Copyediting,+Discourse+Communities,+and+Audience+Analysis

=**​Chapter 3: Copyediting, Discourse Communities, and Audience Analysis** =

3.1 Introduction 3.2 Audience Analysis 3.2.1 Types of Audiences 3.2.2 Audience Characteristics 3.2.3 Readers as Shareholders 3.2.4 Avoiding False Assumptions About Audiences 3.3 Types of Editing 3.4 Editorial Tasks 3.5 Formal and Informal MSPTC Discourse Communities 3.6 Project Assessment 3.7 Life Cycle Model of Project Management 3.8 Management Plan

**3.1 INTRODUCTION ** 

Editing involves not only great attention to detail for issues of punctuation, grammar, and spelling, but also the ability to transform writer-based content into reader-based documents that resonate with the audience. Editors need to simultaneously balance big picture content and design decisions with the detail-oriented tasks of copyediting. The focus of this section is on the methods MSPTC students use when functioning as editors for coursework assignments. Practical advice and examples are designed to illustrate how MSPTC students can apply the skill areas of audience analysis, copyediting, and project management to successfully manage coursework.


 * 3.2 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS**

For most technical editors, this is //the// most important consideration in planning and reviewing a document. You "adapt" your editing to meet the needs​, interests, and background of the readers who will be using the documents. Lack of audience analysis and adaptation is one of the root causes of most of the problems you find in professional, technical documents—particularly instructions where it surfaces most glaringly. One of the first things to do when you analyze the audience is to identify its type (or types—it's rarely just one type).

​ ​**3.2.1 Types of Audiences **  The editor needs to understand who the audience is so as to produce material that is appropriate to varying needs. What the editor has in front of them is a collaboration between the writer and individuals with varying degrees of knowledge and interest about the product being written about. Similar to the reliance the writer benefits from in dealing with the subject matter experts, if the editor also has access to these individuals, the quality of the material produced may be higher. Following are common classifications of audiences.

Experts //:// These are the readers who know the theory and the product inside and out. They designed it, they tested it, they know everything about it. Often, they have advanced degrees and operate in academic settings or in research and development areas of the government and business worlds. The nonspecialist reader is least likely to understand what these people are saying-but also has the least reason to try. More often, the communication challenge faced by the expert is communicating to the technician and the executive.

Technicians: These are the people who build, operate, maintain, and repair the products that the experts design and theorize about. Theirs is a highly technical knowledge as well, but of a more practical nature.

Executives: These are the people who make business, economic, administrative, legal, governmental, political decisions on the products that the experts and technicians work with. If it's a new product, they decide whether to produce and market it. Executives are likely to have as little technical knowledge about the subject as nonspecialists.

Nonspecialists: These readers have the least technical knowledge of all. Their interest may be as practical as technicians', but in a different way. They want to use the new product to accomplish their tasks or they may just be curious about a specific technical matter and want to learn about it—but for no specific, practical reason.

3.2.2 Audience Characteristics ​ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Technical editors will need to determine aspects or characteristics of the audience they are addressing. Sometimes these characteristics are homogenous as in a group of mechanical engineers but often the audience's characteristics are mixed. Often manuals created by the technical writer need to service different groups. Below are different characteristics that the editor needs to consider.

Background-knowledge, experience, training //:// The knowledge and experience of your audience determines what level of detail must be retained or added to the document. MIxed levels of experience may lead to frustration if needed information background information is missing. An important concern as an editor is how much knowledge, experience, or training you can expect in the user of the document. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Needs, interests, demographics:  <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">W <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">hat your audience is going to expect from that document drives the planning. How the audience will use your document and what will they demand from it? The audiences' age, type of residence, area of residence, sex, political preferences and so on can affect how the manual should be revised. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Audience analysis can get complicated by at least two other factors: mixed audience types for one document, wide variability within audience, and unknown audiences. You are likely to find that your report is for more than one audience. You can either write all the sections so that all the audiences of your document can understand them or you can write each section strictly for the audience that would be interested in it. Variability in an audience can affect how the manual is presented. Although you have an audience that fits into only one category, there may be a wide variability in its background. Do you write to the lowest common denominator and end up with a tedious, cumbersome book or maybe loose some of your readers in your explanations. One solution is to put the supplemental information in appendixes or insert cross-references to beginners' books.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> "As editors, we need to be able to transform writer-based documents to reader-based documents . . . serving realistic discourse communities often asynchronous in nature in which a complex array of readers are literally shareholders" (Elliot). A common theme throughout MSPTC coursework is the need to perform a thorough audience analysis and consider the background, needs, and goals of all constituents involved. It is imperative, therefore, to think broadly in terms of the potential for a document's usage when analyzing the audience.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.2.3 Readers as Shareholders **

