STC Technical Editing SIG

February 3, 2021

Of Interest: Feedback Finesse – The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback

Technical communicators serve as a cornerstone in the flow of feedback through organizations that goes well beyond editorial feedback on different content types.

On 10 February 2021, at 3 PM EST (UTC-5), Liz Herman will show you how to add some finesse to the way you give and receive feedback in your organization. Learn new ways to deliver meaningful feedback. Understand how to thoughtfully respond to feedback. Leave with some artful ways to approach the flow of feedback and some specific resources for additional learning.

This is a joint STC Technical Editing SIG, STC Santa Barbara, and STC Los Angeles event, and is open to members and non-members:

TE SIG members: $0
P&P SIG members: $0
Santa Barbara chapter members: $0
Los Angeles chapter members: $0
Students: $0
Other STC members: $10
Non-members: $20

To register, click here.

January 21, 2021

From Around the Web: Editing Reference Lists

If there is any part of academic editing that editors do not look forward to, it is reviewing and formatting the references used in a manuscript. But citations in a thesis or dissertation are an ethical and professional necessity, and often cause editors to spend hours going back and forth from the research paper to the style guide.

In this blog article, Sharon Paul helps you get into the basics of how to edit a list of references and provides you with some tips that can make the entire process easier. She also links to a comparison checklist that can help you choose a suitable citation management software that can make your life a lot easier.

How to master referencing in your research paper

January 6, 2021

Call for Submissions to Corrigo!

Do you have something to say that you think technical editing practitioners will find interesting? Then consider submitting it for publication on Corrigo!

You don’t need to be a member of the STC Technical Editing SIG – regardless of your official job title, we welcome and encourage everyone to read and submit to Corrigo.

Corrigo has lots of different feature categories:

You can submit short (1000 words or less), original content about subjects you think technical editing practitioners might find interesting, for example:

Stories about how applying technical editing skills increases reader satisfaction
Information about tools you find helpful
Hacks that you use to make your job easier
Tips about how to balance quality and deadlines
Vignettes about a day in your life as a technical editing practitioner
Links to sites you find helpful in your job, with explanations about how they help you
Reviews of articles, books, or events you’ve read or been to that relate to technical editing

We’re also looking for longer, more detailed original articles about topics that pertain to technical editing, both its theory and its practice.

Send your submissions to the Corrigo editor, Yoel Strimling, at editor@stc-techedit.org.
We’ll try to get back to you within three weeks with our decision. If we think changes need to be made to the submission before it is accepted, we’ll make suggestions.

If you want to discuss possible ideas for submission to Corrigo, send an email to Yoel, and he’ll be happy to listen.

December 21, 2020

Of Interest: To Be More Efficient and Consistent, Build a Better Checklist

Anyone writing, editing, or managing any type of communication for a living is feeling the crunch. There is less time to create and edit; more types and formats of content; more apps, software, and systems to learn. And we expect quality, accuracy, and consistency from ourselves because we take pride in our work.

On 30 December 2020 at 3 PM EST, Kelly Schrank will discuss how to address a multitude of modern dilemmas with a relatively old-school hack: a checklist.

In this webinar, Kelly will teach you how to use a comprehensive checklist created and updated for a specific communication task to help you:

Differentiate workflows, systems, and activities
Spell out style and formatting details
Track your progress
Document metrics
Give you a sense of completion and peace of mind

This is a joint STC Technical Editing SIG, STC Santa Barbara, and STC Los Angeles event, and is open to members and non-members:

TE SIG members: $0
P&P SIG members: $0
Santa Barbara chapter members: $0
Los Angeles chapter members: $0
Students: $0
Other STC members: $10
Non-members: $20

To register, click here.

December 9, 2020

Newbies’ Corner: User or Rulebook, Guide or Grammarian?

Editor’s Note: This is the first article in the Newbies’ Corner series, which is intended to give a platform to new, fresh voices, especially from those who are studying the field or just starting out. If you are a student learning about technical editing or just starting out on your technical editing journey, and would like to submit an article, please send an email to editor@stc-techedit.org.

by Nathan Richardson

As technical communicators and editors, we know about the importance of user-centered processes. There’s a growing demand for user experience (UX) writers and UX designers, and for building UX into our organization’s (or personal) content strategy from the start.

We also have a foundational commitment to “the rules.” Our work builds on reviewing content and suggesting changes in media, style, grammar, voice, and tone, among other things. We question the accuracy and completeness of a given communication and its content. For example, when editing a set of instructions, we could follow the steps, seeking errors or missing information. As technical editors, we may also try to break those instructions and identify their limits—which provides our authors with insights they might have missed. We also look for consistency, ensuring that, for example, fractional measurements are plural and consistent (think 0.7 inch vs. 0.7 inches, and within the same document .8 inches becomes 0.8 inches). We ask: are all references to other publications, articles, or patent-related prior art accurate?