A Business Analyst's Guide to Editing

            Not all businesses hire editors to check their documents. Sometimes the editing gets pushed off onto a random employee. For that employee, the task of editing all those documents is no joke. In my non-traditional route to editing, I started with a business degree and worked as a contractor in a government agency. Over time, my tasks as a business analyst became more like those of an editor. I was completing research, developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading for the entire project team by the time my contract ended. If you happen to be that employee trying to act as the editor, the following tips are meant for you. I'll be sharing some editing lessons I learned as a BA and some things that I wish I had known back then.

            There is a difference between knowing something and explaining it. Sometimes an author can struggle to write down the ideas they have in mind. Or, the author may battle with wording that makes sense to the readers. In a government agency, documentation and transparency are of utmost importance. Project documents are vital to track the work being done and to explain it to others. Clarity, style, and grammar become key. Clarity should be a goal for every business. I found that documentation explained the processes, but still had problems. The trouble was that they would sometimes become too technical or assume too much about the audience. One needs to consider who might read the documentation and what they might use it for. These documents are not another objective to cross off one's list. They serve an actual purpose. When editing, think about who the audience is and try to approach the document from their point of view. If there is ambiguity, consider changing it. Vague meanings do no one any good.

            Style, when applied appropriately, works together with clarity. A style guide creates consistency. Before you get too deep into editing your company's documentation, find out if your company has a house style. If your company has a standard for writing, you don't want any documentation to stray from it. Variations ruin the voice and image your company is trying to create. Because I was a BA still figuring out the editing business, I didn’t know I needed to find a house style. I edited based on grammar rules I learned in school. I do not recommend this if you can avoid it. From a legal standpoint, the wording and punctuation placement could have created serious problems for the agency if I made a mistake. 

           If you have a house style, get a copy and edit according to that guide. If not, I suggest you either create your own with the approval of your manager or choose an existing style guide to follow. Industries often have a guide that they favor. Whether or not you create a guide, watch for trends in the documentation and keep a record to make sure everything stays consistent in grammar choices, spellings, and word usage. For instance, I worked on a public transit project. The buses were called coaches. I learned that there were several categories of coaches that each had a specific name. It is important to note these things because they have a meaning that is only known to a certain group that differs from the meaning that an average reader might attribute to it. These terms should either be used for the group they come from or have a proper explanation.

The third part to watch for when editing is grammar. I noticed that grammar was not a high priority for the IT employees who authored the documentation. There is nothing wrong with that, but the editor does need to be aware to catch the mistakes. The documents of a company are vital because they explain the processes of the company. They need to be accurate and part of that includes grammar. Tables and lists are common in project documents and mistakes congregate in them. Check them carefully for capitalization, parallelism, spelling, and labeling.

            Editing as a BA was a fun experience for me and probably the highlight of my career so far. Other folks may not be so quick to share my enthusiasm for editing. It doesn't have to be overwhelming though. Start with finding a style guide and build from there. It can make the process far less tedious when you know what to look for and how to correct it. As you edit, keep clarity and consistency in mind. It is your job to make sure that the documentation can effectively communicate to its audience without errors creating a barrier.

Triage Editing for College Papers

            I thought college wouldn't be too difficult because I had done so well in college prep courses. By the time I had completed my first week, I was starting to get a different picture. I'm sure many of you are very familiar with the panic of looming deadlines and mounting work. It takes a good deal of organization and time management to survive college. Even the best planners can sometimes get caught off guard. I remember several research papers that went largely ignored because of more immediate deadlines. Finally, I had to rush to complete all the work within a few days.

When you’re under pressure and short on time, mistakes are more likely to creep into your writing. It can be easy to forego editing for the sake of extra hours and making deadlines. Doing so can be a mistake because it exposes you to potentially losing points on your paper. It is possible to give quality work in a short timeframe with the help of triage editing.

            The idea behind triage editing is to get enough editing done to ensure that no big problems linger without taking up as much time. For a student, triage editing can be a time and grade saver. While it is important to plan out time for fully editing your work, triage editing makes it possible to turn in better quality papers in a time crunch. Triage editing is especially popular amongst journalists who often need to get stories published the same day. There are four major areas that you should focus on when triage editing a research paper. Each area will help you catch the most noticeable mistakes that might be lurking in your writing.

