The following tips in effective editing would be helpful in times you might need some when things get a little tough doing your editing task.

To be able to edit effectively, you are required to have a lot of training, experience, and practice. Editing is an important skill in writing which does not come easily nor automatically even if you are a good and experienced writer.

Aside from being comfortable with the copy writing symbols or proofreading symbols, and with an appropriate style guide book (e.g. APA style guide), here are some helpful tips for you to edit effectively:

1. When you edit, it is best when you work with or come in constant contact with the writer of the essay or story you are working on. It is like an architect-engineer relationship. You may have both similar and different skills and roles, but you work together. You are a team. Never finalize without having a word or two with the writer.

2. Consider the target readers of the writer of the piece you are editing; in this way you will get an idea behind the ideas, facts, and writing style presented. If you know who are his intended readers then you will have a strong basis whether or not you will alter some of the ideas, facts, or the writing style used.

3. Do not hastily change a sentence or paragraph’s ideas solely based upon your own standard of writing or preference. If you feel a whole sentence or paragraph needs a major rewriting, you need to carefully find out why, and ask the writer what he meant by what he has written.

4. Do not do a major revising or rewriting unless you have fully understood the essay or story’s main topic, sub topics, and arguments. These are also your bases in improving such write up.

5. Every writer is different and therefore writes in various styles. It is important to try to think as the writer thinks so you could have a virtual piece of him while editing his write-up. Your own standard of writing are also necessary and helpful when you use them while considering the writer’s point of view. This best applies in articles with free styles like feature stories, and to those which the writer’s views and opinions are needed, stories like editorials and columns. If you are editing a news story, this tip would not apply at all times since your main basis for editing are the rules in news writing.

Among these tips in effective editing, this is the most challenging one because you need to get acquainted if not know completely the different writers you work with. It takes time and effort to know someone, more with a group of totally different people.

Since editing skills are a huge plus for a writer, work hard, train yourself, and get some significant experiences to gain such valuable knacks; surely these tips in effective editing will help you.

Editing and proofreading are interconnected. You also use proofreading or copy reading symbols when you edit. You can proofread while editing at the same time, that is if you are skilled enough to spot the “tiny” and “big” mistakes all at once. It takes a lot of training to successfully fulfill such multitasking.

As an editor you need to dig deeper on what needs to be improved. As much as you need to possess a keen eye for weak or erroneous spots in proofreading, so with editing. But it takes more time, effort, and training to edit effectively than to proofread since it is the process of correcting “bigger” mistakes like grammar which includes subject-verb-agreement; verb tenses and parallelism; syntax or sentence construction; paragraph construction; diction or choice and usage of words.

Rewriting and revising (which include paraphrasing and rewording) are also inclusive in this process which are done after proofreading.

Why is editing a must?

Editing and proofreading are equally important. If you fail to do either or both, your essay or story will be far from being effective even how strong your facts or ideas are.

If an essay or story is left unedited or poorly edited, there would be a huge chance for miscommunication. Even a single sentence left weak or ambiguous, will change the meaning of the whole paragraph or steer it away from the main topic.

Self editing skills is priceless specially when you are writing for a contest. No body will proofread or edit your essay or story for you. You are on your own.

Submitting the first draft is a huge risk but a wonderful skill. Rarely can one write a nearly perfect job on the first draft. So if you think your draft is not good enough to get you the gold, and you still have time at hand, proofread and edit.

Not all writers are editors and vice versa; but to have the skills of both will be a huge plus in writing, specially if you know how to self edit. If you are writing for a school project or assignment, writing a book or novel, self editing will save you effort, time, and at times it will save you a few bucks.

Do not be contented with your writing skills alone, learn the art of editing and upgrade your caliber as a writer. Editing and proofreading are essential skills a writer should work hard for.

Proofreading your own essay or story is doubly challenging than proofreading others’ works, because writers have the tendency to be biased with their own work, considering it good-to-go. Sometimes they tend to overlook their own mistakes unintentionally. So it is wise to possess and hone proofreading skills.

If you are proofreading others’ works though, these tips might also be helpful to you.

1. Use a spell checker and a grammar checker. For the initial proofreading, use such tools but do not rely on these only.

