I recently replied to an advertisement looking for people to do editing of geoscience journal articles. They first sent me a one page test document to edit to see if they were happy with my ability as an editor, and when I passed that exam they sent me an actual article to do. What a fun assignment! In order to properly edit a sentence one must understand what the writer intended to convey, and in order to do that one must understand the context—what procedures did the author carry out, what were the results, and what do they think it all means? I have written before about "active" reading, and the advantages that can give one in understanding the content of a journal article. It turns out that for me I am able to get even more information out of an article when I edit it, one sentence at a time. I have sent the first article back; I really hope they like my work with it and decide to send me more. I have so enjoyed learning the topic of this paper that I wish to do it again with other papers.

Anonymous said...: If this is for a company in NZ, I'd be really very curious if you get a 2nd paper and if you get paid on time, etc. I saw an ad that sounds like the one you must have answered and have it set aside as a "apply to this once you find a post-grad-school job"

Thanks for having an excellent blog!

--An anon planetary grad student; 18 March, 2011 23:33
A Life Long Scholar said...: Would you have any time left to do editing if you had a post-grad school job? (Not that I am suggesting you apply now, mind you, the fewer editors they have on tap, the more likely they will send me stuff to edit ;-)

As to getting second papers, I am under the impression that the quality of editing work done directly influences whether or no more papers are sent for editing.

Thanks for commenting and for the compliment.; 19 March, 2011 09:01

The Musings of a Life-Long Scholar