Friday, October 23, 2015

Rhetoric and Persuasion in Editing

           Have you ever had a paper due that you had a friend look over and review before you turned it in?  I’m the friend that everyone brings said papers to.  I say everyone, but that really only includes the brave.  A perfectly crisp and cleanly displayed essay seems to be massacred in red marks when it’s returned from a session with me.  Revision is a useful and common practice that can significantly improve the final written product.

            Since the creation of the written language writing has, been used as perhaps the most common form of rhetoric next too speaking.  Even in todays digital and media-dependant world most of the ideas, have been recorded in writing either before or after hte fact.  While writers have the unique opportunity too directly use they're writing to persuade their, audience it is the job of an editer to ensure the success of there attempts.

            Was my ethos brought into question by that last paragraph?  That's what I thought--editing makes a difference.

           Editors are hired by just about everyone, making their ability to perform for a wide spectrum of audiences, in a plethora of genres, pivotal.  Just think about it—your favorite Harry Potter book, this month’s edition of Sports Illustrated, the local news report, a descriptive restaurant menu that paints a picture of your impending meal, textbooks and academic essays, the advertisement for the latest and greatest iPhone that everyone will own within days of its release, or the little tag on the inside of your sweater that tells you to ‘wash on delicate cycle’—editors have been there, making sure that the desired intentions are realized. 

            At a base level, they create ethos for the author—making sure that they employ the correct version of there/their/they’re.  However, from the initial brainstorming sessions, to the structural planning, researching, and revision—editors are hired as masters of rhetoric and language.  In this sense, editors are forced to employ rhetoric in more than just the written form.  They have to be able to verbally communicate with the company, author, and publisher—all of whom are generally opinionated individuals.  Editors then act as the mediator between the three, making sure that the final product fits the expectations of the production as a whole.

           In essence, to be an editor, you have to be a jack-of-all-trades in your communication.  You need to be well versed in linguistics and English, obviously.  But, you are also in advertisement, broadcasting, book publishing, journalism, business, law, and about every other profession in the world—depending on the type of project you sign on to.

2 comments:

  1. I never thought that editors played such a big role in the world, revising and editing the little things that we see every day, like tags on clothes, or things as important as law documents. People come to me and ask to revise their papers as well, but in my mind, that was the only form of editing that I was really aware of--papers, books, articles, etc. Now when I think about it, the world is pretty much taken over by writing in various forms, and there needs to be people who can revise it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, Alisa. Let's be friends, I edit stuff too. I was thinking about focus on this, too. But I'm doing journalism. I really excited to read about your project though because I think this is so interesting! A thought: the communication we have to have with the author. It's tricky because we understand their ethos, we like their stuff. The challenge, I think, comes when we try to get them to take our suggestions. Just another aspect for thought. I really like and appreciate your post. Yay editors!

    ReplyDelete