2. Read not browse. Silently read your essay or story from start to end. Do not skip words or sentences. Otherwise you might skip tiny mistakes as well. Your eyes might have the tendency to skip words because your mind already have an idea on what is written because you have written it your self.

3. Read your essay or story out loud. This is effective in spotting errors since you are using your two senses — sight and hearing. Two senses are better than one. It makes a difference when you read silently and when you read out loud. Your sense of sight could overlook some errors but your ears could hear them.

4. Read slowly. Some mistakes could be left unnoticed if you are in a hurry. Take your time because at some times proofreading is like searching for a needle in a hay stack.

5. Have others read your essay or story. It is still helpful if others read your essay or story. Consider the chance that you still might fail to notice some mistakes. Some errors could be spotted from others’ point of view.

6. Double check or even “triple check”. Proofreading should not be done only once. You might still overlook few errors since what you are trying to spot are the tiny ones. You should have a keen eye for those, so double checking is essential. But the time between the initial proofreading and the double checking should be enough for you to set aside for awhile if not forget the content of what you are proofreading. In this way your mind is refreshed and not preoccupied with the corrections you have already made. Otherwise your mind will somewhat automatically skip the words, sentences, or paragraph, thinking it is already done proofreading.

Proofreading is an important skill in effective writing that comes through practice and experience. One essential element of a good writer is producing wonderful and effective essays and stories without much help. If you have gained and properly developed such proofreading skills, you will not be needing the help of another proofreader, which works better for you because you could write independently.

The simplest way to define “proofreading” is to break up the word into two: proof and read/reading. Proofreading is giving a “proof” that one has actually “read” an essay, article, or story after writing it. And one of the proofs that one has gone through such write-ups are corrections to minor errors like spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, word breaks, spacing, paragraphing, indention, fonts, misplaced words or figures, and some slight mistakes on grammar.

Proofreading is another term for copy editing which has designated symbols for each correction.

Why is proofreading a must?

Never submit your essay, article, or story without proofreading it first. Once you have finished writing your final draft, go through it, read from beginning to end because for sure you will spot some mistakes which you did not notice while you were writing. This is so because while you are writing, your mind is mainly concentrating on what to write and how to write and arrange the ideas you have in mind. It does not really focus on small mistakes like the aforementioned. But these small mistakes count big time.

I have always emphasized to my feature writing student to be very careful with mistakes which seem very little in value. They actually have huge impact once you have committed and failed to correct those tiny errors. I told her those are manifestations of carelessness and simply not knowing the small things which she is supposed to and expected of her to know.

Proofreading is like cleaning up after you write. If you forgot or simply do not do it, or if you poorly do it, your essay or story will be as no good as a nicely and meticulously carved wooden statue without the finishing touches — varnishing.

At times, I feel so lazy to proofread. But I know it is an essential part of effective writing. The small errors left uncorrected which to some degree may be intolerable to your target readers, will sadly outweigh the thoughts, style, messages, and the time and effort put into writing. So do not underestimate the importance of proofreading. Usually, depending on the length of your essay or story, it would just take you few minutes to finish the task.

To be a good writer, you need to learn and develop the skill of proofreading even your own essay or story. It takes practice to have a keen eye for small mistakes while proofreading, so study how it works, get comfortable with the proofreading symbols and you will be many steps ahead!

In line with the 5 Dont’s in Public Speaking I have posted few weeks ago, here is another post similar to it — Public Speaking Taboos.

It is crucial to take note of the things you need to avoid in order to stay away from mistakes that would cost you a lot.

1. Do not take long pauses. Long pauses could imply uncertainty, mental block, or disorganized thoughts. Whatever your purpose be in taking pauses, make sure it is not too long for your audience to think that you have reached a point where you do not know or forgot what you will say. But there are some exceptions for taking long pauses, and this depends on the kind of public speaking task you have. In an interactive public speaking setting, you may take long pauses to make your audience think or ponder about something. If you think your long pauses are valid, communicate it to your audience properly

2. Do not talk too fast or too slowly. Talking too fast is an implication of nervousness. If you are feeling nervous, this is one negative tendency. Try to relax and utter your words clearly with a proper pace. While, talking too slow could make you to annoying and silly, robotic that is. It is also one manifestation of timidity, since you are too careful in every word you utter, you tend to speak too slowly. One exception to these two public speaking taboos is when you need to

3. Do not act superior than your audience. Acting, looking, or sounding superior than your audience whether it is intentionally of not will shun away your audience. They may resist, avoid, or reject you and your message even before you begin your speech. Therefore, do act or be superior than the people who are about to hear your message, instead be confident enough. Just the right level of confidence will do. Establish credibility and evoke proper strength as a speaker without intimidating your audience.

