Editorial triage in copy editing

Sometimes a copyeditor is required to fulfil a deadline that everyone engaged in the project understands is unrealistic for even a light copyedit. In such instances, the copyeditor’s first action is to request assistance from the editorial coordinator in establishing priorities: which editing chores are most necessary for this specific project, and which niceties must be sacrificed? Of course, the priority list varies depending on the project; but, for most projects, a basic work list would include addressing those problems that would be most humiliating to the Journal publisher and most perplexing to readers. As a result, the copyeditor would:

• rectify spelling mistakes,
• major grammatical faults (for example, incorrect subject-verb agreement), and
• glaring punctuation flaws, investigate actual discrepancies, ensure that all acronyms and abbreviations are described, identify the pages containing information that requires permission to reproduce carefully read the title page,
• copyright page, and
• contents page double-checks the numbering of footnotes, tables, and figures

 In other words, mechanical errors or differences that do not impede with communication (e.g., capitalization, hyphenation, italicization, list format) would be overlooked, as would practically all diction, grammar, use, and content issues. The copyeditor, on the other hand, would maintain track of the permissions required (to protect the author and publisher from being identified in a lawsuit) and would double-check the contents page and element numbering (to save readers the frustration of missing or out-of-sequence items). If the timetable allows, the following things may be added to the task list.

• Long phrases and paragraphs should be broken up.
• Examine your usage of the passive.
• Remove redundancies and repetitions.

When limited in time, you may have to choose between completing two fast passes or one long pass and either skipping the second pass altogether or doing a selected second pass. During a second pass, you might read only the most crucial sections of the book or return to the paragraphs that caused you the most trouble on the first pass. The type of content, the priority list, and your individual work style will influence the decision between one or two passes.

This type of triage is complex because it goes against the nature and training of a copyeditor to leave improperly punctuated, confusing words and paragraphs whose logic is Side-out or upside-down. When time is limited, however, it is more vital to have read every page than to have struggled over the first half of a job and then skimmed the rest. Business papers are triaged. Gary Blake, the co-author of The Elements of Business Writing and The Elements of systematic technical Writing, offers a different triage priority. Blake contends that spelling, grammar, and punctuation problems will not “drive clients out the door” unless the misspelt word is the customer’s name, and ranks all mechanical difficulties at the bottom of his ten-point business priority list. Instead, at the top of the list are difficulties that undermine the dual goals of a business document: to enlighten and convince readers, as well as to portray the sponsoring organization’s authority and experience. Blake prioritizes eliminating organizational problems, rewording words with the incorrect tone, and clarifying unnecessarily ambiguous material.

Practical Guide for Editors and Writers: What is essential to the readers? What types of mistakes are readers likely to notice and worry about? What is the document’s significance to the readers? What types of faults are simple to correct, given the time constraints? “Sometimes you’ll change something that’s not critical but is so easy to do that it’d be ridiculous not to,” Tarutz explains. And sometimes, you must ignore something that annoys you because it is acceptable to the consumers, is costly to alter, and is not vital to change.