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To start with, can you please tell us why you decided to
become an editor?
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I decided to work as an editor because it is something I'm
good at. All of my life, I have enjoyed both reading and
writing. It was something that I actually studied in school
- I have a degree in technical and scientific communication
- and I enjoy it immensely.
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What are the differences between an editor and a
writer?
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The processes themselves are quite different. While writing,
I concentrate on just the content. With editing, I have to
focus on not only the content, but also the mechanics, the
grammar, the punctuation, etc. So, a slightly different
skill set is involved; but being an editor and understanding
the mechanics of language also helps me as a writer. On the
other hand, being a writer and understanding how to
structure a paper and the principles of flow help me while
editing.
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Do you end up editing your own writing at times?
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I think everyone needs the help of an editor. As for me, I
do edit my own writing when the need arises. But, I would
always prefer if someone else went through my writing. I
just think it's very difficult to edit your own writing,
because once you spend hours working on a piece, you are too
attached to it to be able to catch the errors.
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You mentioned that you have done your Bachelor's in
scientific and technical communication. What kind of
knowledge does that give? What kind of teaching does such
a course provide?
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Well, there were lots of writing classes. I learned how to
write technical manuals, such as for a VCR and for software.
I took classes in medical writing, medical terminology,
technical editing, and proposal writing. I also took a class
on writing for the web - it is very different from writing
for a book, with a different audience and a different style.
I took several intensive composition and rhetoric classes as
well as linguistics, which helped me learn the general
mechanics of language.
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Your primary areas of graduate training are in public
health and health policy. How do you manage editing
documents that are not from these areas?
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Well, my understanding of medicine and healthcare comes from
over 10 years of work experience in the field. I've worked
in large hospitals, managed care organizations, a healthcare
management consulting firm, and a clinical research
organization. In these positions, I have been exposed to
nearly every medical specialty in one form or another. I
usually don't have to do much by way of research while
editing medical documents, because I am mostly familiar with the terminology. While
editing documents from other subject areas, I pay more
attention to the content because it's important for me to
get everything right. If it's a term I am not familiar with,
I will obviously look it up. I have access to numerous
reference resources and medical encyclopedias. And of
course, there is always the internet for retrieving
electronic journal articles.
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Can you briefly describe the procedure you follow while
editing a document?
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Sure. The first thing I do when I receive a manuscript is to
look at the instructions for authors for the target journal,
after which I format the paper according to the
instructions, before looking at anything else. Then, I do a
second pass for editing. I tend to edit line-by-line and
then paragraph-by-paragraph. I'll usually go back again and
make sure that I haven't missed anything and that the paper
reads well and has a good flow. Thus, I do three passes with
each document.
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How has your experience been with manuscripts written by
non-native English speakers?
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Well, I think that it must be very difficult to write in
one's second or third language, and I have a lot of respect
for people who can do it because I know that I couldn't do
it myself. Many common errors arise due to the differences
between Japanese or "research" English. For example, the
system of English articles (a, an, the) does not have a
counterpart in Japanese, making it a very difficult part of
English to learn, and it seems to be an area where a lot of
errors occur. My advice is to always use an editor, more so
because it is very difficult to edit your own work. Another
piece of advice is to read your work out aloud. This is to
help identify errors that you cannot normally detect unless
you are reading. I would suggest keeping a gap of a few
hours between editing an article and then re-reading it with
fresh eyes.
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Do you often proofread on paper while editing, or do you
do it directly on screen?
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I almost always edit on screen. I'm used to it by now. I
think that it really depends on the editor. Some people are
more comfortable with editing on paper and they can't get
used to editing on screen. But I find it much more efficient
to edit on screen with the aid of Microsoft Word's Track
Changes function. Also, if I were to make changes on paper
and then go back to enter those changes on screen, it would
consume more time. So, if it's a really complex assignment,
I do most of the editing on screen and then print out a copy
with the changes accepted and review it on paper. It is
funny that there are always errors that you can catch on
paper even after having done two passes on screen. A point
one has to remember as an editor is that there can never be
a "perfect" edit.
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What are you most careful about while editing a
manuscript?
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I think that the most important thing I'm careful about is
clarity, or ease of understanding. It's important that the
material is presented in such a way that it is easy for the
reader to gather what is being said. It's best to always
have the reader in mind while editing.
I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. Many
times you'll see a list of clinical measurements such as
blood pressure, oxygen in blood, etc. being measured
followed by a list of values of the respective parameters.
It is difficult for the reader to correlate these two
quantities because they then have to go back to the
beginning of the sentence to know what the numbers are
referring to.
So in that situation, I move the numbers closer to their
respective parameters.
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How would you define substantive editing, and
differentiate it from copyediting?
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Copyediting is concerned more with the mechanics of language
than with clarity in the flow and the syntax. Generally,
with
copyediting
you wouldn't necessarily change a word or rephrase a
sentence. A copyeditor would just put in the correct
punctuation and check article usage (a, an, the).
On the other hand,
substantive editing
is also concerned with accomplishing good flow by
rearranging paragraphs or sentences. Sometimes authors
repeat information in the text that is already mentioned in
the tables. So a substantive editor would pay attention to
that and reword sections that are redundant or irrelevant.
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Do you think it is always necessary to re-arrange
sentences or paragraphs in substantive editing?
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No, it's not always necessary. While working on a
substantive edit, you have to be alert for opportunities to
improve the clarity of writing, which can sometimes be done
by reordering information. Perhaps one out of every four
papers requires that level of
substantive editing, while the other three would only need cleaning up of
punctuation, etc.
