Reflective Post #4: Editing and Revision

During the past few weeks, I have been assisting in the revising and editing of NW3C course PowerPoints and CDs. Last Monday, I worked through a course CD that was in the final revision process. Though the CD had few mistakes, I did notice a small number of grammatical errors in the course texts. Revising the CD helped me to realize the value of having multiple writers and editors view a document before releasing it for publication. Throughout my college career, I have written numerous papers for various courses. I often worked with the same paper throughout the course of a semester in order to edit and perfect the document for submission in my final portfolio. I discovered that when revising my papers, I could easily miss mistakes in my own writing. Therefore, I often asked my classmates or friends to read over my work in order to get a second point of view. I have now learned that this part of the revision process is equally important in the professional workplace.

Today, I spent time reading over a PowerPoint presentation that was in the early stages of development. While considering what suggestions to make to the writer, I tried to keep in mind that the presentation would likely undergo several revisions before its completion. I took note of a few punctuation errors and also noticed slides that were lacking in parallel structure. Though I included these errors in my list of suggestions, I tried to explain more than one possible way to revise the slides. I realize that the writer may have not yet formed concrete decisions about the formatting of the slides and the structure of the writing. Therefore, I felt that it would be helpful to discuss a variety of means for improving slide clarity.

In reviewing both the CD and the PowerPoint, I came across a few grammatical dilemmas concerning placement of commas and other marks of punctuation. While many rules of grammar are concrete, many others are debatable. In instances where there may be more then one correct way to structure a sentence, companies often adhere to their organization’s accepted standards. I was specifically concerned with the question of whether or not to use a comma before the conjunction in a series. I have always chosen to use a comma in these situations in my own writing. However, I have also read that it is not wrong to omit the comma. I discussed this matter with my supervisor, and he informed me that NW3C writers do typically use the comma. I’m sure that I will encounter similar dilemmas as I continue my work as an intern. I hope to learn more about NW3C’s writing style and format through helping to revise course documents in the future.