            Honestly, the best way to view triage editing is as damage control. The first step then is to assess the damage. Use both computer tools and your eyes to estimate how much editing your paper is going to need. Running a grammar and spelling checker can give you an initial idea followed by skimming the writing. As you skim for errors, listen to the flow of your words to make sure that the paper reads smoothly and clearly. Correct all mistakes as you see them. Then, you won't have to go back or risk being unable to find them again. However, don't just accept all the corrections the checkers want to make. Review each correction to ensure it is what you want and follows grammar rules.

            Once you've corrected grammar, spelling, and anything else that jumps out at you, it is best to move on to the big parts of your work. Always allot time to properly edit titles and headings. Take it from someone with experience. It is going to look bad to your professor if you manage to misspell your name on the title page of your paper. Check every heading for grammar usage, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Once you completely edit your research paper, I suggest you go back and check the headings one more time. By then, enough moments have passed that mistakes are more likely to stand out if you missed any the first time.

            The next place you should move your focus to is the extras. Extras include pictures, graphs, tables, charts, and indexes. If you have any of these in your paper, take the time to check them both for grammar and accuracy. These extras are supposed to add to your text. Any mistakes in them are not only going to defeat the purpose of their existence but possibly detract from your paper. Look at the labels, captions, page numbers, and data to ensure that everything is as it should be. If you reference any of your pictures or tables in your text, do a quick check to make sure that each reference guides the reader to the right spot.

            Finally, move on to your footnotes, endnotes, and citations. Every college student ought to know how critical reference citations can be. Colleges make sure that everyone is well-versed in what constitutes plagiarism and what the consequences will be. To avoid this troubling turn of events, devote some of your editing time to making sure that each reference is accurate, includes the necessary information, and directs readers to the correct location. Your sources are the backbone of your paper because you use them to back up your arguments. If citations are not correct, it not only creates plagiarism problems but also weakens your arguments.

           With that and a final skim to make sure all looks well; you should have a triage-edited and turn-in ready paper. It may not be as detailed as average editing, but it gets the job done. By focusing on the most important aspects of a paper and correcting the most costly mistakes, you can turn in a good quality paper despite a short deadline.

Grammar Tips for Grammar Day

            Today is officially Grammar Day. In celebration, I'm sharing some things writers should watch out for when self-editing. Written communication increases with every year because of social media posts, emails, and text messaging. We share a great deal of information every day through the written word. Knowing how to self-edit is invaluable. Editors and proofreaders know all too well what can happen when errors are left uncorrected. It can be as simple as being misunderstood or as complicated as landing in court. As you edit your work, keep these grammar tips and style suggestions in mind.

            The first tip for writers is to never, and I do mean never, rely on grammar and spelling checkers. Simply put, they don't catch every mistake and give bad grammar advice at times. They are meant to be tools, not editors. No one knows your writing style better than you. You know which words trip you up and which grammar rules make you pause. Always start there when checking your grammar and spelling. For instance, I know that when I type I tend to misspell environment. If that word comes up, I either check every instance of it for spelling or replace it with another word.

While checking your grammar, keep an eye out for capitalization and verb tense. These are two areas that can be tricky. Make sure that proper nouns, names, and items such as acronyms are all capitalized. On the other hand, check that common nouns like business analyst are lowercase. In business, I often see words capitalized that shouldn't be. Watch your verb choices to make sure they are all the same tense. It shouldn't flip flop between past and present unless you are actually speaking about the past and the present.

            The mechanics of grammar are important, but your writing style also plays a critical role. As you edit your work, be aware of consistency, clarity, and citations. Most people are not going to be checking the Chicago Manual when writing a tweet. I certainly don't blame them because in that context it isn't as important. What is important is choosing a way to write and sticking with it. Use the same punctuation, spellings, and tone throughout a single work so that it is cohesive. Being consistent in your choices prevents the reader’s flow from being disrupted. As soon as a reader gets thrown off by something in your writing, the reader is less likely to understand your point because their focus will be on that element that upset their train of thought.