The following example depicts a model framework that can be used to address the needs of multiple shareholders. This format is utilized for the audience analysis charts required of PTC 700 Masters projects and is a valuable approach for any complex document with multiple stakeholders.


 * **Audience** || ** Needs: ** Information where the readers need to take action or make a decision || **Values:** Issues, goals, or beliefs that the readers feel are important || **Attitudes:** Readers' emotional response to the document (e.g., optimistic, cautious, skeptical, impartial, open-minded, hopeful, anxious) ||
 * **Primary Audience:** P eople to whom the document is addressed, (i.e., people who need to take action or make a decision based upon the information you provide.) ||  ||   ||   ||
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">**Secondary Audience:** A dvisors to the primary audience, ( e.g., subject matter experts with technical knowledge. ||   ||   ||   ||
 * **Tertiary Audience:** Others who may have an interest in the document . ||   ||   ||   ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another format is a user needs analysis that can be conducted for any document or project. The following example is an excerpt from the user needs analysis created as the framework to address the characteristics and needs of the audience for this wikispace editing guide. MSPTC certificate and degree students ||< Understand the importance of producing high-quality professional technical communications. Familiar and comfortable navigating print and electronic sources of information (e.g., electronic versions of style manuals). Possess time management skills​ because of juggling various responsibilities: school, work, family Detail oriented and able to meet deadlines. ||< Dependent on the specific document/class/subject matter. Dependent on the situation/access to resources. ||
 * **User Group** || **User Characteristics** || **Context of Use** ||
 * < __Primary user__ :


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.2.4 Avoiding False Assumptions about Audiences **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As editors, we should not assume that the primary reader addressed in the document is the only reader. It is important to provide proper context to readers and avoid assuming that readers are technical specialists in the topic addressed in the document. It is imperative not to assume that readers have been immersed in daily discussions of the topic covered in the document. "A document may be retrieved across time and circumstance . . . and must stand across time and circumstance" (Elliot). It is essential to consider both current and future ways that readers will plan to use a given document.

The following example is taken from the PTC 601 Introduction to Technical Communications course in which students are asked to analyze and critique an employee manual for the MacroWidget Corporation.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Multiple organizational issues in the manual render it neither particularly useful for new employees nor of value to current employees. A careful editor would have determined that the employee manual will be accessed by both new employees and current employees. Considering both those audiences might have led the editor to suggest organizational changes to the document (e.g., including a table of contents to help users find information more quickly and enable the manual to serve as an ongoing reference tool rather than a document presumed to be read from cover to cover). Additionally, considering the needs of new employees, an editor should recommend that the major content sections be prioritized logically (e.g., beginning with the daily procedural information employees need to know like the work schedule/expected hours, timecard procedures, tools an employee must purchase in order to begin work, and the pay periods). However, these sections are not discussed until pages three, four, six, and seven, respectively."

The example above is a good illustration of a document that does not consider the needs of its various audiences. To develop user-centered content, a careful editor will take into account the current and future needs of the many audiences who will use the material.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.3 TYPES OF EDITING **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Your job as an editor is to remove barriers . . .to ensure that ideas are given the respect they deserve" (Elliot). How can MSPTC students accomplish this worthy goal? Academic and professional editing involves both revising for the sometimes subtle substantive edits like changes to a writer's voice as well as subsequent checks for items like grammatical consistency.

