You can learn a lot about editing online, sometimes for free. Here are good examples of what's out there:
• How to use Adobe Acrobat Reader XI to mark up a PDF (Science editor Adrienne Montgomerie)
• How To Edit: Copy Editing Tutorial #1 (video breakdown of Shane Arthur's copy edit, on EditingHacks, a YouTube site on how to edit--especially how to trim flab)
• How To Edit: Copy Editing Tutorial #2 (part 1 of 2) And here's the link to Part 2 of 2 .
Here's a page of links to Editing Hack's video tutorials. Thanks to Katharine O'Moore-Klopf of KOK Edit Blog for the link to these tutorials. She has excellent links to resources on her Copyeditors’ Knowledge Base.
Editing Checklists
Time is money when you're editing, so you must have systems.
***Editing checklist (Kathy Frost's invaluable 24-page compilation of points from other editing checklists--especially good for nonfiction)
• Editing Primer: Editing Your Own Work (Lillie Amman, PDF)
• Typographic Checklist (designer Greg Devitt)
• Barbara Dawson Smith's Self-Editing Checklist
• Jeffrey Chapman's Self-Editing checklist
• Lori Handeland's fiction self-editing checklist
• Editing Fiction by Lee Masterson and Tina Morgan (Fiction Factor)
Macros for editors
Macros are simple programs that allow you, with one or two keystrokes, to automate tedious search-and-replace tasks and other mind-numbing copyediting chores. They let the computer do the boring tasks while you focus on the content. Free trials are available for most of these tools.
• Editor's Toolkit Plus--The Editorium (tips, macros, add-ins, and utilities for editors editing online using Microsoft Word). Check out Jack Lyons' Macro Cookbook for Microsoft Word.
• EditTools (www.wordsnsync.com)
• FileCleaner for Microsoft Word cleans up common problems in electronic manuscripts, including multiple spaces, multiple returns, unnecessary tabs, improperly typed ellipses, ells used as ones, and so on. It turns double hyphens into em dashes, and hyphens between numerals into en dashes. It can also remove directly applied font formatting (such as Times 12 point) while retaining styles (such as Heading 1) and character formatting (such as italic and bold), quickly cleaning up those messy documents imported from other word processors or OCR programs.
• PerfectIt (www.intelligentediting.com) (proofreading software for professionals)
• Reference Checker checks numerical (Vancouver) and name+date-style (Harvard and APA) references in Word files. Finds all name-date or numbered citations in a document and checks them against the references. When finished, it displays a list of matches and mismatches.
More advice and practical tips on editing and proofreading:
• Proofreading Tips and Tools (For Editors, Writers and Editors)
• Editing and Revising Fiction (links to many helpful articles)
(First published 1/12/13. Updated 3/2/13.)
• How to use Adobe Acrobat Reader XI to mark up a PDF (Science editor Adrienne Montgomerie)
• How To Edit: Copy Editing Tutorial #1 (video breakdown of Shane Arthur's copy edit, on EditingHacks, a YouTube site on how to edit--especially how to trim flab)
• How To Edit: Copy Editing Tutorial #2 (part 1 of 2) And here's the link to Part 2 of 2 .
Here's a page of links to Editing Hack's video tutorials. Thanks to Katharine O'Moore-Klopf of KOK Edit Blog for the link to these tutorials. She has excellent links to resources on her Copyeditors’ Knowledge Base.
Editing Checklists
Time is money when you're editing, so you must have systems.
***Editing checklist (Kathy Frost's invaluable 24-page compilation of points from other editing checklists--especially good for nonfiction)
• Editing Primer: Editing Your Own Work (Lillie Amman, PDF)
• Typographic Checklist (designer Greg Devitt)
• Barbara Dawson Smith's Self-Editing Checklist
• Jeffrey Chapman's Self-Editing checklist
• Lori Handeland's fiction self-editing checklist
• Editing Fiction by Lee Masterson and Tina Morgan (Fiction Factor)
Macros for editors
Macros are simple programs that allow you, with one or two keystrokes, to automate tedious search-and-replace tasks and other mind-numbing copyediting chores. They let the computer do the boring tasks while you focus on the content. Free trials are available for most of these tools.
• Editor's Toolkit Plus--The Editorium (tips, macros, add-ins, and utilities for editors editing online using Microsoft Word). Check out Jack Lyons' Macro Cookbook for Microsoft Word.
• EditTools (www.wordsnsync.com)
• FileCleaner for Microsoft Word cleans up common problems in electronic manuscripts, including multiple spaces, multiple returns, unnecessary tabs, improperly typed ellipses, ells used as ones, and so on. It turns double hyphens into em dashes, and hyphens between numerals into en dashes. It can also remove directly applied font formatting (such as Times 12 point) while retaining styles (such as Heading 1) and character formatting (such as italic and bold), quickly cleaning up those messy documents imported from other word processors or OCR programs.
• PerfectIt (www.intelligentediting.com) (proofreading software for professionals)
• Reference Checker checks numerical (Vancouver) and name+date-style (Harvard and APA) references in Word files. Finds all name-date or numbered citations in a document and checks them against the references. When finished, it displays a list of matches and mismatches.
More advice and practical tips on editing and proofreading:
• Proofreading Tips and Tools (For Editors, Writers and Editors)
• Editing and Revising Fiction (links to many helpful articles)
(First published 1/12/13. Updated 3/2/13.)