Be consistent! Consistency is an often overlooked part of editing. Yet, by being consistent, your documents will be much easier to read and understand. Consistent documents also look and feel much more professional. My two favourite consistency tools are PerfectIt and Endnote. These software tools have saved me a lot of time when editing or …
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Whether you are a scientist writing journal articles or an editor working on scientific documents, I can strongly recommend the Australian manual of scientific style (AMOSS). This great resource can answer many of your questions about scientific writing style, language and editorial consistency. It also has special sections that focus on peer-reviewed scientific papers, grant …
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Of the many proofreading aids for writers and editors, PerfectIt is my favourite. It is a Microsoft Word add-on program that will find many of the inconsistencies you have inadvertently left in your document. Here are some examples of the things it will find in your document: inconsistent spelling (e.g. you have used both ‘program’ …
Lists — how and when to use them Not sure how to write high-quality lists or when to use a list? Confused about punctuation and capitalisation of lists? This page answers those questions and shows you how to use a list to capture your reader’s attention. Quick content links Definition Vertical lists …
I use and recommend the Macquarie Dictionary for spelling. The Australian Government and universities consider this work the authoritative source on Australian English. By using this work as your spelling standard, you adopt a consistent strategy, which readers will respect. Usage of the Macquarie Dictionary The Macquarie Dictionary is available as a printed book, an …
This is an excellent book for writers who want to improve or refresh their skills of effective writing. When I was doing my online editing course many years ago, I used the first edition of this book extensively. It has excellent examples and many exercises to test yourself. I still use it to look up …
Are you writing a technical or scientific document? Use these ten writing tips to create well-structured and easy to understand documents. To write a document that readers will find interesting, clear and useful, you need to think about the whole document from the very beginning. These writing tips can help you get started. 1. Do …
It is not easy to edit your own writing. You become so closely involved with providing content that taking a reader’s perspective becomes very hard. However, there are many copyediting tasks that a writer can do at any stage of the editing process. Here are my top-ten tips to edit your own writing. These are …
This book is an excellent reference work for anyone who indexes books. While Book indexing is mostly intended for indexers, I still recommend it for writers and editors. Content overview Book indexing gives a good introduction to indexing. Importantly, it also contains sound advice for authors about how they can help create a book that …
Most departments of the Australian Government use the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers as their style guide. Many other organisations also use it. It covers the planning process, writing and editing, design, illustration usage, the legal aspects of publishing, and final product evaluation. I have found the writing and editing section most useful …
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