//The Chicago Manual of Style// and Rude in //Technical Editing// defines three types of editing :

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Developmental / comprehensive editing:** is a multistage process that deals with an analysis of how the document as a whole will be read and used; deals with the content itself and must be completed before the other two types of editing occur. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Substantive editing: **deals with the organization and presentation of an existing document and covers items such as unity, elimination of ambiguity, simplification, reorganization, and documentation ( <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__The Chicago Manual of Style__ 73). In practice within the MSPTC program, it makes sense to review documents first at the developmental level to assess whether the content itself meets the needs of the audience. Then the manuscript editing (copyediting) can occur to review for grammar and style along with substantive editing which involves taking a step back to assess the organization of a document. Reviewing a document for all three types of edits is valuable in that it requires the editor to look critically at the document from three entirely different perspectives.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Manuscript editing:** also called copyediting or line editing requires attention to every word in a manuscript, a thorough knowledge of the style to be followed and the ability to make quick, logical, and defensible decisions".


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.4 EDITORIAL TASKS **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Complex ideas can be made clear--that is the responsibility of the editor-writer relationship" (Elliot). In specific terms, this involves attending to numerous individual editorial tasks and responsibilities.

Carolyn Rude offers a comprehensive list of editorial tasks that are worth considering when editing MSPTC assignments:


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Basic copyediting (focus on mechanical consistency of the text): **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">spelling, grammar, punctuation; consistency: verbal, visual, mechanical, content; match of cross-references, callout, table of contents; completeness of parts: sections, visuals, headings; accuracy of terms, numbers, quotations.; illustrations


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Comprehensive editing (actual content, organization, and design of the text): **document planning: suitability for readers, purpose, budget; style: tone, diction, sentence structure; organization; visual design; illustrations; cultural edit; legal and ethical edit (Rude 12).


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.5 FORMAL AND INFORMAL MSPTC DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES **

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Individuals who contribute to <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">group projects, as well as individual work that is shared electronically through MSPTC bulletin boards, can be considered discourse communities which are defined as groups that "create knowledge that comes with participation" (Elliot). These discourse communities are formed either formally or informally in each course students take throughout the MSPTC program.

Formal discourse communities occur in many MSPTC courses where students are assigned to groups to work on projects and produce documents that are the result of team collaboration. Informal discourse communities occur in nearly every MSPTC course where students interact via the asynchronous WebCT course bulletin board.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.6 PROJECT ASSESSMENT **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Project planning is key to forming a collaborative team that will work seamlessly together to develop and design a document. In the MSPTC program students bring varied <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">yet complementary strengths and areas of interest to a project. For example, some students have more editing- and writing-intensive backgrounds while others are more design-focused. A good project manager will leverage the strengths of individual team members into a cohesive whole.

Examples of group work in the MSPTC program include the Omega Project in PTC 601 Introduction to Technical Communications where students work in groups to design a product in MS Visio <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and the develop<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ment of a comprehensive instruction manual. Another example of group work is in PTC 603 Cultural and Technological Change where students work in groups to produce weekly summaries of readings and pose a challenging discussion question to the class. When embarking on group projects like these, the following steps should be taken prior to the creation of a project plan:

· <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Undertake a comprehensive Needs Analysis to c<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">larify understanding and expectations regarding project deliverables with <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the professor and team members. This can help avoid situations where team members have different assumptions about the project than each other (or than the professor). · <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Request that team members identify their areas of strength and how they believe they can best add value to the project. This helps the team more fully leverage each individual's preferences and subject matter expertise. · <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Identify the breakdown of key tasks and general deliverables involved. This may include major milestones and simultaneous and independent project tasks. · <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Determine whether it makes sense to have individual team members be responsible for or lead certain component parts of the project (e.g., each team member could be responsible for a specific content area of the project and would draft that content and be responsible for incorporating the team's comments and sharing a revised version). This system can help eliminate version control problems and help each team member be accountable for different areas of the project.

The following example is taken from the PTC 601 Introduction to Technical Communications course in which students are asked to design <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a product in MS Visio and develop a comprehensive instruction ad manual.

