Last week's newsletter explained some ways a concordance could be used in editing, with a promise that this week I'd show you a sneaky way to take that concept even further. So here goes.
There you are with a manuscript that needs editing, and lots of it. A cursory look reveals multiple inconsistencies and odd spellings, and you're going to have to fix them all. What to do? Try this:
1. Use our WordCounter program or the MakeConcordance macro in last week's newsletter (scroll down to the end of Readers Write) to create a concordance, or word list, of all the words in the document.
You can download WordCounter here:
http://www.editorium.com/counter.htm
And you can read last week's newsletter here:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1717033577
This time around, you don't need to worry about word frequency (although you can if you find that helpful). Instead, just make a list that looks like this:
and
managment
manger
of
the
And so on.
You could go through the list and manually delete all the commonly used words (such as "and," "of," and "the"), leaving you with the words you actually need to think about, but that would take a long, long time. A better way would be to use our MegaReplacer program to remove the commonly used words:
http://www.editorium.com/14843.htm
And you could do that if you just had a list of commonly used words. You can download one here:
http://www.editorium.com/ftp/commonwords.zip
The list contains 2,256 entries (compiled from various sources) and is already set up for use in MegaReplacer. So use the list with MegaReplacer to delete all of the commonly used words from your word list, leaving you with just the real stuff.
Once you've got the real stuff (such as "manger" and "managment"), you'll find it much easier to go through the list and decide what needs to be changed. Please do so. As you find words like "managment" that need to be corrected, set *them* up for MegaReplacer as well:
managment|management
manger|manager
The bad goes on the left, the good on the right, with a pipe symbol in between. You may also want to add the good to your editorial style sheet, as explained in the newsletters for April 28 and May 5:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1716659834
http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1716702315
Aside from misspellings, you'll also find inconsistencies in spelling, style, and capitalization that need to be fixed. Set them up the way you want them to be:
realise|realize
When you come to words that are fine just as they are, add them to your editorial style sheet as needed and then delete them from the list,
When you're finished, you'll have a beautiful find-and-replace list that you can feed to MegaReplacer, which will go through your manuscript and automatically make all the changes you've specified. If this makes you nervous, you should know that you can have the program mark its revisions in case you later have any question about what was changed.
If you're looking for a way to speed up your work, you may find this technique useful. There's one way to find out. And you've got to admit that using a word list to modify a word list to modify a document is pretty sneaky.
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READERS WRITE
Teresa N. Barensfeld wrote:
Another good use for the concordance is for projects with vast reference lists. Sometimes the names are inconsistently spelled in the text or the ref list, but they're so close that it's easy to miss.
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Dave Gayman wrote:
Meg asked:
"Now I'm wondering: I don't think a Word macro can open a window in another program and order a paste there. That would be very helpful."
Remembering that this was a stopper in a VBA project long ago--and I don't remember if it was because it could not be done, or simply that I could not master the commands to make it happen--I'd suggest MacroExpress (http://www.macros.com/index.htm), $50.
With MacroExpress, you simply record the key or mouse strokes (or both) to accomplish the task. In addition to recording the macro, users are also able to enter macros directly into an edit pane (much of which is done via select and paste) and they are able to edit the code that has been generated automatically. Before the recording begins, a sequence of dialogs lets you make choices, including whether you'll be capturing key strokes, mouse movement, or both; applicability--see next paragraph; hot keys; macro name, and so on.
Macros can be global (that is, work with all programs), program-specific, or window-specific. You can assign hot keys to the macro, as well as assign a password. In Meg's case, once Meg selects the target word, MacroExpress could copy the word, switch to (or launch, if it is not already open) the second window; if necessary position the cursor (for example, at the end); paste; then switch back to the Word window.
I've used MacroExpress to automate or semi-automate the process of eliminating duplicates in a long product order code list by cross-reffing against an Excel file; to set up glossary entries (including both making a new entry and applying of Word styles for formatting); and many small repetitive tasks.
Although I originally bought MacroExpress to create actions in Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred edition (a version level without macro capabilities), the order code duplicate finder gave me my $50 in value. It took a project that could easily have consumed three days and telescoped it into about an hour. Note that there is usually a variable amount of debugging to be done to make a macro more generic or to make it do everything you want it to do--the duplicate finder took about half an hour to set up and tweak, all told.
There's a support newsgroup where newbies are generally treated humanely (find it at http://www.pgmacros.com/newsgroup.htm). Users run the gamut from casual operators of the program (like me) to very serious macro wranglers with correspondingly complex automated tasks.
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Richard H. Adin wrote:
I don't have a within Word answer for Meg, but I do have an answer that will work on a Windows PC: using MacroExpress (http://www.macroexpress.com).
