Editing - Definition and Guidelines

Editing is a stage of the writing process in which a writer or editor strives to improve a draft by correcting errors and making words and sentences clearer, more precise, and as effective as possible. The process of editing involves adding, deleting, and rearranging words to cut the clutter and streamline overall structure. The Importance of Editing Whether youre working toward completing an assignment or hoping to get something published, tightening your writing and fixing mistakes can actually be a remarkably creative activity. Thoughtful revision of a work can lead to clarification of ideas, a reimagining of images, and sometimes, even a radical rethinking of the way youve approached your topic. The Two Types of Editing There are two types of editing: the ongoing edit and the draft edit. Most of us edit as we write and write as we edit, and its impossible to slice cleanly between the two. Youre writing, you change a word in a sentence, write three sentences more, then back up a clause to change that semicolon to a dash; or you edit a sentence and a new idea suddenly spins out from a word change, so you write a new paragraph where until that moment nothing else was needed. That is the ongoing edit... For the draft edit, you stop writing, gather a number of pages together, read them, make notes on what works and doesnt, then rewrite. It is only in the draft edit that you gain a sense of the whole and view your work as a detached professional. It is the draft edit that makes us uneasy, and that arguably matters most.—From The Artful Edit: The Practice of Editing Yourself by Susan Bell Editing Checkpoints The final step for the writer is to go back and clean up the rough edges... Here are some checkpoints: Facts: Make sure that what youve written is what happened; Spelling: Check and recheck names, titles, words with unusual spellings, your most frequently misspelled words, and everything else. Use a spell check but keep training your eye; Numbers: Recheck the digits, especially phone numbers. Check other numbers, make sure all math is correct, give thought to whether numbers (crowd estimates, salaries, etc.) seem logical; Grammar: Subjects and verbs must agree, pronouns need correct antecedents, modifiers must not dangle (make your English teacher proud); Style: When it comes to repairing your story, leave the copy desk feeling like the washing machine repair guy who has nothing to do.—From The Effective Editor by F. Davis Editing in Class A large portion of everyday editing instruction can take place in the first few minutes of class... Starting every class period with invitations to notice, combine, imitate, or celebrate is an easy way to make sure editing and writing are done every day. I want to communicate with my instruction that editing is shaping and creating writing as much as it is something that refines and polishes it... I want to step away from all the energy spent on separating editing from the writing process, shoved off at the end of it all or forgotten about altogether.—From Everyday Editing by Jeff Anderson Tinkering: The Essence of Writing Well Rewriting is the essence of writing well: its where the game is won or lost... Most writers dont initially say what they want to say, or say it as well as they could. The newly hatched sentence almost always has something wrong with it. Its not clear. Its not logical. Its verbose. Its klunky. Its pretentious. Its boring. Its full of clutter. Its full of cliches. It lacks rhythm. It can be read in several different ways. It doesnt lead out of the previous sentence. It doesnt... The point is that clear writing is the result of a lot of tinkering.—From On Writing Well by William Zinsser The Lighter Side of Editing I hate cross-outs. If Im writing and I accidentally begin a word with the wrong letter, I actually use a word that does begin with that letter so I dont have to cross out. Hence the famous closing, Dye-dye for now. A lot of my letters make no sense, but they are often very neat.—From Theres Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say by Paula Poundstone Sources Bell, Susan. The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself. W.W. Norton, 2007Davis, F. The Effective Editor. Poynter, 2000Anderson, Jeff. Everyday Editing. Stenhouse, 2007Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. Harper, 2006Poundstone, Paula. Theres Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say. Three Rivers Press, 2006

