, or publisher will see first, before they even read the first sentence.
Take the time to make your work presentable—it can make all the difference!
Tags: Article Submission, Christian Publication, Christian Writing, How to Submit an Article, Journal Submission, Manuscript Submission, Professional Editing, Submitting for Publication, Submitting to a Publisher, Thesis Editing, Thesis Planning, Writing for Publication
Posted in Christian Writing, Proofreading, Thesis/Research Writing, Writing for Publication | No Comments »
Monday, December 15th, 2008
So you’ve written the perfect article on…whatever…and you’re ready to submit it for publication. But wait—how do you go about article submission? What secret codes must be cracked, what publishing gods appeased, in order for your article to see print?
It’s not as mysterious a process as you’d think; in fact, it can be quite easy if the right steps are followed. Let’s take a look at the steps you should follow to give your article the best possible chance at publication.
- Know—and follow– the submission guidelines of the magazine! Most magazines have submission guidelines in their hard copies and on their websites. If they require double-spacing and you send in a single-spaced article, guess what? Rejection slip on the way…Similarly, some magazines prefer that you send a query letter, just like you would with a book publisher, outlining your article, its intended audience and the reasons it’s ideal for their publication. Send in the article first, before a query letter, and you could blow your chances at publication with that magazine.
- Make sure your article is as error-free as possible. There are several ways to do this, of course. Most word processing programs have a spell/grammar check function, so you can start there to catch the most obvious gaffes. Keep in mind, though, that these programs aren’t perfect and will miss errors that the human eye can catch—and they also sometimes suggest “corrections” that are, in fact, grammatically incorrect. So use your own eyes to read behind your spell/grammar check, and then have friends or family read behind you. A simpler and usually not prohibitively expensive means of proofing and perfecting your article is to hire a professional editor through a firm such as FirstEditing (www.firstediting.com).
- Be prepared for the possibility of rejection: no matter how wonderful, well-written and timely your article is, there’s no guarantee that a magazine will pick it up. There are lots of talented writers out there who can attest to the mountains of rejection slips they received before that first article was published.
- Finally, to paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, “Never, ever give up.” No matter how often your article is rejected, submit it to more magazines. Rejections aren’t necessarily a reflection on the quality of the article or the writing abilities of the author. It never hurts to ask the submissions editor why your article was rejected and how it could be reworked to suit their needs. You might not always get a response, but sometimes this sort of persistence and willingness to revise your article to meet the magazine’s current needs can result not only in publication but also in the formation of a long and fruitful relationship with that magazine.
There you have it: a quick and painless method for submitting your article to a magazine and ensuring that it has the best possible chance of being picked up for publication. Good luck!
Tags: Article Submission, How to Submit an Article, How to Submit an Article to a Magazine, Professional Editing, Submitting for Publication
Posted in Thesis/Research Writing, Writing for Publication | No Comments »
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