Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Editing marks


Today I'm reading an M.S. thesis and two thesis proposals and noticing some problems in common. Some problems relate to formatting and style, some problems result (despite my pleas) from not having run a spell and grammar check, but mostly because it takes time to learn how to write scientifically. I think many problems would be caught by simply flipping through the paper to see how it looks before submitting (why are all my figures blue?). The formatting issues can be dealt with by following instructions for publication in a professional journal (where you will see a reminder to spell check...is anyone getting this thing about spell-checking?) or looking at a copy of a published paper. I believe the goal for every M.S. thesis should be to get it published in a peer-reviewed journal, so you should write as if you're getting your thesis ready to publish. Every journal has its own quirks in formatting (usually with regard to the references), but the main text should follow the same general rules. I edit accordingly. Hence, this post with notes about editing marks and some examples.

Editing and professional proofreading marks are similar with the main difference that editing marks are done in the line of text and professional proofreaders write the corrections in the margin. Editing marks are fairly intuitive; I had to learn what the professional proofreader's marks meant when I submitted my first manuscript for publication to Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta in 1998.