Types of editing. Concept of editing

Editing (in other words, checking and correcting text) is one of the the most important stages work on .

When starting to edit text, it is important to clearly understand what goals are being set for you. Editing can be as clean as stylistic(i.e. not affecting the content), and semantic. In the first case, the editor is required, first of all, to have impeccable literacy and a subtle sense of words. In the second - along with this, a thorough knowledge of the essence of the issue, mastery of factual material. There are, however, also general principles.

A general diagram of how the editor works looks like this:

  • perception - criticism - adjustments;
  • verification of factual material;
  • identification of compositional shortcomings;
  • identifying stylistic errors and errors;
  • identifying spelling and punctuation errors.

The first stage of editing - text perception - is extremely great value. Before changing anything, you should read the document as a whole. Some questions can usually be answered as you read. In addition, only with a holistic perception is the editor able to evaluate the composition, detect contradictions, logical errors, disproportionality between parts of the document, etc.

After the document has been read and errors and points of doubt have been noted, the most difficult and sensitive issue O permissible degree interference in the text. The uniqueness of editorial work lies in the fact that corrections are made to someone else's text. Consequently, the editor has the right to change the form, but not the content of the document. The question of the permissible limits of interference in a text is not always easily resolved. First of all, this relates to the problem of verbal repetitions.

Formal business style has its own specifics. One of the fundamental requirements for language is accuracy and unambiguity of statements. And although usually the repetition of the same word (or words with the same root) within a small text is considered stylistic mistake, but this is acceptable if we are talking about repetition of terms. Special vocabulary has a number of features that must be taken into account. The meaning of the term is specific; most often it does not have absolute synonyms and cannot be replaced by another word without changing the essence of the statement. Therefore, it is often necessary to make an exception for texts rich in terminology and preserve verbal repetitions for the sake of accuracy of meaning.

For example: After the end of the work of the State Attestation Committee, the dean's offices, based on the minutes of the State Attestation Commission, draw up an order on the completion of the educational institution, which is submitted to the educational department within five days from the date of completion of the activity of the State Attestation Commission.

GAK - state certification commission cannot be replaced by a phrase similar in meaning. To avoid repetition three times, you can only use the word “commission” instead of the abbreviation once.

The editor should remember: if repetitions have to be preserved, they need to think about other ways to “lighten” the text. In particular, you can avoid long, cumbersome sentences. More often complex sentence it is not difficult to turn into several simple ones.

The most important editorial principles can be defined like this:

  • keeping the document content unchanged;
  • the ability to prove that intervention in the text is necessary;
  • integrity and consistency (all deficiencies are noted and corrected immediately, since one change may lead to another);
  • clarity and accuracy.

The latter seems obvious. However, there are often cases when the editor makes edits by hand, and some words turn out to be “unreadable”. In the future, someone who types text on a computer may unwittingly introduce a new error into the document.

It is completely unacceptable to leave question marks or other marks in the margins after completing editorial work.

Editorial functions are considered completed after all doubts have been resolved and only notes intended for making corrections remain in the margins of the document.

Editing texts

There are four main types of editorial changes:

  • editing-proofreading;
  • edit-cut;
  • editing-processing;
  • editing-rework.

Editing and proofreading as close as possible to proofreading work. It is a correction of spelling and punctuation errors and typos. Such corrections usually do not require approval from the person signing the document.

Modern computer equipment freed document workers from a large part of the proofreading burden: text editors allow you to check spelling and make corrections directly while typing. But this should not be a reason for complete carelessness. IN this issue, as in many others, a person does not have the right to completely rely on technology.

We have to keep in mind that computer text editors “don’t know” many proper names. Last names, initials, geographical names, the names of enterprises and institutions must be verified with special care.

In addition, the computer is not able to detect all typos. He “will not notice,” for example, the transformation of the preposition “on” into the preposition “for”, the particle “not” into “nor”: for him it is all the same the right words. Automatic check will not produce results if you mistakenly typed "1897" instead of "1997". Only a person who understands the meaning of the statement is able to detect such errors.

Edit-cut produced in two main cases:

  • firstly, when it is necessary to make the document shorter by any means (then you can go for some reduction in the volume of content);
  • secondly, when the text contains redundant information - repetitions and “commonplaces”.

The editor is obliged to eliminate from well-known facts, truisms, unnecessary introductory words and designs. It is important that the editor is well versed in the material and is able to determine how justified the repetition of the same words is and whether their replacement with synonyms is acceptable.

Editing-processing represents an improvement to the style of the document. Errors and shortcomings associated with the violation of the compatibility of words, non-distinction of paronyms, the use of cumbersome syntactic structures, etc. are eliminated.

A document proofread by a qualified editor must:

  • do not contain factual errors or typographical errors;
  • be perfectly literate in terms of spelling and punctuation;
  • have optimal volume;
  • be built according to the laws of logic;
  • comply with the stylistic norms of the Russian literary language and the special requirements of the official business style.