"Team member skills/strengths have been identified as they relate to this project and are incorporated into the project assignments as follows: Mary – Specializes in project management, organization, and writing Sam – Specializes in writing, editing, and organizing the document Paul– Specializes in design and working with MS Visio"

While the division of labor has been structured to take maximum advantage of individual strengths, all team members will share responsibility for the final product and documentation. Each completed task will be posted to the group's bulletin board and will be reviewed by the project manager and the team. Assignment tasks and due dates will be re-evaluated and revised as needed by the project manager.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.7 LIFE CYCLE MODEL OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">JoAnn Hackos' model of the publications development life cycle, detailed in her book, __Managing Your Documentation Projects__, is a helpful guide to follow regarding the general steps involved in producing a document. The five phases in this process include:


 * 1) Starting the project--information planning
 * 2) Establishing the specifics--content specification
 * 3) Keeping the project running--implementation
 * 4) Managing the production phase--production
 * 5) Ending the project--evaluation (Rude 421)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These general phases of document planning are applicable to most types of projects. The five steps above in the life cycle model can serve as a high-level checklist for managing an MSPTC group project. A management plan tailored to the MSPTC program is described in the next section.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.8 MANAGEMENT PLAN **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A well-designed management plan can help foster a positive and productive team environment that unifies a group across time and distance and truly enables collaborative work in an asynchronous MSPTC discourse community. When team members are clear as to their individual responsibilities and have been a part of drafting and approving a project plan that fairly balances the workload across the group, it is much easier to achieve a quality on-time delivery of all project components throughout the semester. A well-defined management plan also helps avoid the miscommunications and inefficiencies common to projects that lack a clearly-articulated plan.

The following example is taken from the PTC 624 Professional and Technical Editing course in which students created this wikispace editing guide. The management plan sample below is a model that can be adapted to any MSPTC group project.


 * Project Overview**

Sam Paul Tara ||
 * **Project Title** || MSPTC Student Editing Guide ||
 * **Audience** || MSPTC students and faculty ||
 * **Project Manager** || Mary ||
 * **Team Members** || Mary

The selection of meaningful examples to illustrate each of the 15 content areas is key to making the guide useful now and in the future. Examples will be drawn from PTC 624 coursework as well as from other MSPTC courses and students' professional and personal experience. The MSPTC Editing Guide intends to serve as a first-stop, "at-a-glance" reference that describes technical communications examples and also provides references to other sources where appropriate. Distinguishing factors that make this Editing Guide unique from other texts are 1) delivery via Wikispace which enables current and future MSPTC students to grow and adapt the content and 2) examples specific to practical technical communications scenarios. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assignments and Due Dates **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Purpose of the Project ** || The purpose of this project is for NJIT graduate students enrolled in PTC 624 to collaboratively showcase their technical editing knowledge in a format that will serve the entire MSPTC student and faculty community. The MSPTC Editing Guide also aims to function as a resource for colleagues in other NJIT programs. For example, a professor might identify an issue with a student essay and warrant the change with a link to the MSPTC Editing Guide which depicts a relevant example.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Description ** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The MSPTC Editing Guide is a collaborative guide, created by students in PTC 624 and published on the web in the Elliot Media Wikispace at http://elliotmedia.wikispaces.com/msptcediting.

The MSPTC Editing Guide will cover the following topics:


 * MSPTC Editing Guide **
 * 1) Professional and Technical Editing in the 21st Century
 * 2) Warranting Evidence in the Editing Process
 * 3) Copyediting, Discourse Communities, and Audience Analysis
 * 4) Grammar and Usage
 * 5) Punctuation
 * 6) Spelling and Unique Treatment of Words
 * 7) Names and Terms
 * 8) Numbers
 * 9) Sentence Structure
 * 10) Quotations
 * 11) Editing Quantitative Material
 * 12) Editing Bibliographic Material
 * 13) Legal and Ethical Issues
 * 14) Creating and Editing Websites
 * 15) Graphics
 * 16) Electronic Editing
 * 17) Methods of Electronic Editing
 * 18) Information Management/ Content Management/ Information Architecture
 * 19) Electronic Media and Content
 * 20) Editing for Software Documentation

The PTC 624 class has divided into three teams. Communication across the teams is conducted by the project managers: Bob (Group 1), Sarah (Group 2), and Mary (Group 3).

