Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

The Scrub Edit

I make no claim to being an exceptionally talented writer. Students are welcome to use what I provide in doing a "Scrub" of a small portion of their work. What this scrub is is taking the work of another and rewriting it as if it were my own. It's gift I provide students for showing due diligence. The idea is that they take their original copy and highlight the changes I made in the scrub. Then they study each one and try and figure out why I added, deleted, or changed the things I did. The challenge is to see if they can note a trend of weaknesses in their writing skills. If an edit only appears once, no big deal. However if the changes show a pattern developing they should take a long hard look to see if there is a systemic problem in their habitual writing style.

One of the areas I often notice is word choice. For many reviewers, venturing into these troubled waters is verboten. They can correct grammar issues but being critical of word choice is generally off limits. The rational is that an editor has no right messing with the natural style of a student's work. With this attitude a whole lot of conflict is avoided but a student never gets told about some glaring deficiencies in the way they express themselves. For example ofttimes a student will use a suboptimal word to express an image and compensate by over-amperage. Usually the result is overstating the image with more emphasis than necessary. A reviewer knows what the writer is trying to say but is often loath to point out how changing a word or phrase might improve things. It is my view that an author should say no more or no less than what is required to create a perfect image. That image should take the reader over the edge of clear comprehension. From there I expect the reader to complete the picture using subtext. So, a writer should always stop just short of saying too much and allow the reader to do their part in filling in the blanks.

After going line by line and finding systemic problems, I encourage the author to write a checklist and use it in their own editing with emphasis on those areas where they're weakest. I only do a scrub edit once for a student. I expect them to use it. More than once can easily become an opiate and make the student overly dependent on an outside influence.