Let's consider the organization of the editing process and try to highlight the stages, content and sequence of the editor's work on the original. It should be remembered that such a division is rather conditional. The sequence considered in each specific case will depend on several factors:

type and complexity of the original,

measures of his preparedness,

editor's experience,

organizing the publishing process in a specific editorial office or publishing house.

Editing steps:

1) first, end-to-end reading;

3) work on structure (composition);

4) determination of a unified style of text presentation;

5) work with auxiliary and service units publications;

6) work on headings;

7) editorial editing (using different types editing).

Let's briefly look at each of these stages.

1) First, end-to-end read

On preparatory stage editorial and publishing process (this was discussed in the previous lesson) editor in general outline could already form a first impression of the original that he would need to prepare for printing. But before he picks up a pen (or starts editing on a computer screen), he must read the entire work fluently.

Practice confirms that novice editors often ignore this stage and begin to edit the text immediately after reading the first paragraph. Over time, it may become clear that there was no need to spend time on this, since the entire edited part, in conjunction with other components of the text, will need to be shortened, or radically revised, or transferred to another place in the original. And the editor can come to such a conclusion only after reading the entire work, evaluating it, and identifying its strengths and weaknesses.

The methodology for the first reading may be different. This depends primarily on the experience of the editor. Experienced “sharks of the pen” have developed their own criteria for such reading: first, they pay attention to the content and structure of the work; further - a quick glance at most pages, selective reading of individual paragraphs in different parts original, clarifying the eclecticism of the text presentation, repetitions, the number of logical, semantic or language errors etc. For beginners, this stage of work can stretch out over time. But practice shows that time should not be saved on this.

After the first reading, the author's shortcomings become obvious. First of all, this concerns the completeness of the original, i.e. having all of it components. Unmade references to sections, unfinished individual paragraphs, unfinished illustrations, unfinished tables or diagrams - all this can become a serious obstacle to the editor’s work and compliance with the approved deadlines for completing the original at all stages of the editorial and publishing process.

Therefore, at this stage of editing, you should clarify, together with the author, the composition of the submitted original, identify the missing components, and make a decision: either postpone the work, or start editing, agreeing with the author on the deadline for eliminating defects.

3) Work on the structure (composition) of the original

This is an important stage, the implementation of which will determine the quality of the content of the future publication. It's about, first of all, about structural organization the entire text, the logical relationship of all its parts, regardless of whether it is a journalistic work or a book publication. Of course, the book requires more attention from the editor.

An experienced and caring editor, having received from the author a generally readable, but carefully unstructured original, will work hard to ensure that the future edition is convenient for the reader to use. Especially when it comes to a textbook, manual, popular science publication or monograph. Of course, the structure of the publication will benefit when individual sections are divided into paragraphs, and those, in turn, into subparagraphs, but only an experienced editor can tell you how to correctly structure the publication in order to withstand general structure presentation and its proportionality.

Again, only the editor can tell the author what is missing in this original. For example, there is not enough test questions and tasks after each topic; or the book would benefit from an introduction by a well-known expert on the subject; or the illustrated material should be made varied, and not only portraits; or a subject and geographical index should also be added to the alphabetical index. And this series of editorial proposals for improving the structure of the publication can be continued.

4) Definition of a unified text presentation style

Sticking to the whole general requirements preparation for newspaper, magazine and book market printed products (broadcast radio and television programs), each editorial office or publishing house may have its own style of presenting texts or programs. We are talking in particular about the forms of placement of main, service or auxiliary texts, content, highlighting of headings, completeness of description bibliographic references. There are a number of features in the presentation of some components of the text. So, for example, in the set of surnames, a number of publishing houses profess the European style - only full name and surname, others adhere to the old approach - either using initials, or writing full names, patronymics and surnames. The same applies to numbers, especially in the names of centuries, years, as well as geographical names. The same criteria should be followed in the abbreviated spelling of individual words.

5) Working with the publishing apparatus

The presence and completeness of the future original layout of the auxiliary part of the publication (appendices, bibliographic descriptions, indexes, dictionaries, page footnotes, contents) also depends on the editor and his close cooperation with the author. These components of the text, as a rule, are edited after completion of work on the main part of the original. But they can be in operation in parallel. The same applies to the service part of the publication (advanced title, expanded title, column numbers, headers).

When processing the text of the main part, the editor must always remember that any edits made here should automatically be reflected in the service or auxiliary part. First of all, this concerns the content and inscriptions on footers.

6) Working on headings

Many experienced editors can say without exaggeration that choosing the exact headline for a journalistic piece, or selecting and editing the entire set of headlines, is one of the most difficult stages of editing.

