Providing Positive Critique

I got asked by a colleague what I would say if someone submitted a piece for publication, but if it was not up to snuff. As most of us are volunteers, when we see a poorly finished piece, we see more work that we have to do.

However, it is not the editor's job to copy-edit a piece. The editor's job is to concept edit.

I had a long think about it, and told my colleague that I think that the best way to write a reply is to imagine this was our own article, then write a response in a way that we'd like to have someone do for us… with honesty, dignity and respect. I would go back to the author and ask if they – or someone they know – could proof/edit/revise it.

Starting with positive feedback is always good, to establish the value of the article to us. For example, tell the author “Thanks so much for your article. I really like how you did [W] and how you wove in [X]”. Then later in your response, tell them “However, I’m really sorry, but I don't think this is quite ready for publication yet. From my quick look, there seem to be a number of proofing errors which I feel would be detrimental to your professional reputation if it were published as is. It would be a lot stronger if it was revised and proofed, then resubmitted.”

Conclude with "We are very keen to publish your article, so please let me know when you can have it back to us. Ideally we would like to release it in our next issue, so would like your updated version by 25 February."

You could supply a few of the things below where you saw a pattern in the writing - but only if you felt comfortable, and if you were sure it wasn’t going to be rude or condescending:

• A list of typos that they need to address. Some examples might include: “Ensure you capitalise consistently; check that you aren’t using homophones; double-check that plurals do not have possessive apostrophes; check that the tense used is consistent throughout; check your use of commas; check your use of colons is correct; ensure your adjective use is correct; ensure your adverb use is correct; check that your sentences are complete (ie, contains both subject and object); break run on sentences into two or three shorter sentences; ensure your tone is consistent throughout (ie, first person all the way through)”.
• Then there are the paragraph issues: “sometimes your transition between paragraphs is bumpy; sometimes you don’t use topic sentences to lead your paragraphs; sometimes you don’t have concluding sentences in paragraphs; sometimes your paragraph breaks are in the middle of an idea”.
• Then there are the structural writing issues: “Sometimes your flow of ideas is unclear; sometimes the evidence is unclear; sometimes your narrative is muddied by an unnecessary side-trip (but the side-trip would make an interesting article on its own: could you write a piece on that for us for our next issue?); ensure that your findings are consistent with the field (or if not, explain why, giving references).”

If the author comes back to us asking questions on any of these, we should go can go back with specific examples, such as “What I meant by [Y] is where you wrote [Z] on page 3.”

Remember that it is possible that our writer may have other things going on in their lives; they may have sent a draft document; they may be dyslexic. A bit of kindness goes a long way.


Sam

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Newsletter Issue 95, April 2005

Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 95, April 2005

Hi guys,

Think that piece you wrote for your newsletter could get picked up by Reuters? Then you need to check out A Guide to... Editorial Guidelines before you submit it. See below.

Got some great ideas that need a few other's skull sweat to bring them to fruition? Then read A Kiwi Ideas Bank. 

First Mobile Phone Virus in the Wild   TLAs for SMEs        Short & Hot Keys        Hot Linx

Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

A Guide to... Editorial Guidelines

Editorial guidelines are the rules set forth by publishers for contributing authors. To maximise your chances of publication, you need to (a) understand and follow the editorial guidelines of your target publications and (b) review previous publication issues to get a better feel for the article types favoured by the editor.

Editorial guidelines usually consist of the following items;

• Audience: Demographics such as number of subscribers, gender, educational level, age and income level. Information to enable you to better angle your article to fit the audience
• Article Length: The minimum and maximum word count. Online articles are usually 750 -1000 words, while off-line publications generally accept longer pieces
• Editorial Style: Consistency and accuracy governs the use of a style selected by the editorial department of a publication. Many publications have a Style Guide covering spelling, capitalisation, grammar, punctuation and usage
• Format accepted: Each publication will accept articles in certain formats such as Word, WordPerfect, text or Adobe Acrobat
• Query Requirement: Correspondence to the editor proposing an article topic and asking permission to submit. Some publications require a query by email, fax or mail before submission
• Topics: The subjects of articles accepted by the publication. Never submit an off-topic article as this may result in further submissions from you being banned by the editor
• Submission Methods: Methods of submissions may include via fax, email or hard copy sent by courier or standard mail
• Graphics: Some publications will accept illustrations or photographs. They will usually specify graphic size and format
• Author Photograph: Some publications require or accept a photograph of the author to be included with the article. If so, they will have a size and format guide
• Byline Length: Also known as an author biography or resource box. Some publications have certain requirements for length, characters per line and what or how much contact information can be included
• Payment: Your byline is often the only payment you will receive for your article. However, some publications (particularly off-line) pay for articles by the word or per article
• Rights: Whether or not the publication will accept original or reprinted articles, how long they plan to use the material and whether the article can be reproduced or sold elsewhere at the same time that they are using it
• Editorial Calendar: Larger publications often have an editorial calendar planned at least a year in advance. The calendar will cover topics, themes, article types and required submission dates broken down by publication dates.
• Notification: When you will be contacted about your submission. Many publishers will only contact you if your article is chosen for publication
• Acknowledgement: In some cases you will be required to return a signed acknowledgement that you have read the guidelines.

