Greetings and Salutations!
This week our team met to go over a couple papers. Our first task involved corrected edits. Although the author updated the paper mostly according to the suggestions of Dr. Farless and a previous intern, there were still a few tasks unresolved. This particular essay included the use of international terms or foreign words to us English speakers. When this happens, the Journal recommends that we underscore words or phrases when used initially. We will be able to quickly find such terms while performing a word search within Microsoft Word. Due to the editing program used, the requirement calls for underscore. With that said, I had a slight mix-up when I reviewed footnotes. I adjusted the format of the notes according to Chicago Manual of Style only. Since the Journal converts underscores to italics, I will need to go back and adjust all the citations. I think this moment calls for a face palm 😊. Nonetheless, the adjustments will be a simple fix! While we did not spend too much time on the corrected paper, we moved on to discuss an essay which covered a familiar topic to both Dr. Farless and Abigail.
Although I am not very familiar with the Victorian era, Dr. Farless and Abigail pointed out some remarkable facts about the time. If we get to meet with the author in the next couple weeks, in addition to discussing edits, the conversation should be pretty interesting as the essay features traditions that made their way here in the United States. For this text, there are a few issues with context, but the author should not have a problem addressing these issues. Dr. Farless discussed the importance of utilizing specific information such as dates. Since we are covering the topic of history, dates are important – we students forget this sometimes. Abigail brought up a term that I have not heard before, hedging. According to Abigail, hedging refers to language that does not yield confidence in a statement. The use of hedging and the inclusion of dates should not be troublesome for the author to adjust. We were unable to discuss the entire paper, but the conversation should continue in the next meeting scheduled for Monday.
As we tackle new papers, Abigail and I seem to have new questions regarding the preferences of the Journal or Chicago Manual of Style. We have compiled a – growing - list of questions and hopefully before the semester ends, we will have a checklist for future authors.
Here’s to editing…and correcting my edits! 😊