The editor will do the most work on headings in a well-structured book publication. Because titles here are given to all subsections of the book (chapters, sections, paragraphs, etc.), and to all structural parts of the headings (auxiliary indexes, tables, illustrations, etc.). Headings perform several important functions in the text:

facilitate the reader’s work with the publication;

organize the reading process;

enable the reader to meaningfully work with individual parts of the publication;

prepare the reader to perceive a new, relatively complete, whole work;

provide convenience in searching for selective information;

* provide an opportunity to understand the material more deeply.

In addition to the fact that the editor has to constantly keep the entire heading complex in sight, during editing he must also know the subordination of types of headings and the features of their arrangement both on the page (column) and in relation to the text.

Editorial processing of headings is necessary not only to determine their hierarchy in the main part of the publication, but also to indicate their graphic reproduction on pages (or columns).

The editor’s main task at this stage is to achieve optimal correspondence between the headings and the content of the text fragments.

7) Editorial editing (using different types of editing)

Editorial editing is the last component of the editing stage, but not the least serious one performed by the editor.

The editor begins to make the necessary corrections in the text after the first through reading. The essence of the edit is that in separate words, sentences, or even fragments of text, the editor can perform the following operations:

deletion;

rearrangement;

reductions;

processing.

The main objectives of such editing are to eliminate inaccuracies, repetitions, achieve clarity of wording, consistency of presentation, and linguistic and stylistic literacy.

At the stage of making corrections, the editor must also remember some rules of publishing ethics, which were developed based on the experience of many predecessors.

Let's highlight the most important ones.

1. Avoid taste corrections. This is especially true for linguistic and stylistic edits. While worrying about the simplicity and accessibility of the text, one should, however, take into account the peculiarities of the language and style of the author himself. When spelling requirements allow for variation in words or phrases, the author's expressions should still be used, and not the version that the editor likes.

IN Soviet times In some state publishing houses there was a practice when the quality of the editor’s work was determined by the number of corrections made to the author’s original. The editor who revised the text the most was considered the best. Now that the publisher-author relationship has changed, this practice is considered unacceptable.

2. When processing entire fragments of the original, do not move away from the author’s linguistic means. It is advisable to immediately compare the corrected part with the previous and subsequent fragments of the author’s text, as long as the logic and motivation of the story can be traced.

Any corrections made during editing must be agreed with the author. It is necessary to avoid categorical judgments when justifying the need for corrections. Throughout the entire period of work with the author, you must maintain a respectful relationship.

P the concept of editing comes from Latin word redastus - put in order. This meaning perfectly reflects the essence of editing, which is always aimed at making a separate text or an entire publication the most adequate for perception, to ensure their compliance with certain standards, as well as to ensure that the text or publication is presented as an integral, complete system.

When we talk about editing, we mean a variety of work packages. First of all, activities in the areas of mass communications. It covers management of the content side of the work of publishing houses, editorial offices of newspapers, magazines, studios and includes the preparation of publications, television and radio programs, work with the texts of films and performances. Editing is also used in management, marketing and management systems in the preparation of management, statistical, and legal documentation.

In publishing, editing contributes to meeting the public's need for books. It is implemented by a system of forms and methods of work of the editor and involves the implementation of the editorial and publishing process, ensuring the publication of literary works.

In his work, the editor relies on special book knowledge in the field of publishing and editing, the theoretical justification of books and works of literature as objects of editing, and takes into account the experience of major editors of the past and present.

The editor’s tasks include preparing a specific publication, forming the publishing house’s repertoire, and organizing the editorial and publishing process. We can say that he is the organizer, leader, manager of the book publishing business.

The range of his tasks is extremely wide. The editor is engaged in literary, methodological, informational, organizational, and creative activities.

When preparing a specific publication, the main task of the editor is to evaluate the manuscript submitted by the author, determine the tasks and ways of its improvement, and prepare the original for publication. The editor assembles a creative team capable of taking part in preparing a literary work for publication. Such a team may include an artist who illustrates and designs the book, literary critics, art critics, bibliographers, specialists in various fields of knowledge - they create the reference apparatus of the publication, reviewers and consultants, artistic and technical editors. The editor must ensure the coherence of the work of the creative team, “involve” certain specialists in working on the publication at various stages of the editorial and publishing process.

Editor's work on the text literary work includes a critical reading of the manuscript, making it possible to evaluate the topic and problem, the connection of factual material with the topic and problem. This assessment is important for determining the significance of the content of a literary work. In addition, the editor evaluates the form of presentation of the material, analyzing the composition of the work and the linguistic and stylistic means used by the author. The editor works together with the author to prepare the work for publication, discussing with him all his comments. If previously published works of literature are selected for publication, the editor must be prepared for the fact that he will have to carry out textual work, which is carried out either by himself or by a specialist in the field of textual criticism.

To work on the language and style of a work, it is very important to have a good knowledge of the language in which it is written and the basics of practical and functional stylistics.

But this is not enough to prepare the publication. It is necessary to know the typological characteristics of publications and the basic requirements for them. First of all, this group of questions is important when forming a publishing repertoire. It often happens that before selecting a work for publication, the editor develops a concept for the future book. This concept is based on marketing research into the needs for certain publications, the ability of readers to purchase them, as well as the ability to offer the reader material that meets their needs.

