1. Stephanie GayleEDIT PROSE LIKE A PRO MIT Media LabJanuar y27, 2011

2. WHAT IS EDITING? A substantive reworking of text with an aim to improve it What it isnt: Mere copyediting (checking for typos, basic grammar errors) 3. EGO?CHECK IT AT THE DOOR 4. TIME Multiple drafts are not nice they are necessary Time between drafts helps you get enough distance to spoterror Optimize your editing time by doing nothing else Go through it all from start to finish dont make changes asyou go (Make notations: fix, cut, awkward) 5. READERS Good readers are worth their weight in chocolate Who to pick? Someone who is a good writer Someone other than your mother/father/partner Someone who knows what youre writing about Someone who doesnt know what youre writing about Be a reader It will help you become a better editor 6. MAKING SENSE Keep asking yourself Does this make sense? Do the arguments or does the storyline follow naturally? Watch out for abrupt shifts in tone, reasoning, or tense 7. TIPS Read aloud Keep backups of old drafts Routine carve out space for yourself If you get cross-eyed, stop 8. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Familiarize yourself with the form Keep references to hand If you know someone whos published where you want to, orbeen through what youre doing, ask questions of them 9. CRITICISM? Be open to it No need to be a sponge Some people (editors) will interpret the same prose dif ferently 10. WHAT TO AVOID Starting too late (often you can start three paragraphs in ) Writing tics If you know you overuse a word, phrase, or grammar bit (en dashes)do a find search on your document and weed out multiples Citations that dont convey information Fillers dont do anything but add to the word count Beautiful sentences that don t advance your work Repetition Smart sounding words 11. GO FORTH AND EDIT! The first draft of anything is shit. ~ Ernest Hemingway