Tiny Victories — Structure and Organizing

Another post in a series about communications, writing, editing, and plain language

by Laura Edlund

(Written and posted to LinkedIn April 4, 2025; adapted for website April 6, 2025)  

First the victory: A client says, “Great job on reducing the length … and restructuring the order. The sequence … is logical and provides more clarity.”

So what was the problem? What was the solution?

The communication had structural challenges—not a house tipping over or a bridge sagging but instead LOTS of information, an unclear path through it, circling back, and bogging down, and a super long overview.

Here are three approaches that I’ve used over many years of editing. Plus scissors and guillotines!

Approach 1
One oft-recommended approach is to review all headings in Microsoft Word’s “Outline” view, revise the heading order, and revise the whole. That can help (1) if each heading does, in fact, reflect the text after the heading and (2) if the headings relate well to the audience needs and the purpose. But sometimes the headings don’t do either or both. Some headings are unclear, too generic, or not updated. Those headings need fixing now or later.

Approach 2
Another approach is to read the whole again in detail, note the main ideas and groups of information (on sticky notes, recipe cards, graph paper, or chalk board—whatever works for you), and physically arrange and rearrange groupings to find an effective order. Take a photo.

Then, with the new order, write a summary—like a plain language summary, executive summary, or abstract—even if you don’t need that summary in the final communication. This is your test order.

Question the new test order: Does it work? Why? Why not? Poke holes in it. Fix it. Evaluate it. Take a photo of the order again.

Then use your new and fixed-up order to implement the changes to revise the whole document and write effective headings as you go.

While you are doing that, cut the repetitions or keep only the repetitions that are useful to the audience and purpose. Then go back and revise the overview to consider if the restructuring works. Go back to repeat any steps if needed.

Finally, revise the summary so that it reflects the final body of the communication. Side note: Summaries as published should always be double-checked to make sure they reflect the actual content.

Approach 3
Still another approach is to take a draft, print out a hard copy, and read it on paper while highlighting all main ideas and groupings of information. Then, on the hard copy, for each group of information, write in highlighter the page number so that you will know the original page number when you cut the document apart. (Yes, literally, cut; this is hands-on, but it works.)

Cut the document apart with scissors or a guillotine.

Then physically arrange and rearrange groupings to find an effective order. You might pin chunks of text to a bulletin board, tape them to a wall, or organize them on the floor and down the hall.

As you work, you might find text that repeats, circles back, goes nowhere, or goes where no-one wants it to go (really), so keep those text chunks to the side.

When you have an order that you think is final, take and keep a colour photo of the “final” order. (The colour is so that you can see the highlights about what text chunks come from where.) Also, keep the text chunks that do NOT fit the new order; you might need them later or need to explain your choices.

Then write the summary, evaluate it, poke holes in it, fix it, etc. Then take a photo of the order again. Then you can use the new, fixed-up order to refer to the original page numbers and order AND revise the whole document.

Ta da! Tiny victory
For more tiny victories in editing, writing, communications, and plain language, see my other blog posts on my web site or my LinkedIn page.

© Laura Edlund 2010

Editors and Machine Translations into English

I posted this on LinkedIn on August 22, 2024, in three parts, and I have made some minor additions.
 
How best can editors work on text that has been machine translated into English? While some of my clients do use machine translations, some of my clients do not and advise against using machine translations.

When a client uses machine translations into English before hiring me as an editor for the English publication, I find that editing often goes beyond the usual scope for a copyedit (as defined by Editors Canada), and I need to understand the potential benefits and pitfalls of machine translations to do my edit well.

Here are 9 practices I recommend for editors facing the same situation:

1.   Check out what machine translation involves, possible applications, and risks. Here are some sources.
·     Government of Canada’s “Using new language technologies and machine translation,” subsection “To use or not to use machine translation, that is the question” <https://lnkd.in/eBjCuEtP>
·     Slate article “Death by Machine Translation?” https://lnkd.in/ecbcBm6k
·     “5 Risks of Machine Translation” < https://lnkd.in/eJqibMqg>

2.   Ask what post-machine translation process the text has gone through before it lands on your desk. For example, after the machine translation, was there a post-machine translation edit of the text by a human translator? Or did the multilingual authors and subject experts review the text to identify errors in the translation and address those errors before the text was sent to the English editor?

