Edit
Editing can be the most laborious part of the process, and the overall quality of the final product is dependent on how much capacity the group has for multiple rounds of edits on the patchwork drafts that result from collaborative writing.
Internal Review
The period after creating a first draft is complete can be tough: You may not be comfortable sharing for community review yet, but you also may be unsure of how to best improve upon your work until a different person reads the draft.
Before sending a draft out for community review, you can do an internal review. The authors of Legal and Ethical Considerations for Born-Digital Access each authored a section of their outline, then swapped drafts. Co-authors offered early questions and comments on each others’ drafts and addressed early redundancies in content.
Reviewing Internally
Co-authors should focus primarily on the content and information shared at this stage, not copyediting. Ask questions that remain for you after reading, particularly about anything that deviates from your experience. There will be time to improve the writing itself later.
Editing Internally
Address comments to the extent that you can. Update your section before the next round of editing. Make a plan for edits that require more substantial research and writing. Sometimes questions raised internally are worked on through the end of the project. The “clean” version of your text for community review may include a few open issues raised by group members for which you seek additional feedback during community review.
Creating consistencies in voice
The first internal review is a good moment in the process to discuss how you will develop a consistent voice with many different writers. The editor can review early drafts and lead a discussion or/and make recommendations on basic styles that are inconsistent. What is the tense? Who is the subject? Will you use plain language?
If you don’t have an editor, you could try to maintain consistency in voice by holding a meeting where everyone brings writing samples and agrees upon a voice to emulate, also determining things like subject and tense consistency. You could also add a round of internal co-editing after the internal review described herein and/or after Community Review.
Resolving Comments
Once you have addressed a comment, respond to the commenter in the document to let them know what you did. This also helps you keep track of whether or not you have resolved comments! When writers or editors respond to comments, they should note how they addressed or did not address the comment, particularly during community review when interacting outside of the co-author group. After responding to the comment, it is ready to be resolved.
Not all comments warrant an edit!
- Some are out of scope.
- Some are misunderstandings of the text, as anyone who is reading your publication for the first time understands less about it than you, no matter how much of an “expert” they are. But misunderstandings are good indicators that things might be explained a little differently.
- Some are great comments and are in scope for the subject matter, but aren’t in scope for your capacity to address them. You could address the absence of the topic if you want, or you can just let the commenter know that you appreciate and agree, but it’s out of scope for this work.
- Some are affirmations or questions for clarification that can be responded to but do not require an edit.
I tend to accept any edits that simplify language. When people ask for clarification, I try to revise, because if one person needs clarification, they likely aren’t the only one. You may need some time to do additional research to address some edits. Talk to your fellow group members if you come across comments that you are not sure how to address, or if you need some reassurance before making edits.
Many writers will feel the urge to address all comments and ideas that they have open before moving to the next round of editing, but this is not necessary. Before moving to community review, consider these primary checkpoints:
- Make sure that all/most suggested in-line text edits have been accepted or rejected.
- Ensure that all resolved comments have been responded to, checked off, and the commenters added to an Acknowledgements list.
- Leave open comments that have not yet been resolved.