4. Do not act inferior than your audience. Acting, looking, or sounding inferior than your audience is a direct message to them that you are not a credible, reliable, and believable speaker. Inferiority is a close cousin of timidity, which is likewise one of the public speaking taboos. You could be misled that inferiority is another face for showing humility. They are not the same. You could be a humble public speaker without looking down to your self, or considering your self lower than your audience. Therefore radiate humility instead of inferiority.

Among these public speaking taboos, numbers 3 and 4 are the most challenging to avoid, because inferiority and superiority complex may be embedded into one’s character or personality; and that makes it tough to change or eradicate all at once. Besides, being humble and confident enough could not be learned all at once either.

Take into consideration these public speaking taboos and you will be close in delivering an effective speech!

You have read it right! There are public speaking secrets. Just how chefs and businessmen have secret ingredients and trade secrets.  The difference is that they will never unfold them to anyone.

But here are public speaking secrets ready to be revealed.

1. Have a passion in public speaking. Just like in writing and in any endeavor one takes, passion is an indisputable element. You need this when things get tough in preparing for and delivering your speech. This will be the essential push specially when you do not “feel like” delivering a speech but you are obliged to. If at the moment you are not yet on the level of possessing such passion for public speaking, try “liking” it. If, again you are not yet ready to “like” it, try to “appreciate” it and the good things that come out from it.

2. Be true with your intention or purpose. Initially, your speech should be based on reality, except of course with fictional stories and rhetorical situations you choose to include in your speech. No fabricating or sensationalism with the purpose of winning your audience and attaining success and effectiveness as a public speaker. You will actually be defeating that purpose if you tell less than the truth.

If your purpose is to educate show and make your audience feel you really want them to learn. Do not intend to or imply a selfish purpose of making a name to yourself as this ever-intelligent and wise person (even if you were).

You will get what you desire the most if your intentions are pure and you couple it with faith and hard work.

3. Be sincere. Nothing penetrates the hearts and minds of your audience perfectly than sincere words. Mean every thing that you say. Even though you are dwelling with and relating facts and realities, you need to make sure you deliver them with sincerity.

Among these public speaking secrets, this one is the toughest one, because you shouldn’t be putting any effort on this on the first place. Sincerity should come naturally and effortlessly. It could be learned and developed in time but it shouldn’t be forced in any way.

4. Maintain humility. People have the tendency to block off cockiness. Once they have sensed “freshness,” you will be eliciting raised eyebrows instead of attentive eyes and ears. Even if you feel you are in the position to brag, don’t. Public speaking puts you in a position where you are supposed to get a lot of attention, be the center of attraction, be the talk of a group pf people, and be a star for a length of time; but do not act like a “diva.” Be truly humble to have been given such rare and wonderful opportunity to educate, enlighten, persuade, convince, inform, or entertain a group of people. Just like what I have mentioned in my previous posts, it’s not everyday you’ll get to speak and be heard.

Among these public speaking secrets this one requires more than your being a public speaker. Humility should be enveloped in your whole personality whether you are on the stage or not. Because humility does not come in an instant. It’s not like you will push a button just before you grab the microphone and then…just like magic, you are humble at once! Just as being sincere, you can not fake this. You need to carry humility wherever you are, in whatever you do so by the time it’s your time to speak, people would welcome you then they would listen to you and eventually treasure and apply your messages for them.

There are more than just public speaking secrets in order to deliver an effective speech so keep on browsing and learning how to prepare for that public speaking assignment!

To be able to deliver a speech with confidence, you need to do a bunch of things.

1. Rehearse and Practice. The mere fact that you have given your self ample amount of time in practicing and rehearsing your speech will add up to your level of confidence in an instant. The mind set that you have put enough effort in preparing for your public speaking assignment will likewise make you more confident than impulsively jumping on the stage unprepared or “under-prepared.”

