Editing: It’s about Meaning & Sense

Editing is about far more than finding typos. We already saw that spelling & grammar make up less than 0.1% of the Professional Editorial Standards. Here we see that the 20 standards regarding meaning, sense, accuracy, and logical flow (in yellow) make up about 13% of the roughly 150 standards.

Here is the wording of the highlighted standards:

grid of all professional editorial standards, with 20 highlighted (detailed in text)
  • A3.1.b Structural editor: Structural editing is assessing and shaping the overall organization and content of the material to optimize it for the intended audience, medium and purpose. 
  • A3.1.c Stylistic editor: Stylistic editing clarifies meaning, ensures coherence and flow at the paragraph and sentence level and refines the language.
  • A6.2 Know how to structure the material so that the audience can easily access the information they need (e.g., use clear and short headings, present information in chronological order, build on information previously learned), ensuring the organization of the information is clear to the intended audience (e.g., the information most relevant to the audience is easily accessible).
  • A8.1 Edit to ensure the content is not misleading, false or otherwise lacking in integrity.
  • B1.1 Reorganize material to achieve a coherent structure and sequence, a logical progression of ideas and a narrative or expository flow, and a shape appropriate to the audience, medium and purpose. Keep in mind that the medium often determines organization (e.g., the inverted pyramid structure of a news story, the chapter arrangement of a book, the navigational structure of a website). If necessary and possible, create a new outline or site map and follow it or recommend it be followed.
  • B3.1.b.  Check that the content of the document is structured so that related information is together and ordered in a way that makes sense for the readers.
  • B3.1.d.  Make sure readers can locate, understand and act on information.
  • C1.1 Improve paragraph construction to convey meaning more effectively (e.g., adjust paragraph length for the audience and medium, establish clear topic sentences).
  • C1.3 Refine wording to convey meaning more effectively (e.g., replace noun strings, nominalizations and inappropriate euphemisms). 
  • C1.4 Resolve ambiguity (e.g., misplaced modifiers).
  • C1.5 Revise sentences, paragraphs and passages to ensure logical connections.
  • C1.6 Ensure all supplementary text (e.g., captions, footnotes, annotations, endnotes, prefaces) is clear and effectively conveys the intended meaning
  • C2.1 Ensure that transitions between sentences and between paragraphs are smooth and effective.
  • C2.2 Where necessary, reorder elements to ensure coherence and parallelism (e.g., sentences in a paragraph, bullet points in a list).
  • C4.1 Where appropriate, point out words and phrasing that can be considered harmful, either intentionally or unintentionally, and suggest alternatives. 
  • C4.2 Understand the author’s intentions when editing language so that it does not inadvertently offend intended readers. Consider whether the language might be harmful to unintended audiences that it will likely reach.
  • C5.1 Help make the text more engaging and entertaining, and ensure there are no boring passages.
  • C5.2. Check that the text achieves the intended effect on the audience (e.g., try to ensure that the humour is funny, the erotica is arousing, the frightening passages are spine-chilling). Be aware of the cultural differences that can make it difficult to target this kind of editing for specific audiences.
  • C6.1.e.  Address ambiguity.
  • D2.3 Resolve variations in terminology, logic and mechanics (e.g., spelling, numbers, abbreviations).

AIs (GPTs) are getting better at correcting spelling and grammar. Can they tackle any of these meaning and flow concerns? Read the full standards at Editors Canada.

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