The State Of Charter Schools - 1127 Words

To understand the state of charter schools today, it is important to know how a charter school was envisioned to be. Tell explains that charter schools, by nature, should be more accurately described as â€Å"contract† schools. These schools are contractually obligated to serve the interest of the general public by providing education opportunities using the funds provided from taxes. Traditionally, charter schools are defined as â€Å"tuition-free, publicly funded, performance-based, non-sectarian, public schools of choice open to all.†[1] These schools are considered autonomous because they are exempt from most, if not all, local and state rules and regulations regarding education. The reduction of applicable laws pertaining to these schools are supposed to liberate them from the supposedly strict regulations that bog down the education system that prevent teachers from what they were actually hired to do: to teach. Although novel in concept, this idea has been diffic ult to implement in reality. To better understand the state of charter schools today, it is important to understand its history. The first charter school law of the United States began in Minnesota in 1991 and has since then spread throughout the United States to 43 states, and Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. These schools today compromise of approximately 6% of public schools, and enroll 2.5 million students annually.[2] Charter schools open annually throughout these states, but more interestingly, many close asShow MoreRelatedCharter Schools Of The United States2175 Words   |  9 Pages Charter schools in the United States were created as a response to the perceived lack of educational achievement among American students. A community of critics consisting of educators, parents, politicians and entrepreneurs came together under the unified belief that current education policy was too restrictive and prohibited educational innovation. As a result, the education reform movement wa s born. According to the National Conference of State Legislators, â€Å"Charter schools are publicly fundedRead MoreThe s Multi State Network Of Free Public Charter High Schools950 Words   |  4 PagesRAPSA, and SIATech California. SIATech, Inc. s multi-state network of free public charter high schools is the foundation of our educational ecosystem, which employs 250 staff and serves 2,500 students at 22 sites. Our schools in California, Arkansas, and Florida re-enroll students from low socio-economic backgrounds who are highly at-risk of dropping out and those who have already given up and guide them to graduation. Our innovative schools provide students a renewed opportunity to earn a diplomaRead MoreEssay on Charter Schools987 Words   |  4 Pagesdebate on school reform in the United States. The charter school model was an idea for educational reconstruction. These charter schools insured the continuing improvement of schooling (Budde, 1989). In 1991, Minnesota was the first state to pass legislation to create a charter school. In 1992, Minnesota opened the doors of the first charter school in the United States (â€Å"Resources,† 2012). Since then, Charter schools have gained wide spread acceptance across the United States. Charter schools are independentRead More A Unique Approach: Education in Public and Charter Schools Essay960 Words   |  4 PagesEducation in Public and Charter Schools School choice: two words that together spell out a multitude of educational options for students today. Among them are charter schools and public schools; public schools standing the test of time and charter schools being at the forefront of a revolution in educational change. Surprisingly, these two educational institutions have more in common than one might think, but maintain their differences. Key differences between charter and public schools include approachRead MoreImpact of Education Choice on Public Funds1294 Words   |  6 PagesTopeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. Though the U.S. Supreme Court declared school desegregation in the 1954 ruling on the famous â€Å"Brown v. Board of Education case, the state of Mississippi did not allow racially or ethnically different students to mix together in schools until 1970, sixteen years after the 1954 Supreme Court ruling, accordingRead MoreCharter Schools Essay1610 Words   |  7 PagesCharter Schools: The Future of Education? For decades the American education system provided parents with three choices: public, homeschool or private school. If they chose public then their child(ren) would be assigned to a school past on where they lived. However , â€Å"in the early 1990s a handful of states created independent public charter schools, providing opportunities for teachers and others to develop innovative schooling options â€Å" (Palmer, Louann 2007). Not only did the creation ofRead MoreWhy Charter Schools Are Important to Education Essay example1415 Words   |  6 Pages Why Charter Schools Are Important to Education Charter schools are public schools, but can be a better option than traditional public schools for some students. By definition, a charter school is a publicly funded and privately run school under the charter of an educational authority. (2-4) A charter school is held to a different set of standards than most traditional public schools. This can often work towards their advantage because it allows them to try new and unique methods of educating childrenRead More Public Education Essay1454 Words   |  6 PagesPublic education in the United States is perhaps one of the most critical issues we face as a nation. Once pronouncing the United States as a â€Å"nation at risk†, the educational institution began to implement one reform strategy after another. In efforts to improve schooling for K-12 students, education reform has fiddled with class size, revised graduation requirements, and created standardized testing just to name a few. Unfortunately, traditional public schools ar e still failing to provide studentsRead MoreCharter Schools Have Open Admission Policies920 Words   |  4 PagesCharter schools have been growing rapidly since the first school opened in Minnesota in 1992. Charter schools were first conceptualized by Ray Budde who happened to be a previous teacher and principal. That was in 1974 and by 1983 after the release of A Nation at Risk the concept caught on. Albert Shanker, then president of the American Federation of Teachers, talked of Charter schools in his speech in 1988 thus bringing it to a larger audience. By 1991 the concept caught fire bringing through theRead MoreTechnical Efficiency Of Charter School1734 Words   |  7 Pageswhen output is maximized given fixed levels of input. For a school to achieve technical efficiency, the school would have to provide students the best education possible given the fixed levels of labor and capital. A start-up charter school, with no permanent facility, would have to maximize the test score s of their students with the space being used. Also, a charter school must increaseased. If a charter e output when input is incr school moves to a larger facility or hires more teachers, the level