Focusing on the concept of the book, the editor selects a work from previously published ones or commissions it from the author new job, having received which he develops a model for the future publication. It is then that a creative team of book creators is formed, the leader and organizer of which is the editor. He also ensures that the manuscript passes through the publishing house and the printing house - the so-called editorial and publishing process, the result of which is a finished publication.

When developing a concept and model, the editor uses the typology of the book, which allows us to determine the type and type of publication, based on the specifics of the subject, readership and purpose of the future publication. These characteristics determine the requirements for a literary work, taking into account the characteristics of types of literature and genres of works. When working on a literary work, the editor uses editorial analysis as one of the main methods, which involves not only assessing various aspects and elements of the manuscript, but also includes determining directions for finalizing the work, taking into account how the editor plans to publish it.

When preparing a publication for publication, editing is the main component of the editorial and publishing process. Often the editor has to work together with the author on the outline of a literary work; he is engaged in finalizing the text, determining the principles of illustration and design, as well as creating a reference apparatus for the future publication.

Editing did not emerge immediately as an independent activity in book publishing. This type of activity evolved as book publishing developed due to the need to provide certain operations, processes, and solve specific problems of publishing literature.

In Russia, editing did not have independent significance until the beginning of the 19th century. However, during the 17th-18th centuries, the prerequisites for identifying this type of activity were formed. The nineteenth century can be seen as a time when editing gradually gained own status, becomes an independent field of activity with its own goals, objectives, methods, and forms of work. This does not happen immediately, but gradually - in connection with the development of publishing and the complication of the repertoire of publications, the problem-thematic and organizational-functional structure of publishing literature, as well as changes in the needs and interests of readers.

At this time, editorial and publishing activities were closely intertwined with the main directions of the social and national liberation movement in Russia and Europe, with the processes of formation and development of Russian culture.

But the experience of editing at that time had not yet been generalized, and editors were not specially trained. Only in the middle of the twentieth century does it begin to take shape specialized knowledge in the field of editing, and many aspects of this knowledge are based on the analysis of the actual editorial practice of the 19th century, and this century can be called a kind of factual base modern theory editing. When justifying the forms and methods of this activity, options for the editorial work of individual writers, editors, and publishers are explored, and on this basis a theory and methodology for the activity itself is created.

Famous book historian E.A. Dinerstein showed that during the 19th century the quantitative and high-quality composition readers. Until the 50s in total mass consumers were dominated by nobles; in the post-reform period, the leading place among readers was occupied by the intelligentsia of various ranks, and by the end of the century a new layer of readers from the peasant and working class environment was sharply identified. This determines the attitude of publishers and editors to the published literature - they begin to take into account the specifics of reader perception.

It should be kept in mind that editing is a personalized activity. The personality of the editor determines his work on the work and introduces his own individual element into someone else's work. This is clearly visible in materials that preserve the editing of writers working on other people's manuscripts. For example, this becomes clear when analyzing Chekhov's editing of several works by authors.

All these aspects determined the selection of material to show the peculiarities of the development of editing in Russian publishing. The textbook covers general questions and specific experience in preparing publications, the editorial practice of publishers, writers, editors, which are important for characterizing the formation and development of editing as an independent field of activity. In addition, given general characteristics the work of a modern editor.

The structure of the material is not determined by the history of the development of book publishing. The sequence of presentation is related to the development of editorial activity itself.

At the end of the 30s of the 20th century, when the system of industry publishing houses was actively developing and needed specialist editors, the Moscow Printing Institute (now the Moscow State University of Printing Arts) opened an editorial and publishing department. From this time on, the training of professional editors begins. The theory of editing is also developing, including a system of knowledge about the laws of the publishing process, preparation of publications, work on text, etc.

Book knowledge in the field of editing made its first steps in the 20s of the twentieth century. Individual works appear that summarize the experience of preparing the publication, issues of language and style are considered, and editorial and publishing activities are studied. By the end of the 50s and in the 60s, an independent direction in book science was formed - the theory of editing. The composition, structure, goals, objectives, subject, object of science are justified. She is primarily associated with the names of N.M. Sikorsky, A.V. Zapadova, R.G. Abdullina, L.N. Kastryulina, E.A. Lazarevich, A.E. Milchina, K.M. Nakoryakova, V.I. Svintsova, B.G. Tyapkina, M.D. Feller, E.V. Schlüper. In the 70-90s they developed separate directions scientific foundations editing. The features of works of certain types of literature, types and types of publications are studied, the elements of publications and forms, methods, methods of their preparation are considered, the specifics of perception of the content of works and the possibility of activating this process are found, the problems of reading and the features of their satisfaction are considered. In addition, they are studying computer technology in relation to the editorial and publishing process, the specifics of their use in publishing.

