Making Passes

No, no, not that kind of passes. I'm talking about making separate passes through a document to catch different kinds of errors. If you can catch them all in one pass, your mind is much more efficient than mine. I work much better and catch more errors by going through a manuscript several times, fixing different kinds of problems each time. This approach to editing works well on paper, but it works even better if you're editing on the computer. This is related to last week's article on editing from the top down, which you can read here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707878802

Here are some of the passes I make when I'm editing a document:

1. I do a spell check. Laugh if you will, but a spell check catches the most elusive of typographical errors--which means I don't have to. It saves time now and embarrassment later. You can read more on this topic here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1700310413

2. I scan for repeated errors, inconsistencies, and idiosyncrasies in punctuation (especially in citations), capitalization, and spelling. When I find something I don't like, I fix it globally with Microsoft Word's Find and Replace feature. This is much faster than doing all of this work by hand, and when I'm done, I'm not left wondering if I've missed an occurrence of one of the problems somewhere. You can learn more about searching in past issues of Editorium Update--October 24, 2000, to November 21, 2000, and March 21 to April 25, 2001:

http://editorium.com/euindex.htm

3. I edit different kinds of items in separate passes. For example, I edit all of the chapter headings at one time, which ensures consistency and parallelism and all of that other good stuff. (If you use Word's built-in heading styles for chapter headings, you can see and edit them all at once in Outline View.) Then I edit the body text. Then I edit the sidebars. Then I edit the footnotes. Then I edit the bibliography entries. You get the idea. As I work, I make liberal use of Word's Find and Replace and macro features. You can learn more about macros in past issues of Editorium Update--May 9 to May 23, 2001:

http://editorium.com/euindex.htm

And you can learn more about editing notes here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1701016860

By the way, it's important to consider the order in which to make your passes. Can you really understand the sidebars if you haven't read the body text? If not, you'd better edit the body text first. Also, there's usually some going back and forth between items. For example, changes in the footnotes may require additional editing in the bibliography. So even if you're making passes, don't feel like you can't be a bit flexible. Editing on the computer, just as on paper, is as much an art as it is a science. And while the computer is a wonderful tool, don't forget that you're the one in charge.

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READERS WRITE

In last week's newsletter I wrote:

"If each chapter of a book is a separate document, I pull all of the chapters together using the Add Documents feature of our Editor's ToolKit program. I like having all of the chapters in one document so I can see and work on the whole book at once."

Subscriber Ann Redmon (ann@gant.org) responded:

"I've been using and enjoying many of your Editor's ToolKit features, but haven't tried the Add Documents feature for fear that the resulting document would just be huge and unwieldy. Is this not the case?"

I replied:

"It's true that the document is sometimes huge, but I think that having all of the book in one document is less unwieldy than messing around with, say, twenty different documents ("Let's see, where was that paragraph about . . . ?"). My computer has plenty of memory, so the hugeness doesn't bother me or crash my machine. I like being able to see the whole structure of a book in Outline View, and I like being able to do a quick Find and Replace that I know will standardize something throughout the book without having to go from chapter to chapter. All of this may just be a matter of personal preference, and you should probably do whatever works best for you."

Thanks to Ann for her question.