Regret free essay sample

Regret. It is a feeling that can strike without warning. For instance, I once went to school without realizing it was my best friends birthday. I felt embarrassed that I had forgotten, but later, I was full of regret because I had not been mentally tied to my best friends birthday. Or in other words, my mind missed the opportunity to be in a celebratory mood, and thus, I was at a loss. So, I have learned forgetting tends to be a regretful thing. Now imagine forgetting about life in general. Forget the little things that encompass it and make it so genuine, inspiring, and miraculous. Forget about animals, trees, flowers, clouds, stars, soil, rain, and the rest of nature. Forget about your family and friends. Forget about your heritage. Forget about what makes you laugh and smile and what makes you warm and fuzzy inside. Now, what is left in the world? There is nothing left to sustain the soul. It is hard to think someone can forget about the blessings of life. After all, we see them around us every day. But people have a problem, not necessarily with recalling what is around them, but in remembering to incorporate lifes little miracles into their minds and bodies. What I get worried about is whether people are alive. For instance, at school I sometimes find it very difficult to be myself amidst the pressures coming from technology, my classes, and my peers. One time it felt like I became a machine on a mission to gobble up knowledge and spit out straight As. Then, it transcended to my home, where I became oblivious to my family. And at night, when I fell asleep, my mind did not dream, because on that day nothing memorable or exciting happened in my life. I look back at my life as of yet, and I see some gaps. I cannot recall memories of those periods, and even worse, memories of my family and friends, because I was mesmerized into some artificial persona. Now as my life at home approaches an end, the regret tends to manifest itself when I feel happy or when I am around the people I love. It is painful, but all I can do is learn from my regret. On the path of life we can get lost in the worlds superficiality without even realizing it. What is really meaningful and beautiful to us becomes skewed, which makes for a perverse perception of what is around us. The issue here is not in our inability to remember facts and data, but when we fail to avoid the tragedy of the mundane. It is human to forget, but if we are to remember anything, especially in this world so full of distraction and deceit, it is to use our gift of life to the fullest. For as Mary Oliver once wrote: I dont want to end up having simply visited this world.