Discipline "Editing. General course"is an introduction to the system of disciplines of the editorial complex. Its task is to show how editing was formed in the process of development of book publishing, to reveal the directions of the editor’s work, to identify the main milestones in the process of establishing editorial activity, to characterize the experience of the most famous figures science, culture, and book publishing that contributed to this process.

This textbook was prepared at the Department of Publishing and Editing of the Moscow state university print. The textbook was prepared by a team of authors: Dr. Philol. sciences, prof. S.G. Antonova (introduction, chapters 2-8), Ph.D. Philol. sciences, prof. V.I. Soloviev (chapter 1, 11), dr. Philol. sciences, prof. K.T. Yamchuk (chap. 9, 10).

When starting to edit text, it is important to clearly understand what goals are being set for you. Editing can be either purely stylistic (i.e. not affecting the content) or semantic. In the first case, the editor is required, first of all, to have impeccable literacy and a subtle sense of words. In the second - along with this, a thorough knowledge of the essence of the issue, possession of factual material. There are, however, general principles. A general diagram of how the editor works looks like this:

Perception - criticism - adjustments;

Checking the factual material;

Identification of compositional defects;

Identification of stylistic errors and errors;

Identifying spelling and punctuation errors.

It is important to remember that the first stage of editing - the perception of the text - is extremely important. Only an inexperienced employee, having read the first few lines of the document, takes up a pencil and begins to make corrections. Before changing anything, you should read the document as a whole. In this case, you can make notes in the margins or extracts (especially if it is a large text). Some questions can usually be answered as you read. In addition, only with a holistic perception is the editor able to evaluate the composition of the text, detect contradictions, logical errors, disproportionality of parts, etc.

It is most convenient, after analyzing the text, to start reading it from the beginning, gradually and consistently eliminating the noted shortcomings.

After you have carefully read the document, evaluated it, noted errors and points of doubt, you have to solve the most difficult and delicate issue that always faces the editor. This is a question about permissible degree of interference in the text . The uniqueness of editorial work lies in the fact that corrections are made to someone else’s text. Eventually, the document must be signed by another person. Therefore, you take on additional responsibility: you have the right to change the form, but not the content; otherwise, it will turn out that you are imposing your thoughts on the addressee on someone else’s behalf.

One of the main “commandments of an editor” can be formulated as follows: do not add or subtract. Whatever the impact on the text (replacement of words, grammatical structures, rearrangement of parts), the meaning of the statement must remain the same. If it is necessary to change the content (for example, to eliminate a factual error), this must certainly be agreed upon with the author.

The question of the permissible limits of interference in a text is not always easily resolved. First of all, this relates to the problem of verbal repetitions.

Official business style has its own specifics. One of the fundamental requirements for the language of documents is accuracy and unambiguity of statements. In this regard, the author and editor sometimes have to act at the expense of the beauty of the style, taking care of the clarity of meaning. Typically, repeating the same word (or cognates) within a short text is considered a stylistic error. But the situation cannot be assessed so definitely if we are talking about repetition of terms. Special vocabulary has a number of features that must be taken into account. The meaning of the term is specific; most often it does not have absolute synonyms and cannot be replaced by another word without changing the essence of the statement. Therefore, it is often necessary to make an exception for texts rich in terminology and preserve verbal repetitions for the sake of accuracy of meaning.

For example, the general department of a higher education institution instructs dean's office employees: After the end of the work of the State Attestation Committee, the dean's offices, based on the minutes of the State Attestation Commission, draw up an order on graduation from the university, which is submitted to the academic department within five days from the end of the work of the State Attestation Commission.

SAC - State Attestation Commission (the abbreviation may not be deciphered in a document that is circulated within the institution; for university employees this is a generally understood term). The name cannot be replaced by a word combination that is similar in meaning. To avoid repetition three times, you can use the word “commission” once instead of the abbreviation. At the same time, it is necessary to refuse to repeat the word “ending” three times. The editor gives the text next view: After the completion of the work of the State Attestation Committee, the dean’s offices, based on the protocols of the commission, draw up an order on the completion of the university, which is submitted to the educational department within five days from the date of completion of the activities of the State Attestation Commission.

Let's also consider examples from special texts related to the gas industry.

1. Please note that for safety reasons it is necessary to ground the neutral wire, i.e. reliably connect it to the ground through a special grounding conductor, for example, a metal sheet buried in the ground. In the absence of such grounding and when one of the linear wires is connected to the ground, the second linear wire will be under double voltage in relation to the ground.

2. In order to use automatic submerged arc welding for welding pipeline joints, ensuring high quality and higher productivity of welding work, the institute developed three options for organizing assembly and welding work on the pipeline construction route.

In the first fragment, the same root words “ground”, “earth”, “grounding”, “grounding” are used. In addition, the phrase “linear wire” is used twice. Undoubtedly, this makes the sentences ponderous and complicates perception. However, the editor is unlikely to be able to completely avoid repetition. Thus, the terminological phrase “linear wire” cannot be replaced by another that is similar in meaning.