I had three problems that needed solving and I couldn't figure out how to do it within Word:
(1) How to copy a phrase from my text document to a style sheet and, if the phrase had an acronym, how to enter it twice on the style sheet--once as, e.g., World Health Organization (WHO) and then as WHO (World Health Organization);
(2) I'm pretty sure that five chapters ago I had come across the acronym, e.g., WHO, and had spelled it out and added it to my style sheet. Now I've come across it again and it needs to be spelled out here, but I can't recall what it means. I wanted to quickly check the style sheet to see if it was spelled out, and if it was, then copy the spelled-out version and paste it in place in the text file; and
(3) In books that follow the APA reference style (or any similar style) in which the text reference entry appears as, e.g., Smith, Jones, Adams, and Burley (1998), how to (a) verify that the entry is in the references; (b) check for and mark subsequent entries so I don't have to reverify that it exists or is correct each time I come across the entry in the text; (c) mark the entry in the references so I know (i) which references have been cited in the text and which haven't and (ii) I know that I have already checked that the reference is properly styled; (d) if the subsequent text entries are Smith, Jones, Adams, and Burley (1998) when they should be Smith et al. (1998), I can correct the erroneous entries; and, finally, (e) when done, I am returned to where I started.
Although the macros I have written in MacroExpress can yet be improved upon (and I am constantly improving them), they do work well as is. Below are the steps I take to run a macro for each problem.
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Problem 1: To add material to the style sheet:
1. Highlight the material to be added. If it is just a word or a phrase, highlight that; if it is a word/phrase with an acronym, highlight the spelled out word/phrase + the acronym, including the opening and closing parentheses.
2. Press F9 (this just happens to be the key to which I assigned the macro; MacroExpress lets you assign most any key combination).
3. In the dialog box that appears, enter only the place where you want to go. For example, in the WHO example, you want to go to the W section of the style sheet, so enter w and click OK.
4. You will be moved to the W section, and your cursor will blink where it is. BEFORE doing anything else, move the cursor to the beginning of the line where you want your selection to be entered. Do not add a return to make a line. If you already have entries, place the cursor at the beginning of the line that is to appear AFTER this entry is typed.
5. In the dialog box, make the appropriate choice. Choose Word for a word or phrase without an acronym; choose Word + Acronym for a word or phrase that has an acronym that needs to be entered; choose cancel to stop and return to the text file. Once you make your choice, the macro will paste your copied material at the insertion point on a new line. If you chose Word, you will then be returned to where you were in the text file. If you chose Word + Acronym, then
6. The macro will pause and tell you to move the cursor to the beginning of the line where you want the acronym to appear. Again, just move your cursor; do not add a line. When your cursor is in place, click Resume. The macro will paste the entry at the designated position, creating a new line, and will then move the acronym to the line beginning and put the spell out in the parentheses.
7. The macro will automatically return you to your place in the text file.
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Problem 2: Checking on an acronym
1. Highlight the acronym--just the acronym, not any spaces before or after.
2. Press F10 (again, this was my choice).
3. The macro will take you to the style sheet and will highlight the first instance of the acronym. There is a slight delay so that you can see what is being highlighted in the style sheet, after which a dialog box appears. If the highlighted acronym is the correct one, click Yes; if it isn't, click No. Click Cancel to terminate the macro and return to the text file.
4. If you choose Yes, the cursor will move to the beginning of the spell out and pause.
5. Now highlight the complete spell out, including the acronym and the closing parenthesis, but not the paragraph marker.
6. Click Resume. The macro will return to the highlighted acronym in the text file and replace it with the spell out and acronym in parentheses.
7. If you chose No rather than yes, the macro will search for the next instance of the acronym; if it finds another instance, you will have the same three choices. If it doesn't find it, Word will tell you that it has not been found and ask you whether you want to search from the beginning of the document. Choose yes or no depending on where the search started. If you choose no, then also choose cancel in the Macro Express dialog box. It will cancel the macro, close the Find and Replace box, and return you to where you were in the text file.
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Problem 3: Reference checker
1. Highlight the first author's surname only (e.g., in Smith and Jones (1995) or Smith, Jones, Adams, and Burley (1998), highlight only Smith).
2. Press F7 (my choice).
3. The macro will take you to the beginning of the reference list and then search for the first instance of the name you highlighted, highlighting the name in the reference (e.g., Smith). A dialog box will appear asking if this is the correct reference. If it is, click Yes. (If you choose no, the macro will find the next instance of Smith.)