Nelson Mandelas Inauguration Speech Analysis Essay Example

Nelson Mandelas Inauguration Speech Analysis Paper Inaugural Speech by Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandelas inauguration speech held major significance in many ways due mainly to the fact that before becoming the first black president of South Africa, he had spent decades fighting against apartheid and enduring 22 years of prison. This speech was presented in order to signify a new era and a new page in the history of South Africa. Every word and sentence was carefully chosen in order to serve a specific purpose and address different audiences both within South Africa and to the world. What is the purpose of Mandelas speech? The purpose of Mandelas speech was not simply to address the nation as their new president and give gratitude to those who put him there but instead to make a statement that South Africa was going to make immense changes and unify to show the world what the nation could truly do in order to become a land of hope, freedom, justice and equality for all. Throughout the speech, Mandela very carefully and specifically uses both ethos and pathos in order to draw out many different emotions and encourage the nation to feel unified and prepared to make the necessary changes to overcome and rectify the deeply rooted problems which South Africans faced for all too long. Mandela, being a well-known figure in South Africa long before becoming president, had a strong established credibility within the black community. We will write a custom essay sample on Nelson Mandelas Inauguration Speech Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Nelson Mandelas Inauguration Speech Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Nelson Mandelas Inauguration Speech Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Mandela was known for working and leading in the African National Congress (ANC) and enduring years in prison for his cause, therefore people had faith and respect for him and many looked at him almost as if he were family to them, thus gaining the nickname of grandfather to many. When addressing the nation, not only were people willing to listen intently, but they also truly believed he would follow through on his words and not make empty promises. His past actions helped prove him as a worthy candidate and instilled trust with in the black citizens of South Africa. It was important that Mandela also address the white citizens of South Africa carefully in order to unite them together instead of continuing the division. Outside of South Africa, many had also heard of his achievements and work and knowing so helped Mandela structure his speech to carefully address the needs of all audiences. Of all the audiences the speech was directed to, his fellow black South Africans were the first and foremost. Addressing the emotional needs of this group was highly important and Mandela spoke regarding what they needed to hear most: change for the better and unity. He brought up feelings of anger in remembering the past mistreatment because along with anger comes a strong motivation for change and a call to action. He spoke of specific and achievable goals, which brought forth a longing and eagerness of the community to achieve these goals. He spoke of obligation, both to themselves and to the world to make their nation just, strengthened and confident enough to sustain all hopes of a glorious life. All this we owe both to ourselves and to the people of the world who are so well represented here today. By saying this, Mandela made the people of South Africa feel an urgency and responsibility to act and prove themselves to the rest of the world and also made sure that citizens of the world who were watching South Africa would make sure they were held accountable to their word. He gave South Africans a sense of pride for putting up a fight and not giving up their dreams of change, for being able to put up with so much and still come out strong and optimistic for a brighter future instead of resentful and eager for revenge. The time for the healing of the wounds has come, the moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come Mandela was also able to make an immediate call to action and a necessity to act as quickly as possible. One of the most important emotions that Mandela successfully created within the people through his speech though was the feeling of hope; hope for a better future, a unified nation, better opportunities for both themselves and future generations and hope that all the changes were absolutely possible as long as they joined together to work towards these goals. Another important audience Mandela was speaking to was the white South Africans. It was very important to address the needs of this particular group because they had been in power for decades and were feeling nervous anticipation about the immense changes in process. Mandela made sure to present his message very carefully in order to not bring up feelings of rebellion, resentment or retaliation. His goal was not to attack them and force them to pay for past actions, but instead to understand and join together in making changes for a better future for all citizens regardless of color. We shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world. He spoke carefully about the sufferings of the past so the whites could understand why change was so necessary. A feeling of guilt and shame in this group was important so they would be willing to make changes. There was also a sense of obligation within this audience to help prove to the world that they were willing to move forward and take a hand in helping to re-build South Africa. There was guilt in past actions, because regardless of the fact that Mandela did not point blame at anyone, the world had known about the problems and causes of the problems. The pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict. Hope and optimism were emotions that Mandela hoped the audience would feel as his speech came to a close. By speaking of unity, justice, peace and freedom, he wanted the white community to join together into a multi-cultural nation that would from now on work collaboratively towards common goals in the best interests of all. One of the other groups of people Mandela was addressing in his speech were the citizens of the world. There were messages he wanted to share and feelings he wanted to bring forward within this community as well. For years, the world watched as South Africa tore itself apart in conflict, violate human rights and refuse to make changes and steps towards a new direction. It was vital that Mandela show the world how ready they really were now to make these changes. The world was to be both an audience and a judge that South Africans would prove themselves to. By sharing the changes and goals that South Africa hoped to achieve, a sense of obligation and a necessity to show the world what they could do would emerge. He shared feelings of sadness with the world when speaking of the past and a willingness to help South Africa to achieve their goals because these goals were to be achieved not only as a nation but also as citizens of humanity and the world. We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to. A common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity. There was also a feeling of pride within this community when Mandela addressed the gratitude he felt towards the heroes and heroines for helping in the fight towards change. By bringing up this sense of pride, Mandela knew it would also bring a sense of obligation to continue doing the right thing and continue to help South Africa along on its road to peace. With a wealth of experience, knowledge and leadership, Mandela knew very clearly how important a speech like this would be to summon up the right emotions and states of mind for citizens in South Africa and the world. Every word, sentence and paragraph addressed different issues, brought up various emotions and helped to give a feeling of unity and a longing for change. By effectively combining his use of ethos and pathos, Mandela was able to address numerous audiences within one speech and send forth a common message to all.