Best editing advice I've seen in a long time...

[f4f3]

Just followed a link from one of my friends on Twitter to this article in the Times Higher Education supplement by Tara Barbazon (a name made for musical comedy). It's mostly about the art of note taking, but it contains an absolutely brilliant section on editing an assignment, which I think holds true for almost any piece of writing you intend for publication:

How to edit an assignment

Draft one: Correct all spelling and grammatical issues

Draft two: Check that references are complete

Draft three: Verify that quotations are accurate

Draft four: Read the introduction. Does it map the trajectory of the paper?

Draft five: Read the conclusion. Is there an efficient and evocative ending to the assignment?

Draft six: Check the first sentence of each paragraph. Does it convey the content of the paragraph that follows it?

Draft seven: Check the last sentence of each paragraph. Does it create a transition to the next paragraph?

Draft eight: Read each word and sentence for meaning and clarity. Is each word required? When in doubt, chop it out

Draft nine: Ensure there is no fragmentation between sections of the argument

Draft ten: Have you answered the question? Return to the marking criteria. Are you addressing all the required elements in the assignment? What mark would you give the paper?

Comments

[anthrokeight.livejournal.com]

It is actually quite shocking to see how professors will slam non-native speakers for grammar errors, and let some appalling shit slide in their native speakers' work. I don't think they even see it, because they're so enculturated to accepting common grammar errors in English.

ESL writers have really obvious, but often very minor, errors. Article and preposition use are two that stick out, but often make little difference in meaning.

Interestingly, there is research that shows that learning articles and prepositions is the last step in acquiring fluency in English. People just do not have the neurological pathway developed in their brains to be able to generate them as fluent speakers until they've gone through the process of learning ALL the other rules of grammar.

So, an ESL writer's fundamental ability to write in English is often judged by native speakers using the most difficult skills to achieve as the baseline criteria. They don't even know it's IN the university, not ON it! Aiieee. I think this is interesting, since in English and American English, prepositions are sometimes used differently for words.