C. W. Fowler

The Journey Continues

One of my first assignments in TECM 5191: Digital Literacies was to complete a baseline survey that gauged my perception of self-regulated learning (SRL) and to identify areas of opportunity for improvement. Overall, I am stronger in the categories of interest, elaboration, and help seeking but weaker in the planning. For this reason, my focus area through Module 4 is planning.

Typically, at the beginning of each semester I think about what I need to get accomplished and write an elaborately detailed plan. My plans are often so elaborately detailed that I cannot follow through with them within the timeframe provided and I wind up taking on more than I can manage at one time. Given my past experiences with planning I recognize that changes are necessary to be successful as a graduate student and as a professional entering the field. One of those changes is to employ a strategy for effective planning.

Strategize

Thinking about my failure to develop a plan successfully and effectively, it is apparent to me that I have not developed a strategy for planning; I have just made a list of actions without any accountability to myself or anyone else for that matter. After reviewing the list of possible strategies provided in this module and recognizing the need for change, I will use the ‘enter one small goal each day on your calendar’ strategy.

My rationale for using the aforementioned strategy is that there is a lot of material that we must cover in as shore timeframe. Therefore, treating the assignments due midweek as a small goal to be completed each day in the beginning of the week will help to ensure that I can manage completion of these assignments in advance of the due date. Likewise, assignments due at the end of the week can be divided into a series of milestones for lengthier assignments so that I am not trying to complete them all at once. For example, this week we have a tutorial for using MadCap Flare that takes about four and a half hours to complete. Since there are five days left to complete the tutorial, I can work for about an hour each day to complete the tutorial. Using a calendar app such as Google Calendar I can choose an hour-long time slot to make progress on the tutorial and complete it on time.

Final Thoughts

As I continue my journey as a technical communicator it is imperative that I learn from past experiences so that I can effectively learn to use the tools of the trade and the skillsets that come with them. In the field as in graduate studies I will be in charge of my own learning for the most part which means that I must develop an effective strategy to learn new information quickly so that I can remain successful. Part of that strategy is learning to create a plan that is manageable so that I can stay on track with established goals. Even though developing a plan is part of my self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy, the act of planning requires a strategy as well. The planning strategy that I am going to use is to put a small goal, assignments, or parts of assignments in this case, on my calendar app so that I can follow through with a plan. As I use this planning strategy, I will see what needs to be changed or what needs to be added to this strategy so that I can make it the most effective strategy at my disposal. I will provide an update on my progress with planning in my next blog post. I look forward to trying something new that will help me to be a successful technical communicator.

Comprehensively Edited

At the time that I am writing this, the comprehensive edit project has been completed and turned in. Though it was an extraordinarily complex endeavor for someone just starting in technical editing, it was a great experience. As I stated in my previous blog post, I was a bit nervous about completing a team project at first. As we moved through each step of the comprehensive edit, we worked as a team to accomplish our goals. My teammate was understanding when I had to change the schedule of our meetings due to other obligations that I had agreed to before starting my master’s degree. My teammate also provided guidance based on experience as a technical writer from undergraduate studies. I’m incredibly happy with the end result of our comprehensive edit project and look forward to receiving feedback so that my teammate and I can consider this piece for our portfolios.

Everything presented throughout this course was beneficial to the comprehensive edit project. To complete the comprehensive edit project, my teammate and I used Microsoft Word as the primary editorial tool, although my teammate tried different editing tools such as ProWitingAid and PerfectIt by Intelligent Editing. Links to each of these editing tool websites will be provided at the end of this blog post.

Each module added another concept to understand that culminated in the edited document my teammate and I submitted. I admit that I still don’t fully grasp estimating time, cost, and the scope of an edit project, but I have the tools to look up that information and people that I can ask for help. No matter what, as I continue my journey as a technical communicator I must always continue learning. It is the most essential tool in our toolkit.

My Journey

I am still just starting out on my journey into the field of technical communication. This course has changed my perception of what it means to be an editor and has shown me that it is a viable career path that I am now considering. Even if I don’t wind up pursuing a career as a technical editor, the skills that I have learned in this course make me a better writer and technical communicator.

I used to think that an editor was just a person reviewing documents in an office solely to correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. My perception now is that an editor is a crucial part of the production process of any piece of writing. Editors are quality control, dictionaries, proofreaders, and a whole lot of other titles involved in the production of a piece of writing. Editors provide feedback about style and tone so that the author can reach the intended audience.