Before editing, you should clarify who the text is addressed to. Unless this is an excerpt from a school textbook, you can safely refuse to explain what the verb “ground” means.

The editor should remember: if repetitions have to be preserved, they need to think about other ways to “lighten” the text. In particular, you can refuse long, cumbersome sentences. Most often, it is not difficult to turn a complex sentence into several simple ones. After the corrections, the first fragment takes on the following form:

Please note that for safety reasons the neutral wire must be grounded. For example, a metal sheet buried in the ground can be used as a grounding conductor. Otherwise, when one of the linear wires is connected to the ground, the second one will be under double voltage.

In the second fragment, the noun “welding” (2 words) is repeated and similar phrases “ welding work" and "assembly and welding works"; The definition of “high” (“high quality”, “high productivity”) is used twice.

Editing can be minimal: the term “welding” does not allow synonymous substitutions. We just need to abandon the adjective “welding” when talking about work productivity, since it does not bring into the text new information. It is also permissible to limit ourselves to the single use of the adjective “high”: when it comes to quality assurance, it goes without saying that what is meant is high quality. The replacement will give the text some dynamism participial phrase subordinate attributive. The final version could be like this:

In order to use automatic submerged arc welding at pipeline joints, which ensures quality and higher productivity of work, the institute has developed three options for organizing assembly and welding work along the pipeline construction route.

Summarizing the above, we can identify the most important editorial principles:

keeping the document content unchanged;

The ability to prove that intervention in the text is necessary;

Integrity and consistency (all deficiencies are noted and corrected immediately, since one change may lead to another);

Clarity and accuracy.

The latter seems obvious. However, there are often cases when the editor makes edits by hand, and some words turn out to be “unreadable”. In the future, someone who types text on a computer may unwittingly introduce a new error into the document.

It is completely unacceptable to leave question marks or other marks in the margins after completing editorial work.

Editorial functions are considered completed after all doubts have been resolved and only notes intended for making corrections remain in the margins of the document.

Types of editing

There are four main types of editorial changes:

editing-proofreading;

edit-cut;

editing-processing;

editing-rework.

Editing and proofreading as close as possible to proofreading work. It is a correction of spelling and punctuation errors and typos. Such corrections usually do not require approval from the person signing the document.

Modern computer technology has freed document workers from much of the proofreading workload: text editors allow you to check spelling and make corrections directly while typing. But this should not be a reason for complete carelessness. In this matter, as in many others, a person does not have the right to completely rely on technology.

We have to keep in mind that computer text editors “don’t know” many proper names. Surnames, initials, geographical names, names of enterprises and institutions must be verified with special care.

In addition, the computer is not able to detect all typos. He “will not notice,” for example, the transformation of the preposition “on” into the preposition “for”, the particle “not” into “nor”: for him these are all equally correct words. The automatic check will fail if you mistakenly typed "1897" instead of "1997". Only a person who understands the meaning of the statement is able to detect such errors.

Neglecting editing and proofreading often leads to funny things. It is not difficult to imagine the reaction of a manager who receives a document called not “Protocol No. 5,” but “Protocol No. 5.” If a text containing such a typo goes outside the institution, the company's credibility will certainly suffer.

Edit-cut produced in two main cases:

When it is necessary to make the document shorter by any means (then you can go for some reduction in the volume of content);

When the text contains redundant information - repetitions and “commonplaces”.

The editor is obliged to eliminate well-known facts, truisms, unnecessary introductory words and constructions from the document. As noted above, verbal repetitions are also among the stylistic shortcomings, but sometimes it is not possible to avoid them. It is important that the editor is well versed in the material and is able to determine how justified the repetition of the same words is and whether their replacement with synonyms is acceptable.

Editing-processing represents an improvement to the style of the document. Errors and shortcomings associated with the violation of the compatibility of words, failure to distinguish paronyms, the use of cumbersome syntactic structures, etc. are eliminated.

Let's consider a fragment of an order that requires reduction and processing.

HR services of subsidiaries and subsidiaries joint stock companies

1.1. With a purpose further development human resources enterprises in accordance with the challenges facing us production tasks from 01/01/1999 to begin and during the current year implement the system of continuous individual training managers, specialists and workers of industry enterprises and organizations.

1.2. Expand efforts to attract creative activity youth and accept active participation in conducting Industry scientific-practical conference young scientists and specialists.

1.3. Bring the structure and number of personnel services of enterprises into line with the tasks facing them in the management and development of personnel, taking the necessary measures to consistently improve their quality composition.

1.4 During 1999-2000 bring the material base educational institutions industry in accordance with modern personnel training requirements, based on current industry standards.