4. In the next dialog box, choose whether this is a reference that has either 1 or 2 authors or 3+ authors.
(a) If 1-2 is chosen, the highlighted name in the reference list will be colored green and the macro will then return to the text file and search for the next instance of Smith, which it will highlight. A dialog box will appear and ask whether this is the correct reference. If yes, a marker will be inserted following the name; if no, the macro will search for the next instance of Smith, at which time the dialog box will appear. The process repeats until the macro reaches the end of the document and finds no more instances of Smith, at which time you cancel the macro and are returned to where you began.
(b) If 3+ is chosen, the highlighted name in the reference list will be colored green and the macro will then return to the text file and search for the next instance of Smith, which it will highlight. A dialog box will appear and ask whether this is the correct reference and if it needs to be modified. Your choices are different from those in (a). If the listing is Smith, Jones, Adams, and Burley and it should be Smith et al., you choose Yes (make et al. and mark). If it is already Smith et al. but is the correct reference, you choose No (is et al. but needs mark). And if it is not the correct Smith, you choose Find next so that the macro will not mark this reference and will search for the next instance of Smith. The process repeats until the macro reaches the end of the document and finds no more instances of Smith, at which time you cancel the macro and are returned to where you began.
(c) Because you may have already found this entry and colored it green in another chapter, you can also choose to just search the main text file. In this case, you are returned to the main text file without marking the reference file, and the process proceeds as above.
When you are done editing the document, you simply search for the marker and replace it with nothing.
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Because I work on a per-page or project fee basis, saving time is important. Do these macros save time? Absolutely. The steps look more cumbersome than they are--it's more difficult to explain the operation than to do it. Although the first two macros can be performed by using your mouse and keyboard to copy, switch between documents, paste, and switch documents again, my experience is that using the macros is much more efficient and faster. Even if I only save a few seconds each time, it adds up.
The third macro is a real timesaver because I accomplish several things simultaneously. (1) I verify that a reference is in the reference list and mark it (green highlight) so that when I get to the end of the project and now only have to check the reference list, I have already eliminated having to check most of the references--I only need to check those without the green highlight. (2) When I send the reference file to the author for review, I can tell the author that only those highlighted in green are cited in the text and ask what the author wants to do with the others. It becomes easy for the author to know which ones I mean. (3) By adding a marker to each occurrence of a reference in the main text, I speed things along because I know I have verified the reference already. It's a little slow in the beginning, but it speeds things as you move further along in the text. Imagine a 50-page chapter with scores of these references. How do you remember that Smith (1995) is OK but that Smith (1998) has not been verified?
MacroExpress has allowed me to make my keyboard more functional and to do things that were otherwise cumbersome. Just two quick examples of what I mean. (By the way, I primarily use Word, so all of the examples are of things that I do in Word. MacroExpress permits you to assign a macro to a specific application or to global, i.e., to every program.) Each of my clients has a different way to do things. Some want me to code with beginning and ending codes such as at the beginning of a bulleted list with at the very end of the list; some want me to apply a Word style to each paragraph; and some want specific codes used in specific series. MacroExpress lets me create different keyboards for different clients, and multiple keyboards for clients whose coding changes based on the series. Once I write a standard macro, for example, one that does the bullet list coding, I can import it into any number of keyboards and modify just the code, without modifying how it works, so that it inserts the codes the client wants.
In the case of the bulleted list, I press F6, and MacroExpress types and adds a bookmark. Then it pauses and tells me to move my cursor to the end of the bulleted list where I want the closing code placed. It doesn't matter whether the end is one line or 100 pages away; I move to it and click Resume, and MacroExpress types and then moves me back to the beginning of the list so I can edit.
I have one client who uses a standardized footnote system, e.g., every time a drug is named that is not FDA approved for the particular indication, the client wants a superscript 1 inserted in the text and then inserted as a new paragraph "1 This drug is not FDA approved for this indication." with the 1 superscripted and the Footnote style applied to the paragraph. With MacroExpress, I was able to write one macro that does it all. I place my cursor where I want the footnote reference inserted, press the assigned key combination, and in a split second it's done and I am returned to where I left off my editing. This ensures uniformity and that I don't forget to do something.
Many thanks to Teresa, Dave, and Richard for their excellent tips and comments.
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RESOURCES
If you're interested in MacroExpress, so wonderfully described in the Readers Write column above, you may also be interested in WinKeySim, which offers some of the same features. WinKeySim, however, is a freeware program for Windows 95 and later and Windows NT 4.0 and later. WinKeySim gives keyboard macro support for practically any Windows program that supports keyboard input. Generally speaking, if it can be done with the keyboard, it can be done with a WinKeySim macro.
http://mwganson.freeyellow.com/winkeysim/