Editors also have legal and ethical standards that must be followed in order to resolve problems before they begin. Following these standards allows an editor to help the author(s) avoid legal problems associated with plagiarism and copyright infringement, because an editor has an obligation to mention the potential error in the document before it’s published. Ethical practices also allow the editor to help the author(s) avoid other problems associated with issues of stereotyping, sexism, racism, and even ageism. Even though some of these issues are legal they are generally speaking unacceptable and immoral practices that should not appear in twenty-first century writing nor in society at all.

Looking Forward

As I have progressed through the course in this first eight-week term, I have learned a lot, but I really struggled with meeting deadlines. Juggling a full-time job with a fixed schedule, graduate school, familial responsibilities, and other previously agreed to obligations is an immense challenge. It is a lot to take on at one time, however, I know that it is doable with proper planning and clear, open, and honest communication.

Proper planning is essential to successfully completing an editorial project. Likewise, proper planning is essential to matriculating through a master’s program. Graduate students and editors must make a realistic plan to complete their best work on time, every time. Failure to do so is an invitation for elevated stress and anxiety and risk removal from the program.

Clear, open, and honest communication is also essential to successfully completing an editorial project. Likewise, it is essential to earning a graduate level degree. Using the communication channels that instructors provide, or even some outside of school such as a spouse or a manager, to get feedback before the situation is dire helps to stay on track with educational and career goals. I am lucky that my professors have shown me grace and compassion this semester though it is not required of them to do so.

After I am done writing this blog post I am going to write out and print my plan for success in the next eight-week term and beyond into other terms so that I can earn my master’s on time.

I really enjoyed this course and learned a lot about the editorial process. I look forward to future courses. Thank you.

Here are the links to the editorial tools mentioned in this blog post.

ProWritingAid

https://prowritingaid.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqc6aBhC4ARIsAN06NmNdh62lz9MJPHnFTfMK6rtfQg1gTcp8HOcPPJ-6ca-xrzOLToih288aAqtkEALw_wcB

PerfectIt

https://intelligentediting.com/product/introduction/

Editor’s Responsibility

I am just beginning my journey as an editor. Since starting this course, I have learned a lot about what an editor does and doesn’t do and just how involved an editing project is. When an author presents something for edit, it is the editor’s responsibility to provide the best quality edit within the constraints placed by the author or commissioning body. No more, no less.

An editor is not the author and must remain cognizant of this fact. The editor’s job is solely to provide feedback to the author in order to improve the quality of the piece being edited. This is imperative to reach the author’s intended audience. With this in mind, the article Shibboleths and White Shoes: 5 Lessons for Editors by Dr. Kim Sydow-Campbell, provides five things that an editor must keep in mind. All are important lessons, but two of the five stuck with me; editors must continue to improve their craft and no editor can ever stop looking things up. Language conventions change over time and an editor, in order to remain highly proficient, must continue to learn new techniques and tools as they come along. Likewise, with changing language conventions, an editor must always look up things of which they are unsure. This helps them grow as an editor and improve the quality of the document they are editing. This is synonymous with being a life-long learner.

Microsoft Word is a Powerful Tool

Unless a person is engaged in editing, experience with Microsoft (MS) Word is limited strictly to word processing. Until I took this class that was my perception. I always envisioned an editor as a person with a red pen or pencil and several paper copies of works to edit for grammar and mechanics. Welcome to the digital age! Modern editors have a process for different levels of edit and a tool used for editing is MS Word. Though the demonstration video was for MS Word 2016 on a Mac computer, I figured out how to apply the same skills with MS Word 2019 on Windows. I can see just how using tracked changes, find and replace, and markup tools can help the editor identify changes that need to be made for spelling and grammar. No typo is safe now! The ability to add comments with suggestions for the author to consider for content and structure of a document provides context for both the author and the editor. There is mostly clear communication established quickly rather than the old school snail mail or meeting in the office approach. There are other tools for editing that I haven’t yet explored but I plan to. For right now using the editing features in MS Word works for my needs.

Copyediting is a Process

When performing a copyedit of a document, having a clear plan of how to efficiently edit a document is essential. Just jumping in and looking for changes is not efficient and will cost valuable time when faced against a tight deadline. Using the MS Word editing features will help with this but only will go so far. Before beginning an editing project an editor must determine a plan of attack to gain the most bang for the buck. Otherwise, the credibility of the editor will diminish as will the number of clients employing the editor’s services.

Teamwork

Based on previous experiences, I was nervous about the group comprehensive edit project. After a few meetings and guidance from Dr. Campbell (aka Dr. Kim), I’m confident that my team member will help me to produce a high-quality edit for our project. I look forward to seeing the finished product of our work. In all fields of technical communication, teamwork is critical.

