5.+Editing+Technologies+and+Proofreaders'+Marks

= **5.**  **Editing Technologies and Proofreaders’ Marks**=

**5.1 Introduction**
Just as writer-editor relationships vary, so do methods of editing and incorporating edits. Traditionally, an editor will mark up a paper copy of written work, with suggested changes for the writer. The writer then decides which edits to accept and which to reject. Today, although manual paper editing is still commonplace, editors have more options to edit electronically. Editors may make changes directly to the digital file, often using the program’s inherent revision marking function to note changes. Microsoft Word and Adobe Professional are two programs that contain features that track changes made to a document as they are made. There are pros and cons to both manual and electronic editing and the writer-editor relationship may determine which method is used.

**5.2 Paper Editing**
Editing documents on paper reinforces the writer’s sense of ownership, as no actual changes are made to the electronic file itself. Writers may feel that they have more control over the decision about which markups are implemented and which are not when editing is done on paper. Of course, much depends on the writer-editor relationship, but many still choose to do paper markups for a variety of reasons. A paper document may often seem more portable and easier to read, making it seem easier to make manual edits on paper.

**5.3 Proofreader’s Marks**
Industry-standard proofreader’s marks should be used when editing a writer’s work. Using this standard method of markups will clearly communicate your editorial suggestions.

**5.4 Placing the Marks on the Page**
If the manuscript is double-spaced, marks can be placed within the lines; if single-spaced, show in the text where changes should be made and indicate the changes themselves in the margins. To distinguish your edits from your comments in the margins, circle comments to indicate that they are not edits.

Don’t assume that the writer or production specialist will make changes globally if you only mark them in one place in the document. Production specialists in particular may only make the changes indicated on each specific page. Mark each place of change to assure your edits will be made appropriately – remember, communication is key.

Punctuation marks are particularly difficult to indicate in markup because of their small size. Consider making punctuation edits on a separate page or marked up copy that is separate from other edits. Using circles and carets are standard marks; marks for colons and semi-colons may vary among industry standards. Whichever method you choose, be sure to communicate effectively with your production and writing team.

**5.5 Electronic Editing**
Electronic editing is used for a variety of reasons. Electronic editing may be considered fast, less time-consuming, collaborative, good for copy that is electronic in nature //(e.g., a web page or e-learning module)// and provides a clear means of communicating suggestions and changes to a document, regardless of the physical location of editor and writer.

**5.6 Automated Typographic Markup (ATM)**
Electronic editing can take many forms. Some edit using a feature that keeps track of changes as they are made, such as the features available in Microsoft Word, Adobe Professional and FrameMaker. This feature, also known as Automated typographic markup (ATM) enables the editor to make changes directly to the document that are automatically tracked with various marks such as underline, double-underline, colors, and strikethrough. Although FrameMaker does not track as the changes are made, it does have a document comparison feature. Document comparison electronically compares two documents and marks the changes between them. Other programs, such as Workshare, work with other editing programs like Microsoft Word to compare changes between two documents.

**5.7 Manual Typographic Markup (MTM)**
Manual typographic markup (MTM) is a method of using various character styles to mark changes electronically, in a way that can be reviewed on paper. This method is not as common, but may be useful for those who need to review changes on paper.

**5.8 Electronic Overlay**
In some programs, such as Adobe Acrobat, FrameMaker, and others, changes and comments are marked as a separate layer from the content itself. This is often preferred, as changes are not made directly to content.

**5.9 Impact of Electronic Editing**
Some editors may simply make changes and not track them. This is one of the issues writers and editors may have with electronic editing. Even when changes are tracked, it may be considered difficult to distinguish between the original text and the revisions. Electronic editing may also jeopardize the traditional writer-editor relationship, as editors that do not track the changes take some of the control over the content that has traditionally belonged to the writer.

Some writers and editors choose not to edit electronically because they find reading copy marked electronically to be difficult to read – on paper or on screen. This may change as improvements are made to monitors that may produce higher quality, high definition, onscreen viewing.

**5.10 Marking Digital Copy**
Sometimes technical editors work with files that represent online content such as websites, e-learning, or online help. There may even be more than one format to edit for the same content. For example, an instructional quick reference guide may have a format appropriate for printing, as well as a version that is meant for online display and may include interactivity created in Adobe Captivate or Techsmith’s Camtasia. Each may be created in different formats that will require editing. Sometimes technical editing may also involve working with and editing code such as HTML, SGML, or XML. Unlike paper copy, marking digital copy may involve less direction on procedural matters //(e.g., bold, spacing, underline, etc.)//, as an editor may choose to make those changes directly. Editing of digital copy may also be more structural in nature. An editor may change the tags that define the styles and structure of the document layout directly in the document instead of marking it up for revisions by another person. This is often done not to one page in a digital document, but rather to the cascading style sheets (CSS) where appearance and structure are designated and used by each page for online content.

//For more information// see Rude, pp. 48-82, and Chicago Manual of Style 3.1.

1. Overview 2. Technical Editing 3. Working with Writers 4. Types of Editing 5. Editing Technologies and Proofreaders' Marks 6. Editing for International Audiences
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