First of all, the editor will find in this text a verbal repetition: “subsidiaries” and “subsidiaries joint-stock companies”. The norms of Russian grammar make it possible not to repeat the definition for each of homogeneous members offers. Agreement (coincidence of gender, number and case) is sufficient for the definition to be perceived as referring to all members of the sentence included in the group of homogeneous ones. By writing:

“HR services of subsidiaries and joint stock companies”, we will clearly indicate that we are referring to subsidiaries.

In addition, the document in question is distinguished by verbal redundancy. Do not specify: “the production challenges facing us”(clause 1.1): it is implied that the order talks about the problems of the area within which it was created. "Accept necessary measures" (clause 1.3) is also a redundant phrase. It is quite obvious that exactly those measures that are necessary to achieve the goal are listed. The use of the participle is also meaningless "active" in clause 1.4. No one will doubt the fact that the executors of the order must be guided by the current, and not canceled or not yet adopted standards.

Processing of this text includes changing the word order in paragraphs. 1.1 and 1.3, as well as correction of errors related to the choice of case form of the noun. It is necessary to interchange the predicate “to begin” and the time adverbial “from 01/01/1999”. Otherwise, the deadlines named in the sentence are associated in the reader’s mind not with the beginning of the action, but with the mention of production tasks. Clause 1.3 uses the construction “bring something into conformity with something”, which requires a certain order words

Finally, there is an error twice in the text caused by ignorance of the rules of control (the choice of case of a noun included in a phrase). In Russian, constructions “correspondence of something to something” are possible. (compliance of the law with the Constitution),"to bring something into conformity with something" (bring the law in accordance with the Constitution) and "in accordance with something" (act in accordance with the law). Consequently, in the analyzed text forms of the creative case with the preposition “s” should be used: “to bring the structure and number personnel services in accordance with the tasks facing us”, “bring the material base in line with modern requirements”.

Language always provides the speaker and writer with many synonymous possibilities. The same thing can be said in various ways, choosing words and grammatical structures. That is why the content of the considered order can be conveyed by other means.

HR services of subsidiaries and joint stock companies

1.1 In order to further develop the human resources of enterprises in accordance with the production tasks facing the industry, begin from 01/01/1999 the introduction of a system of continuous individual training for managers, specialists and workers.

1.2 Expand efforts to attract young people to creative activities and take an active part in holding the Industry Scientific and Practical Conference of Young Scientists and Specialists.

1.3 Bring the structure and number of personnel services of enterprises in accordance with the tasks facing the industry in the management and development of personnel; take measures to improve their quality composition.

1.4 During 1999-2000 Bring the material base of educational institutions in accordance with modern requirements for personnel training, based on industry standards.

Thus, a document corrected by a qualified editor:

Does not contain factual errors or typos;

Perfectly literate in terms of spelling and punctuation;

Has optimal volume;

It is built according to the laws of logic;

Corresponds to the stylistic norms of the Russian literary language.

Let's consider the organization of the editing process and try to highlight the stages, content and sequence of the editor's work on the original. It should be remembered that such a division is rather conditional. The sequence considered in each specific case will depend on several factors:

type and complexity of the original,

measures of his preparedness,

editor's experience,

organizing the publishing process in a specific editorial office or publishing house.

Editing steps:

first, end-to-end reading;

work on structure (composition);

determination of a unified text presentation style;

work with auxiliary and service parts of the publication;

working on headlines;

editorial editing (using different types of editing).

Let's briefly look at each of these stages.

1) First, end-to-end read

At the preparatory stage of the editorial and publishing process (this was discussed in the previous lesson), the editor, in general terms, could already form a first impression of the original that he would need to prepare for printing. But before he picks up a pen (or starts editing on a computer screen), he must read the entire work fluently.

Practice confirms that novice editors often ignore this stage and begin to edit the text immediately after reading the first paragraph. Over time, it may become clear that there was no need to spend time on this, since the entire edited part, in conjunction with other components of the text, will need to be shortened, or radically revised, or transferred to another place in the original. And the editor can come to such a conclusion only after reading the entire work, evaluating it, and identifying its strengths and weaknesses.

The methodology for the first reading may be different. This depends primarily on the experience of the editor. Experienced “sharks of the pen” have developed their own criteria for such reading: first, they pay attention to the content and structure of the work; then a quick scan of most pages, selective reading of individual paragraphs in different parts of the original, finding out the eclecticism of the text, repetitions, the number of logical, semantic or language errors, etc. For beginners, this stage of work can take a long time. But practice shows that time should not be saved on this.

After the first reading, the author's shortcomings become obvious. First of all, this concerns the completeness of the original, i.e. presence of all its components. Unmade references to sections, unfinished individual paragraphs, unfinished illustrations, unfinished tables or diagrams - all this can become a serious obstacle to the editor’s work and compliance with the approved deadlines for completing the original at all stages of the editorial and publishing process.

Therefore, at this stage of editing, you should clarify, together with the author, the composition of the submitted original, identify the missing components, and make a decision: either postpone the work, or start editing, agreeing with the author on the deadline for eliminating defects.