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What measures do you take to deliver consistent
quality?
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Well, I always try to research a new piece. I do not edit
when I'm tired, such as at the end of a long day when I've
done a million other things. I always work in a quiet
environment where I can't be distracted and where I can work
for an hour and a half, uninterrupted, because I find that
it takes about an hour and a half for me to be able to get
into the writing and into the piece sufficiently. So I avoid
situations in which I might be interrupted after 10 minutes
and will have to go do something else and return to the edit
after an interval.
I'm always looking for ways to improve my quality and learn
new things. If the document is from a subject area I'm not
familiar with, I will often read another paper in the field
and get to know the terminology to make sure that I do as
good a job as possible.
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According to you, how important is it for an editor to
have a personal interest in the subject that he or she is
editing?
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I think it is important, because it helps an editor be
involved in greater detail when he is interested in the
subject. So, if I were editing a banking-related document, I
might not be able to read in depth because it's not a
subject that really interests me. But just about any science
manuscript would have me hooked - even topics such as
oceanography and physics. So it's important to have a
passion for editing, because what we are doing has great
importance - the manuscripts are the ultimate result of
hundreds of years of human endeavor.
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Like you said, you would be interested in any science
document. Have you edited documents from subject areas
other than medicine?
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Well, I have read quite a bit in other fields of science. I
actually spent last summer working on an oceanographic
research vessel. So I have some familiarity with that field,
which in itself covers areas like physics, biology, and
chemistry. I have also taken a number of undergraduate-level
classes in the hard sciences. Even so, I would obviously
need to gain some background knowledge of a new field if I
were to edit documents from it. Every assignment has the
same requirements in the sense that the goals of an editor
are the same.
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You've been affiliated with quite a few associations such
as the Editorial Freelancers Association and the Board of
Editors in the Life Sciences. How does that benefit you as
an editor?
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Well, the Editorial Freelancers Association has helped me
get a lot of freelance work. Their online directory helps
authors get in touch with good editors, particularly because
there aren't many editors specializing in medical documents.
The Board of Editors in the Life Sciences has awarded me a
special certification in editing. They have very strict
requirements for certifying medical editors, which benefits
clients because they are assured of the ability and
credentials of the editor. In addition, I belong to the
American Medical Writers Association (AMWA). Its annual
conference has workshops where I can polish my writing and
editing skills. AMWA also has a monthly journal that covers
medical writing and offers very insightful articles.
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You mentioned that most of these associations conduct
workshops. What kind of training do they provide at such
workshops?
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Well, there are several types of workshops. I've attended
one on punctuation and clarity. I have also attended one on
researching medical literature and one on writing in health
and fitness publications. Also, there are workshops on some
science topics (like microbiology) for people who don't have
a good background in those areas.
Then, there is a two-part CD-ROM-based workshop on grammar,
which I really recommend. It can also be accessed through
the AMWA website. It's called Basic Grammar I and II and
includes quizzes and a final exam that is to be answered on
paper and mailed to AMWA.
I have also taken workshops on tables and graphs, creating
posters, and on proper paragraphing.
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At times, you may have received assignments with very
close deadlines. What is your view on such assignments?
And how did they affect your quality?
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Well, I generally have plenty of time, even if the
assignment is due the next day. The crucial point when you
are on a really short deadline is to get the most important
things right. So, I concentrate on spellings and
typing/mechanical errors (e.g., "two" or "to" instead of
"too").
Technical Editing: The Practical Guide for Editors and Writers by Judith
Tarutz provides good guidelines for working with tight
deadlines, which I normally follow.
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But with such short deadlines, do you think the quality
of the edit would be as good as that of a normal
assignment?
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Well, it depends on the document. If it doesn't require too
much editing, than having a short deadline is probably fine.
If it really requires
substantive editing, I might put everything else on hold in order to complete
the assignment on time.
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While editing, do you use any special tools or macros in
Microsoft Word?
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No, but if I'm doing something over and over again, I will
write my own macros to lessen the amount of time required. I
do know that many editors use shortcuts, and I'm quite
familiar with keyboard shortcuts, which can be assigned as
and when required. For example, if I'm formatting a
document, I'll set up three levels of headings with keyboard
shortcuts. And then as I'm going through the document, I can
apply the styles at the press of a button.
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You had mentioned that you also do web editing. How does
that differ from copyediting?
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Well, it's mainly due to how people read on the internet. On
the internet, people don't read blocks of text very well.
They begin, they scan, but they don't tend to go deep into
the text. So, while writing for the internet, it's important
to make things shorter and use boldface and other formatting
appropriately.
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When you are not editing, how do you spend your
time?
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I really like to hike in the mountains and in the woods. I'm
a good gardener and like growing both vegetables and
flowers. I also love traveling. So whenever I can, I like to
go traveling, even if it's just a short trip. Unfortunately,
I don't have a lot of free time right now, because I work
full time, freelance, and attend school part time! I'm also
on the board of directors of a music company and am active
in my garden club.
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On your resume you've mentioned that you have been a
grant writer and a publicist. Can you tell us about that
experience?
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That was part of my volunteer work for a non-profit
organization, which involved writing grant applications to
get funding from the government or other non-profit
organizations. The principles of grant writing are similar
to any other kind of writing - you should be aware of your
audience and be clear and precise. It's obviously not as
technical as a medical manuscript.
I have also done some volunteer work as a publicist, which
involved writing press releases and other communications for
the media and getting them to write articles on the work of
the organization. This was very different from medical
writing, which is much more objective and which obviously
cannot be biased. With publicity, one needs to be rather
persuasive.
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