How scientific must technical editors be?

Conference · Tue Jul 28 04:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:10182264

Caruthers, C M

As a senior technical editor in the Computing and Telecommunications Division at Argonne National Laboratory. I am responsible for a small technical editing group including regular staff, temporary editors, and interns. I have supervised some 22 technical communications interns over the past ten years. Previously, I taught at the university level for 21 years. These experiences have led me to believe that while scientific knowledge in the technical editing process is valuable, it is not essential, but a thorough awareness of verbal structure and intended audience is essential. As I composed this paper, I found myself staring at the posted description of an editing job available in another division at Argonne, prominently requiring ``thorough grounding in the basic sciences, including mathematics and physics.`` This popular assumption--that successful editors of scientific documents must have some expertise in the scientific field to which the documents relate--is, in my judgment, often magnified out of proportion.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 10182264
• Report Number(s): ANL/CP--76976; CONF-9209142--7; ON: DE92040741
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990300
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA PROCESSING
EVALUATION
INFORMATION
INFORMATION HANDLING
INFORMATION THEORY