Examples of online Style Guides can be found at the following links:

• The BBC's utterly brilliant Style Guide - http://www.bbctraining.com/pdfs/newsstyleguide.pdf
• The Economist's Guide - http://www.economist.com/research/StyleGuide/
• Jack Lynch's Guide to Grammar & Style -  http://newark.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/index.html
• Michael Quinion's language definitions et al - http://www.worldwidewords.org/

Remember that some smaller publications will have few or no formal editorial guidelines. In those cases you are best to contact the editor and ask for their preferences personally. Good luck!

A Kiwi Ideas Bank

A New Zealand website has been set up to trap all those good ideas that people have. You know the kind; the 'why don't we have swipe cards for parking meter money so that the hour that I have just bought & not used could be saved until later?' kind of idea.

So, a group of New Zealanders have set up a website to communicate and store great ideas at http://www.suggestionbox.org.nz/index.html where you can tell them about your flashes of brilliance which should be put into action by someone for the good of all New Zealand. You can make suggestions about important New Zealand issues or maybe just about the things that matter to you.

They take a look at your suggestion, then figure out what they can do with it. They figure that their website ensures that your idea isn't lost or forgotten... and the more ideas, the better. After all, as US novelist John Steinbeck said "Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen".

 

First Mobile Messaging Virus in the Wild

The first mobile messaging worm reported in the wild, CommWarrior.A, uses Vodaphone's pxt messages (or Mobile Messaging Service, MMS) to spread, thus far only amongst Symbian Series 60 phones.

Victims receive MMS messages with file attachments containing the CommWarrior virus. The messages entice users with leadlines such as "3DGame from me. it is FREE!" When opened, the virus places copies of itself on vulnerable mobile phones and uses the phone's address book to send copies of itself via MMS to all the stored contacts. CommWarrior can also be spread between phones using Bluetooth wireless connections.

CommWarrior can be shut down by users pressing and holding the menu button on their phone, then selecting the CommWarrior from the list of applications that appears and pressing the C button ('Clear'). Once disabled, users can use the phone's file management tools to locate and remove the virus files. F-Secure sells mobile antivirus software and has developed an antivirus signature which can detect and block CommWarrior.

According to industry experts, this current virus isn't a serious threat. However, the virus is likely to be the forerunner of a new age of, as mobile devices become more powerful, malicious and fast-spreading cell phone threats.

In August 2004, Cabir, the first known mobile virus, was released also on Symbian OS phones. However, it could only spread via Bluetooth connection. Infections were first reported in the Philippines, then Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, China, India and 12 other countries before petering out.

However, MMS is believed to be a better vehicle than bluetooth alone for spreading viruses. This is because a single infected phone can rapidly send copies of a virus the user's entire contact list.

But the best way currently to avoid a virus? Simple. Don't open unexpected MMS message attachments.

 

TLAs for SMEs

Here are this newsletter's TLAs for you;

• RFID, Radio Frequency Identification. Incorporating electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to uniquely identify an object, animal, or person. RFID is increasingly used in industry as a barcode alternative because it doesn't require direct contact or line-of-sight.
• FUD, Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. A term coined at IBM

Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Short+Hot Keys... and now tips

How about a handy little tip to help you print "Selected Text" when in Internet Explorer? All you have to do is:

1. Highlight the text on screen that you want to print (eg an article without all the surrounding bumf)
2. Go to File | Print
3. Under "Page Range" tick Selection
4. Click OK

And only the selected text is printed - no page headers, navigation bars, disclaimers. This choice is also available in many other Windows programs. Clever, eh?!

Hot Linx

For those of you who didn't have a look at Word Count the first time, check out the rating of the English language & its adoptees at http://www.wordcount.org/main.php

Got an offer that sounds too good to be true? Check it out at the Ministry of Consumer Affairs website at http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/scamwatch/ or Consumer Magazine's website http://www.consumer.org.nz/topic.asp?category=Property&subcategory=&docid=1125&topic=Scams&title=Scams%20A%20-%20Z&contenttype=general&bhcp=1

Want to view the smallest website in the world? Then this is it at http://www.guimp.com/

And if you want to know what the BBC has recorded as having happened "On this day" in previous years, check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/default.stm

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                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here

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