In part 1 and part 2 of this post, I discussed some of the problems of lack of clarity and of verbosity that are common in academic writing and gave two examples of how typical constructions can be greatly improved in clarity and simplicity by applying Plain Language...
Plain Language in academic writing (part 2)
In part 1 of this post, I discussed some of the problems of the lack of clarity and of verbosity that are common in academic writing. What follows are some examples of typical constructions that can be greatly improved in clarity and simplified by applying Plain...
Plain Language in academic writing (part 1)
We are all familiar with fusty, complicated, roundabout academic writing – no doubt it filled many of the textbooks you struggled through at school and university; and if you have to read academic texts in your working life, you may dread the task because it is such a...
Essential resources for language practitioners (part 2)
(Note: The first part of this article introduced helpful resources for various dictionaries and general copy-editing.) A book can contain many elements besides solid blocks of type. ... It is the editor's job to make all these elements work together to present the...
Essential resources for language practitioners (part 1)
No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft. HG Wells A passion it may well be, but altering ‘someone else’s draft’ also requires more than a mote of know-how. Now, that know-how does not necessarily all have to be crammed inside our...
6 tips for your first editing gigs
Your first few jobs as an editor can feel daunting and you may have questions about how best to tackle the initial paperwork so that the project starts without a hitch. Below are six tips to help you to quote efficiently and make sure that the client’s and the...
Gender-neutral language causes us to think differently
This article appeared in De Morgen newspaper on Saturday, 10 August 2019. Translated from the Dutch by John Linnegar for the May 2020 issue of PEGboard. Gender-neutral language makes people think differently about the sexes, it would appear from scientific...
3 ways to reduce the risk of non-payment
There is nothing more demoralising than pounding away at a task, delivering it in good time and then waiting to be paid – but never seeing that payment. Here are three things to put in place that, at the very least, should reduce the risk of not being paid for your...
How to find your files
(With a nod to How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. I did not like the self-illustrated book but I loved the DVD.) You can make it easier to find files on your computer or smartphone if you structure your filenames according to how you are going to use...
The don’ts of academic editing
There has been considerable debate in professional editing circles regarding the limits and boundaries of the editor’s role. According to Lozano (2014: 363), ‘correction or editing services [is] a practice that is openly endorsed by many journals and scientific...
The advantages and benefits of PEG’s accreditation offerings
One of the many questions on our members’ lips nowadays is ‘Why accreditation?’ This blog attempts to answer this question by highlighting its numerous benefits. Raising professional standards Fundamentally, accreditation aims to raise professional standards of...
Types of editing and their roles in the quality of your manuscript
In my previous blog post, we looked into the role of editors and proofreaders in trade books. I pointed out that there is more to editing than just fixing spelling and grammatical errors. There are different types of editing, and each serves a purpose. For first-time...
Why a style guide?
The following post is an extract taken from Consistency, Consistency, Consistency: The PEG guide to style guides written by John Linnegar with Paul Schamberger and Jill Bishop. Publishing houses’ style guides establish house rules for language usage, such as spelling,...
Trade books: The role of editors and proofreaders
What are trade books? Trade books probably have the largest market in comparison to other types of book. That’s because they are intended for a general readership and cover a variety of genres: biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, self-help, business, mystery,...
Social media marketing for editors
Social media is the new normal with regard to business. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the POPI Act and its impact on direct marketing, and the need to establish an online brand, social media marketing has become an essential...
Optimising your LinkedIn profile
Developing a presence on the world wide web is crucial for freelance success. One of the best ways to market yourself as a language practitioner is by optimising your LinkedIn profile. The following basic principles can help to set you apart from your competitors: A...
Social media marketing: So many questions
In this fourth article in the series on social media marketing (SMM), I consider the questions: Content or paid SMM? What platforms should I consider? Again, I refer to the Digital 2022 Global Overview Report by DataReportal/We Are Social/Hootsuite as I delve...
Social media marketing: Consider the data
In this third article in the series on social media marketing (SMM), we look at some of the basic data that relates to SMM and digital marketing (DM), the broader area of marketing in which SMM fits. For the purposes of this article, let’s assume that you have been...
Developmental editing of a memoir
What is a developmental edit? During developmental editing, the editor focuses on the ‘big picture’ of the story and makes recommendations to ensure a winning structure that will keep readers absorbed to the end of the book. This editing step can be done during an...
How to write a fiction book review
This article appeared under the same heading in PEGboard July 2019. From time to time, PEG receives requests for a reader’s review of a book before it is sent to a publisher. The article sets out a basic framework for carrying out such a task. The guidelines below are...