Looking Forward

As the end of the first 8-week term nears, I’m starting to feel the pressure associated with the end of a course. I have a lot of work still to do and a lot of things still to learn. I am excited and anxious, but I know that I’m on the right path. After the end of the term, I will reflect on the lessons learned from the first 8 weeks of my journey and write down lessons learned to carry into my future endeavors. Editors must continue to improve their craft as do all technical communicators. Remembering lessons learned is a great way to do just that.

Queries and Commentary

The primary role of an editor is to be an intermediary between multiple groups as was covered in module two. As such, there will be times that the editor will have to reach out to an author to clarify something so that the editor can provide more relevant feedback and in-depth commentary that could improve the piece submitted for editing. The goal of the editor is to help the author make the piece better for the intended audience within the scope of the requested edit. Author queries and editorial comments can help strengthen the author-editor relationship which could influence the author to adopt recommendations.

Uncommanding

The language that an editor uses has a direct effect on the relationship between the author and the editor. Frankly, no one really likes being told what to do, especially once we reach the age of majority and are finally considered adults. I question the adulthood of those between the age of eighteen and twenty-five sometimes, but the fact remains that we don’t like being told what to do. As an editor it is wise to pay attention to the forcefulness of the language that your use. Instead of commanding the author to change something, making it a suggestion for the author to consider will likely have a larger impact on whether pr not they adopt your changes and incorporate them into the piece of writing.

Career Outlook

Though I may not take on an editing role just yet, the skills that this course is covering are highly beneficial to the run-of-the-mill technical writer too. Having the knowledge of what goes into editing will help me to be a better technical writer because I can be mindful of what an editor would look for as I write.

The thing that surprised me the most is just how difficult it is to edit something and then provide quality feedback to the author. There is definitely a lot more thought and care that goes into the craft of editing so that the author can reach the intended audience more effectively. The biggest hiccup I still have to get over is the muscle memory that tells me that editing is about punctuation and grammar and mechanics and not about the content or the organization or even the word choice, tone, and style. I think that once I fully grasp the art of editing, the process will be much easier albeit still time consuming. I really enjoy this course because I am actually learning something new. Yes, it is a challenge and I do struggle a little bit with the work but (1) this is graduate level coursework; it’s supposed to be challenging and provide a slight struggle and (2) if it weren’t challenging, I would get bored and not learn anything.

Looking Forward

Looking forward as I matriculate through the M.A. program in technical communication, there are some things that I need to work on. The biggest thing is not taking on too much at one time. By using time management effectively and planning out the work in stages as some of the assignments were intended to be, this one included, the workload is much more manageable. My bottom line is that I need to manage my workload instead of letting my workload manage me. Time management and planning are skills that employers look for in a candidate and given the level of detail that goes into technical communication, it makes sense for time management to be a crucial skill in the workforce.

My initial perception of editing is that the practice was about evaluating grammar and punctuation and revising the content of the document being presented. Never had I thought about editing the structure of a document. After reviewing the materials for module one and module two, I was surprised by just how in-depth and structured the practice of editing is and how the practice of editing is broken down into various levels of edit.

Depending on the task assigned or the type of edit requested an editor could be evaluating the mechanics or language of a document or they could be copyediting for content revision. The most detailed level is structural editing. This level of edit is the evaluation of content structure and organization for a document. The purpose of this level of edit is to make the document easier to comprehend for the reader by creating a logical flow to the document. The lowest level or least detailed is proofreading which covers reviewing a document for mechanical errors such as grammar, punctuation, and spelling. In reality, proofreading is something that the original author can, and should, do prior to submitting a final draft for consideration; however, an editor can catch any missed mechanical errors when in the proofreading stage of editing. No matter the level of edit, the editor’s role is to be quality assurance (QA) for the document being submitted.

Editors as QA is something that I hadn’t thought about before, but the concept makes perfect sense to me. At my current employer we have a QA team whose sole purpose is to check our work to make sure that it is built to the specifications detailed in engineering drawings and other documents governing the build process. An editor’s responsibility is to ensure that the document being presented meets the quality standards outlined by whichever organization is publishing the content. This is really an interesting concept to me.

The content in modules one and two presented information about editing as a practice and helped me to look at editing through a new lens and with a new perception. With my new perception of the practice of editing, and no matter which form of technical communication I build my career around, knowing that editors function as quality assurance for the content that I produce I can act a first line QA for the content that I produce. Furthermore, I now have a defined career path that I can pursue that is needed and has the potential for job growth. All technical communication needs editing to ensure quality standards of the organization are being achieved and, in some cases, exceeded. Once I gain experience in the field of technical communication I can one day take on an editing role. These modules were very insightful, and I look forward to learning more about the practice of technical editing.