Editing

Guidelines: Essay Number 1 1) Is the argument convincing? The first and most important criterion any essay should meet is that of rhetorical skill, or persuasion. Editors should judge the validity of the writers argument, whether or not they agree with it in principle. Provide your colleague with reasons for why you do or do not find the argument convincing. Find concrete examples of useful or counterproductive claims or rhetoric in the essay. 2) Is the argument clear? Each sentence and each paragraph of the essay should follow logically from the one that has preceded it. You should not have a sense of confusion about how the author moved from one idea to the next. Transitions should be smooth and clear. If you find a transition confusing, ask your colleague how she moved cognitively from one idea to the nextencourage him to recall his mental stepsand make concrete suggestions for how he might make those steps clear to his reader. At the syntactical level of the sentence, the style should be as clear, simple, and straightforward as possible. If it is not, demonstrate to your colleague where you see problems and know your style and grammar well enough to correct those of your colleague. 3) Does the essay use words economically? The essay should deploy words as though they are precious commodities. Verbosity for the sake of formality or smoke and mirrors should be immediately stricken from the essay. In one sense, this aspect of a good essay is a check and balance to criterion number 2: moving too quickly between phrases, paragraphs, or ideas can be confusing, whereas using too much useless language in between the expression of concrete ideas can be annoying, boring, and ineffective. Again, if you have an overarching sense of a great deal of language with little content, provide specific examples and suggest ways in which those words or phrases can be eliminated without compromising the logic of the argument. 4) Does the essay take into account the importance of writing to a global audience? Although a variety of sentence structures and specific, meaningful diction are crucial to good writing in general, business writing also entails an awareness of the range (and limits) of cultural and linguistic knowledge that global readers bring to the text. Ensure that your colleague, without sounding boring or lazy, uses simple words more often than not, employing more complicated language only when the reading calls for it.