Your Style, My Skills

Style has a specific meaning in editing. It acknowledges that English “rules” of punctuation, capitalization, word usage, abbreviations, and so on are anything but hard and fast. Often, individual organizations and industries require specific usages to maintain standards and clarity in their publications.

I am most familiar with the following publications:

  • The Chicago Manual of Style

  • U.S. Government Publishing Office Style Manual

  • American Medical Association Manual of Style

  • The ACS [American Chemical Society] Style Guide

  • Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

If your organization has a style manual of its own, I will gladly follow its guidance.

Style Guides

Throughout my career I have developed and honed skills that are intangible but vital to good editing:

  • Focus

  • Clarity

  • Attention to detail

  • Analytical thinking

  • Critical thinking

Skills

I am proficient in Microsoft 365 applications, Adobe Acrobat, and other tools for document design and production.

Tools

Ultimately, a manuscript—whether a paper, a presentation, a book, or a journal article—represents the author’s work, the author’s ideas, the author’s research.

And to be effective, it must capture and hold the interest of the target audience. My job is simply to help achieve that goal.