Consistency does little good if your writing is not clear. Make sure what you’re writing can be understood by your intended audience. You can never please everyone, but it is good to strive for making your work accessible. To have clarity, pay attention to word choice and count. Think about a word's connotation. It needs to imply exactly what you mean. Concerning word count, don't use five words where two can complete the same job. However, don't take that advice and cut out all extra words. Sometimes those extras are what give writing personality.

            Finally, pay attention to citations. Always cite your sources. Nothing will get you into trouble more than not citing your source. When you do cite a source, be certain that you are providing the right information. Even if you don't follow a particular style guide, be careful that you supply enough information that a reader could easily track down your source and read it for themselves. If anything, check that all hyperlinks to your online sources work properly. The citation does little good if the hyperlink either doesn’t work or directs readers to the wrong page.

            There is plenty more that goes into editing, but not all writing needs the same amount of scrutiny. As you use different forms of written communication, these tips should help you catch some common mistakes and express yourself better. If you find yourself in over your head though, don't be afraid to ask for help from an editor. Editors are writers' cheerleaders and want to assist writers in presenting their best to the world. Happy Grammar Day, folks!

Making Sense of American and British English

            As I continue in my career as a copyeditor, the many differences between American and British English have become more apparent to me. On the one hand, I have gotten great pleasure out of discovering the many British words that have worked their way into my vocabulary. I assume that is a direct result of the amount of British literature and TV that I indulge in regularly. On the other hand, it has also served to be a conundrum. There are so many differences and I don't want to jump back and forth between the two versions of English within the same work. I am certain I am not the only editor or writer who has quickly become confused and uncertain of what is right. With personal experience in mind, I am offering you several tips that I have found work best when dealing with American and British English.

            The first tip is fairly basic but very much a necessity. Learn about the most common variations. Research either American or British English so that you can know how that form of English works. You don’t have to be an expert, nor have it all memorized. You do need to be aware of what differences exist so that your mental editor can recognize any possibilities for trouble. The first difference to be aware of is spellings. That is a sticking point for me that has often resulted in me cursing the name of Noah Webster and wondering why one spelling wasn't good enough. Be aware of differences like "colour" versus "color" or "centre" instead of "center." It is the slight deviations in spelling that can be the trickiest to catch.

Two more differences to keep in mind are wording and grammar. For instance, a muffin in American English is a very different thing from a muffin in British English. Also, Americans and British treat verbs and subject/verb agreement differently. The British have also retained some words and verb conjugations that have already fallen from favor in America. While I am on the subject, it isn't enough to be aware of American versus British English. For the sake of your audience, you need to think about what dialect the text is using. Just like there are differences between the parts of the US, different parts of Britain will have variations.

            At this point, it might sound hopeless. How is anyone supposed to make it through a manuscript without botching the language? The second tip I have for you is the biggest lifesaver. Invest in both a good British English and American English dictionary. You can’t know everything, so it is best to be armed with the answers for when the questions arise. Even when you feel certain you have the right word or spelling, check the dictionary. You can never be too certain. It is much better to take the time to check a right answer than to miss a wrong one.

            A dictionary is fine but looking things up does take time and can throw you off when you're on a roll. This is where a style sheet becomes imperative. As you look things up or find yourself referring to a certain point repeatedly, write it down on a style sheet so that you can have easy access to the answers you need. This will save you time throughout your work and make it so that the most common answers you need are readily available.

            Finally, I suggest that you practice. The more you write or edit with a certain type of English, the more comfortable you will become. It will feel more natural as you learn how to use it and get used to the sound of it. Speaking of sound, it can also be helpful to read that variant of English. I can certainly testify to how well reading can work in teaching one either American or British English.

           An editor or writer who has to use either American or British English may find the differences in grammar, spelling, and meaning to be confusing. By being aware of these differences and preparing for them, one can master the variations and write clear English manuscripts. An editor or writer simply needs to arm themselves with a dictionary and style sheet so that they can use either form of English without the struggle of guessing which way is correct.