3.   Consider the client’s style guide, other references, and process. Does the client answer questions about many publications, refer to precedents, and refer other questions to the author team?

4.   Consider multiple Englishes. Likely the machine translation defaults to US or UK English, but what does the intended audience know and prefer? What does the client require? What national, regional, and local considerations are factors?

5.   Use high-value resources and use them well–e.g., a specialist glossary of terms in English for the subject, a wealth of online and hard copy dictionaries (Oxford, Merriam-Webster Collegiate 11th edition, Collins, the online Oxford English Dictionary, and the online Oxford Reference).

6.   Consider the process for the edit in English. Will the edit go through at least two rounds of edits: first, an edit with tracked changes and queries or comments to authors; then the authors’ careful review of the text to check the edit and answer all questions; and then at least a second edit round to resolve all text changes and clean up the text?

7.   Review for key words and phrases, concepts, and terms of art that are used and expected in the subject area. Are there areas of text that are vague or might lack nuance? Does the text use many different words or phrases for the same thing? Does the text seem to oversimplify a term of art because of a limited vocabulary in machine translation?

8.   Keep a style sheet and query the subject expert/author team about specific wordings and patterns of language. Does the text use words and phrases that will be familiar to the audience and explain those that are unfamiliar but necessary in the context? Does it use those words and phrases clearly, consistently, and with precision? Does the text vary language in a way that might be unhelpful for the target audience; does it look like the writers dug into a thesaurus too many times? This might result from machine translation translating each word and phrase separately and without regard for the context and consistency. For example, I have often queried early in a manuscript that three similar phrases are used repeatedly but in a way that is not clear and distinct to me, so what distinctions are being made and are the uses clear and appropriate in each case?

9.   Review for tone and style. What tone is wanted for the intended audience? Is the tone and style consistently formal and academic, consistently informal, or a combination? Is the language vague? What style is clear, correct, and precise for the intended audience?

Writers, editors, translators, publishers, and other organizations communicating in multiple languages, please share what you have learned in your work and about machine translations. Thanks!

© Laura Edlund 2010

Canadian Spelling: It’s Complicated!

May 2023

An editor colleague recently asked in an online editors’ group about how to direct a client to information about Canadian spelling. Like a good number of Canadian editors, I shake my head with frustration: It’s complicated.

Canadian English is sometimes presented as half British, half American, but inconveniently neither. However, the real issue is that Canadian English is a thing of its own, drawing on different traditions, and with its own unique words but without a core reference that is regularly updated.

Here are some sources and commentaries.

While the Canadian Oxford Dictionary and CP’s Caps and Spelling might not be available to clients, clients might appreciate an easy-to-access article about Canadian spelling by a Canadian editor (Virginia St-Denis) in the Language Portal of Canada and this page.

Some editors might turn to an online source such “Dave VE7CNV’s Truly Canadian Dictionary of Canadian Spelling,” but I question if it is current. I prefer to stick to CanOx2 and Caps and Spelling as authoritative sources and then keep a careful style sheet.

And for those wondering why there is no updated dictionary of Canadian English, well, it’s a big question and one that is being worked on. This CBC article from 2022 gets into some of the details.

© Laura Edlund 2010

Advice for Editors: Starting Out or Upping Your Game

Editors have a long tradition of mentoring and sharing advice among colleagues, including those starting out (a.k.a. “newbies”). I suggest the following for editors who are starting out or those wanting to improve their skills or business. (For other advice by subject, such as for editing visuals, please see my other blogs.)

Once you gather all your resources, get ready for ongoing professional development. I mean lifelong learning. Formal training (whether in a certificate or degree program, such as at Simon Fraser University or Centennial College) and formal workshops and seminars along the way (for example, from Editors Canada, ACES, or CIEP) are grand, but learning on the job from experienced colleagues and mentors, from precedents, and using industrial standards and best practices will help an editor become professional, knowledgeable, confident, and flexible. Everyone benefits from such editors—readers, authors, clients, employers, coworkers, colleagues, and the editors themselves. And these editors thrive.

© Laura Edlund 2010

Plain Language & Clear Communications Resources—Updated 2021

In 2015, I wrote about re-energizing my interest in and focus on plain language & clear communications. This is still true: I love this work.

For fellow writers and editors, here are some of the resources I find useful. I will add to this list and tweak it regularly. And if you have any suggestions, please contact me with them. Thanks!

© Laura Edlund 2010