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What
is Technical Editing?
Technical Editing involves the proofing of a technical
document, (for example, a System Administration Guide), against the original
specifications to ensure that the facts are accurate.
This includes checking that every instruction,
procedure, hyperlink and graphic corresponds to what is in the application.
There are three levels of technical editing:
1. Editing the text for grammatical, spelling, and style
errors.
2. Editing the organization of content, emphasis,
appropriateness of content and adherence to standards and guidelines.
3. Editing for the accuracy of content.
Why editing and proofreading are not the same
Proofreading (which usually is carried out in conjunction
with editing) is checking the final draft to ensure that all of the previous editing has
made it into that document.
As there can be many breakdowns in communications, and
technical glitches, editing ensures that all content - in the correct format - has made it
to the final draft.
When editing, things to watch out for include:
Wrong graphics or graphics in the wrong location.
Style-sheets that have broken down.
Errors in the Table of Contents.
Indexes that have not been updated.
Technical editing is the final task before releasing the
final document.
Editing Is Very Demanding
There are several stages in the editing cycle. In
addition to those three levels mentioned above, you also need to consider the following:
Content editing, i.e. checking facts, assessing the document's
purpose
Line-editing, i.e. going through the document to check the use of
language, visual presentation and other details
As editing is so demanding, it is best to breakdown
the process into smaller procedures (and use checklists and cheat-sheets) and
check-off the tasks as you work down the document.
If you try to edit the entire document in one pass, you
will be overwhelmed. Small steps are more effective. Pace yourself on large projects.
Some books worth getting include:
- Anne Eisenberg - (Oxford University Press) Guide to Technical
Editing
- Arthur Plotnik - (MacMillan) The Elements of Editing
Finally, version control and code-tracking software are
recommended for any large–scale or collaborative projects.
If you do not have version control in place, you are
exposing yourself to complete document mismanagement. This can result in the wrong
document, with the wrong edits, making it into the final published draft.
Be careful out there!
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