2. Like your speech. Basically, if you do not “like” the words or messages you will utter or give, you will not be enthusiastic in delivering your speech, and therefore sound less confident. If possible “love” your speech, and the confidence will naturally radiate from you.

3. Look at a friendly face. When you feel very low of yourself to successfully carry out a public speaking task, search for a friendly or smiling face amidst the audience and you will feel a boost of confidence like magic!

This actually happened to me when I was presenting my senior thesis paper in front of my college professors and dean. I was not that confident about my self and about my thesis. I started out very shy and reserved. I wanted to deliver a speech with confidence but I just felt so intimidated and insecure because I am in front of big-names in my college, and that my classmates’ presentations were very good.

At the middle of my presentation, I had a quick look at my dean who surprisingly gave a very friendly smile and a nodding head. Just like magic, my confidence boosted! All the while I thought I was doing a terrible job but that simple smile and calm look assured me that I am actually doing fine. That helped me go on with my presentation and finish with confidence.

4. Save enough confidence before speaking. Confidence either levels up or down. You could have it but it may not be enough; or have it and go way beyond the line. “Just enough” self confidence is achieved through equally enough time and enough work and effort.  So, elicit enough of it from within you and maintain it until you finish your speech. Remember, you could lose that confidence in an instant by discouragement around you and negative thinking lingering in your head. Try to numb and rid your self of those negative vibes.

5. Expect that “you ca not please everyone.” When you expect something quite unfeasible like generalizing, you might end up disappointed which could automatically lower down your self-confidence.Success does not necessarily mean making a difference to everyone.

I remember “The Star Fish Story” by Loren Eiseley:

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out ‘Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?’

The young man paused, looked up, and replied ‘Throwing starfish into the ocean.’

‘I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?’ asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, ‘The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.’

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, ‘But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!’

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, ‘It made a difference for that one.’

Remember these helpful tips and you will surely deliver a speech with confidence!

Writing with clarity is fundamental. It is a must, otherwise you as a writer will fail in the initial objective in writing, and that is to bring the message across and be understood.

There are some important rules to follow to achieve writing with clarity.

• Provide proper antecedent for pronouns. 

Example: My father’s black car was purchased a year ago from my uncle who owns a car dealer shop. Whenever he sees it, he remembers how thrilled he was with the car. 

Who is referred to by  the “he”? My father? Or my uncle?

The antecedent of pronouns should be stated out clearly specially when nouns used are the same in gender.

The sentence could be made clear when it is written this way:

My father’s black car was purchased a year ago from my uncle who owns a car dealer shop. Whenever father sees it, he remembers how thrilled he was with the car.

• Avoid the common sentence errors.
  

1. Sentence Fragment. This is basically an incomplete sentence. The thought is hanging or insufficient. This is only composed of the subject and it usually lack a predicate. This is a common mistake because it looks correct at first glace, but when you study it well, you will notice that there is something missing.

Example: Early in the morning, a man standing in front of my house with a bunch of flowers in her hand.

This sentence seems like a sentence with complete thought but look closely and carefully, the complete predicate carrying the verb is missing. It is only a “fragment” or a part of a sentence. If it was written in another way, it would’ve been a complete sentence.

Early in the morning, a man is standing in front of my house with a bunch of flowers in her hand.

The verb is makes it clear and correct. I only edited it. Since it is a “fragment of a sentence” it is not the verb is  that is missing. Here is a complete version of the above sentence fragment.

Early in the morning, a man standing in front of my house with a bunch of flowers in her hand was run over by a car.

The “was run over by a car.” is the sentence’s complete predicate with “was” as the main verb.

2. Sentence Run-on

A sentence run-on is an error where two or more thoughts are inappropriately merged into one sentence.

Example: Last night as the rain poured so hard, a lightning struck an old, red car was parked next to a tree.

One way to achieve writing with clarity in this particular sentence is to split the two sentences:

Sentence 1: Last night as the rain poured so hard, a lightning struck an old, red car.

Sentence 2: An old, red car was parked next to a tree.

Omitting the main verb was would also make the sentence clear.

Last night as the rain poured so hard, a lightning struck an old, red car parked next to a tree.