The following items were identified as global tasks that must be defined for the class as a whole to follow in order for the guide to be a cohesive final product: || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Item ** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Description ** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Responsible Party ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Style ** || Define style parameters for Wiki guide, including heading levels and look and feel. || Group 1 ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Format ** || Define how examples are to be presented for each topic (e.g., wrong examples, corrected example, reference for revision) || Group 2 ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Audience Needs ** || Define the audience needs and goals with an audience analysis chart that describes what will make the guide useful for MSPTC students and faculty as well as anyone with access to Wikispaces. || Group 3 ||
 * ** Content Topics ** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Keeping the overall style, format, and audience needs in mind, each group is responsible for producing five sections of the final guide. Topic assignments were made based upon subject matter expertise and individual preferences.

Group 1: Topics # 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 Group 2: Topics # 1, 3, 10, 12, 14 Group 3: Topics # 4, 9, 11, 13, 15 || Group 3 individual responsibilities are noted below. ||

· Develop audience needs analysis chart · Write "Legal and Ethical Issues" section · Write "Numbers" section · Write "Quotations" section · Write "Editing Bibliographic Material" section · Serve as technology point person resolving technical questions related to implementing Group 3 content on the wikispace · Develop management plan, identify project tasks and responsibilities & coordinate deliverables with the other groups
 * || ** Specific Assignments ** || Team members will have their own areas of specialization as noted below. In addition, each team member will be expected to review, edit, and comment on other team members' contributions. These assignments take into account topic preferences expressed by team members and a desire to make the workload as fair as possible across the team while using individual strengths to our advantage.
 * Sam **
 * Paul **
 * Tara **
 * Mary **
 * · ** Write "Copyediting, Discourse Communities" section ||
 * ** Work Schedule ** || The team plans to communicate asynchronously on a regular basis. Team members will complete their assigned tasks independently and post them to the team for review by the deadlines indicated on the project timeline
 * Project Timeline: ** || ** Task ** || ** Responsible Party ** || ** Start Date ** || ** End Date ** ||
 * Each task should be listed according to the specifics of the project. || Associate an individual team member with each task || Determine start date for task || Determine firm end date for task ||


 * ** Miscellaneous ** || ** Progress and Performance Evaluation **

Progress will be evaluated by tracking the project timeline. Every effort has been made to clarify expectations and individual task deadlines as they relate to the team’s overall mission. Any missed deadlines will be identified by the project manager and assessed by the team to mitigate the impact on delivery date.

There is an expectation that all team members will put forth equal effort and productivity. This includes submitting individual components of group assignments according to the schedule. Performance is evaluated based upon: · Completed deliverables · Participation in group decisions · Communication with and feedback to other team members via the bulletin board

In order to best foster a collaborative team while working within the constraints of the project deadlines, Group 3 will adopt a consultative style where the project manager makes a decision based upon group input. In an effort to work efficiently and effectively, the team has agreed that, · Conflict amongst any of the team members will be brought forth and resolved promptly · Open and honest communications will occur · In cases where consensus can not be reached, majority will rule subject to sufficient justification · Team members will treat each other and individual opinions with respect even at times of disagreement
 * Dispute and Grievance Resolution **

Team members will use the Group 3 bulletin board to discuss issues or questions. Items that require coordination with Groups 1 and 2 will be led by Mary. Technical questions related to using the Wikispace will be led by Tara who will act as Group 3's technology liaison. Emergency contact information is provided below in the event a team member has an immediate issue or scheduling conflict. || ** Team Member ** || ** Contact Information ** ||
 * Contact Information **
 * Mary || Enter contact information for each team member. ||
 * Sam ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Paul ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tara ||  ||
 * While the management plan example above was created for a specific project, it also serves as a model <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">that can be adapted to most MSPTC group work.

Works Cited **

//The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers//. 15th ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003.

Elliot, Norbert. "Lecture 4: Copyediting, Discourse Communities, and Audience Analysis." PTC 624 Professional and Technical Editing. NJIT. Newark, NJ. 29 March 2008.

Mc Murrey, David A. "Online Technical Writing: Audience Analysis." 2001. http://www.io.com/~hcexres/textbook/aud.html (accessed April 16, 2010).

Rude, Carolyn D. //Technical Editing//. 4th ed. New Yo​rk: Pearson Longman, 2006.