I find it difficult to describe what I’m doing when I am editing.
It is hard to think about what one is doing when one is so concentrated on the text itself and on how the problems it presents can be solved that one loses consciousness of everything else.
The focus is so much on the product, it is difficult to say anything about the process.
I know I am very critical top-down and bottom-up. Typically, I make changes in almost every line of a text. Reading like a journal editor trying to follow the argument, I think:
"Is this what a native-speaking researcher
would say in this context?"
"This can't be the best way to say what I
think the writer is trying to say."Then I use my resources as an experienced editor to solve the particular problem at hand.
But I am also very critical of myself. Re-reading my changes later, I will often think, ‘What was I thinking? It seemed like an improvement at the time,’ and I will have to try again.
Editing sentences containing technical terminology, or the terms of art of the subject area of the paper, is something that non-expert native speakers of English cannot be relied on to do correctly.
I once changed the phrase, ‘a [feature] trending south-southwest’ in a geology paper, because I thought ‘trend’ is a noun, not a verb. The author had to correct me.
In a materials science paper, the process by which a chemical was prepared was detailed. Two chemical compounds were combined ‘under rapid stirring’? ‘Under rapid stirring’? I changed it to ‘while being stirred rapidly.’ I then looked it up on the Internet, [under stirring][4] [4]: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%27under%20stirring%27
Google has made academic editing a lot easier!
I sometimes use https://books.google.com/ngrams to see which of two wordings is more used. For example, talking about the degree to which two competing alternatives approach some ideal value, you can talk about their ‘fitness.’ But would you use the expressions, ‘higher fitness’ or ‘greater fitness’? Which do you think is more used? Check it on https://books.google.com/ngrams
While I am critical, it is important not to correct what is not wrong. In style cases for example. I think:
"Even though a native speaker might not have used
this turn of phrase here, it has an appeal about it,
and should not be edited out."
"Not a dry, academic document, this paper
with some touches of liveliness here and there
is to be appreciated."Back to FAQ