3) Work on the structure (composition) of the original

This is an important stage, the implementation of which will determine the quality of the content of the future publication. We are talking, first of all, about the structural organization of the entire text, the logical relationship of all its parts, regardless of whether it is a journalistic work or a book publication. Of course, the book requires more attention from the editor.

An experienced and caring editor, having received from the author a generally readable, but carefully unstructured original, will work hard to ensure that the future edition is convenient for the reader to use. Especially when it comes to a textbook, manual, popular science publication or monograph. Of course, the structure of the publication will benefit when individual sections are divided into paragraphs, and those, in turn, into subparagraphs, but only an experienced editor can tell you how to correctly structure the publication in order to maintain the overall structure of the presentation and its proportionality.

Again, only the editor can tell the author what is missing in this original. For example, there are not enough control questions and tasks after each topic; or the book would benefit from an introduction by a well-known expert on the subject; or the illustrated material should be made varied, and not only portraits; or a subject and geographical index should also be added to the alphabetical index. And this series of editorial proposals for improving the structure of the publication can be continued.

4) Definition of a unified text presentation style

Adhering in general to the general requirements for preparation for the newspaper, magazine and book market of printed products (broadcasting radio and television programs), each editorial office or publishing house may have its own style of presenting texts or programs. We are talking in particular about the forms of placement of main, service or auxiliary texts, content, highlighting of headings, completeness of description of bibliographic references. There are a number of features in the presentation of some components of the text. So, for example, in the set of surnames, a number of publishing houses profess the European style - only the full first and last name, others adhere to the old approach - either the use of initials, or the full spelling of first names, patronymics and surnames. The same applies to numbers, especially in the names of centuries, years, as well as geographical names. The same criteria should be followed in the abbreviated spelling of individual words.

5) Working with the publishing apparatus

The presence and completeness of the future original layout of the auxiliary part of the publication (appendices, bibliographic descriptions, indexes, dictionaries, page footnotes, contents) also depends on the editor and his close cooperation with the author. These components of the text, as a rule, are edited after completion of work on the main part of the original. But they can be in operation in parallel. The same applies to the service part of the publication (advanced title, expanded title, column numbers, headers).

When processing the text of the main part, the editor must always remember that any edits made here should automatically be reflected in the service or auxiliary part. First of all, this concerns the content and inscriptions on footers.

6) Working on headings

Many experienced editors can say without exaggeration that choosing the exact headline for a journalistic piece, or selecting and editing the entire set of headlines, is one of the most difficult stages of editing.

The editor will do the most work on headings in a well-structured book publication. Because titles here are given to all subsections of the book (chapters, sections, paragraphs, etc.), and to all structural parts of the headings (auxiliary indexes, tables, illustrations, etc.). Headings perform several important functions in the text:

facilitate the reader’s work with the publication;

organize the reading process;

enable the reader to meaningfully work with individual parts of the publication;

prepare the reader to perceive a new, relatively complete, whole work;

provide convenience in searching for selective information;

They provide an opportunity to understand the material more deeply.

In addition to the fact that the editor has to constantly keep the entire heading complex in sight, during editing he must also know the subordination of types of headings and the features of their arrangement both on the page (column) and in relation to the text.

Editorial processing of headings is necessary not only to determine their hierarchy in the main part of the publication, but also to indicate their graphic reproduction on pages (or columns).

The editor’s main task at this stage is to achieve optimal correspondence between the headings and the content of the text fragments.

7) Editorial editing (using different types of editing)

Editorial editing is the last component of the editing stage, but not the least serious one performed by the editor.

The editor begins to make the necessary corrections in the text after the first through reading. The essence of editing is that in individual words, sentences, or even fragments of text, the editor can perform the following operations:

deletion;

rearrangement;

reductions;

processing.

The main objectives of such editing are to eliminate inaccuracies, repetitions, achieve clarity of wording, consistency of presentation, and linguistic and stylistic literacy.

At the stage of making corrections, the editor must also remember some rules of publishing ethics, which were developed based on the experience of many predecessors.

Let's highlight the most important ones.

1. Avoid taste corrections. This is especially true for linguistic and stylistic edits. While worrying about the simplicity and accessibility of the text, one should, however, take into account the peculiarities of the language and style of the author himself. When spelling requirements allow for variation in words or phrases, the author's expressions should still be used, and not the version that the editor likes.

In Soviet times, some state publishing houses had a practice where the quality of an editor’s work was determined by the number of corrections made to the author’s original. The editor who revised the text the most was considered the best. Now that the publisher-author relationship has changed, this practice is considered unacceptable.

2. When processing entire fragments of the original, do not move away from the author’s linguistic means. It is advisable to immediately compare the corrected part with the previous and subsequent fragments of the author’s text, as long as the logic and motivation of the story can be traced.

Any corrections made during editing must be agreed with the author. It is necessary to avoid categorical judgments when justifying the need for corrections. Throughout the entire period of work with the author, you must maintain a respectful relationship.