• Take note of diction or the choice of words. Writing with clarity could be crashed all at once by words used inappropriately. If you are unsure on the meaning of a word, do not use it or refer to the dictionary first.

I watched “Gnomeo and Juliet” There was a dialogue between two characters who are enemies. It’s quite funny!

Gnomeo’s Mother: …you illiterate.

Juliet’s Father: I am not illiterate; my parents were married!

Juliet’s Father confused the word “illiterate” with “illegitimate.” They may sound alike but they are different words with way too different meanings. So be careful with your choice of words, or on how you use words. Otherwise you will sound silly to your readers, aside from fail in writing with clarity.

Writing with clarity could be a huge challenge to you as a writer because you might commit mistakes unawarely since these errors are common so study harder and practice more.

Keep browsing our website if you want to learn more on writing with clarity.

Like in any other fields, there are challenges of a writer as well. If an endeavor is not taken with a challenge or simply done with pure ease, it will be less than fulfilling. One should one way or another, shed sweat and tears in order to feel the genuine essence of achievement.

1. The Topic. The first challenge a writer must face is the topic itself, specially if it is an assigned topic in school or at work. If you fail in surmounting this first challenge, these is no way you will finish your story or essay with success.

2. The Moods. If you do not train your self to write in whatever situation, you will just be controlled by these so called “moods.” If you are not “in the mood” to write, then you couldn’t write. But this is not how a good writer must be. You should beat those moods. Whether the writer “feels like” writing or not about the topic, he must come up with a well written piece.

3. The Motivation. Writing could be boring at times — that is if you are not motivated. The challenge a writer must likewise face is where and how to get the right and sufficient motivation he needs to go on with writing. Your motivation or inspiration could be your family, friends, kids, fulfillment, or even the monetary satisfaction.

4. The Readers. Among these challenges of a writer, I believe this is the toughest because you need to satisfy, enlighten, educate, entertain, persuade, or convince your intended readers. And those six verbs are very hard to successfully accomplish, specially when your target readers are a group of hard-to-please people or a bunch of folks with their cups already full.

5. The Focus. In any subject matter, not just in writing, uniting fragments or making things in harmony with each other is such a tough challenge. It is challenging to unite a community, more with a whole mankind. In writing, one of the hardest challenges of a writer is sticking with the core topic, weaving all gathered details and facts, presenting ideas or thoughts in one accord. A good analogy: a spider meticulously and laboriously knitting its delicate thread to produce a stunning work of art — its cob web.

These could be your stumbling blocks if you do not consider and study them, that is why it is essential to understand and learn to overcome these challenges of a writer.

Why writing skills are important? Unlike any other skills, writing skills are important universally. They are needed in any field, or endeavor one is. And since there are only two way (speaking and writing) by which can express one’s feelings, thoughts, desires, and intentions undoubtedly these skills are essential. Everyone should aim and strive to possess and develop these skills.

• Writing skills are important in personality development since it says a lot of things about you. Your characters or behavior could be mirrored by the way you write, or how well you write.
• Writing skills are important in any field of business, wherein almost everything is recorded — transactions, inventory, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly reports, marketing strategies, historical reports, operational system, SOP’s..everything.
•  Writing skills are important in career building. Name a successful person in his respective career who do not have essential, appropriate, and sufficient writing skills. I bet there is none.
• Writing skills are important to students. Teachers and professors give tons of paper works to students. No one gets away with it; from kindergarten to elementary to secondary to tertiary levels to graduate studies. That is one essential way to assess a student’s performance, progress, and intelligence.
• Writing skills are important in job hunting, starting with writing an effective and believable resume or biodata to writing or essay tests after a job interview.
• Writing skills are important in being accepted in your ideal school or university. School or college admission essays are one vital basis of one’s acceptability.
• Writing skills are important in expressing one’s feelings and be understood. Some if not all are more comfortable conveying their emotions in writing rather than in speaking. Besides, one cause of depression is being misunderstood.
• And however cheesy it may sound, writing skills are important in winning a someone’s heart.

Writing skills are achieved through time and hard work, that is also one reason why writing skills are important. Just how gold is — it undergoes extensive, lengthy, and laborious refining process.