the canberra editor july 2009

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Presidents report

Canberra Society of Editors NewsletterVolume 18 | Number 6 | July 2009

Seeing the wood and thetrees: structure mappingfor longer documentspresented byDr Neil James

Neil is the Executive Director of the Plain

English Foundation, which combines plain

English training, editing and auditing with a

campaign for ethical public language. He has

published widely on language and literature

and is also a regular speaker on plain

language in the media and at conferences in

Australia.

As part of its work, the Plain English

Foundation has developed a structure mapping

tool, which evaluates and scores longer texts

against a set of criteria. As editors we all have

to deal with long documents where it is far

too easy to be drawn into the details and lose

sight of the overall st ructurea classic case

of not seeing the wood for the trees. Havinga tool to tackle this problem would be a clear

advantage. The foundation has been trialing

its approvals with success over the last five

years in the finance, government, law and

community service sectors and that is what will

be covered in this talk.

Neil will, firstly, demonstrate the use of the

tool using a chapter f rom a government report.

Then he will outline the research base and

some of the trial results.

Where: Friends Lounge,

National Library of Australia

When: Wednesday 29 July

Time: Meeting starts at 6:30pm; networking

and nibbles from 6pm

Next meeting

6pm,

Wednesday29 July

The two main things I have been doingover the last month have been taking part ina discussion hosted by our newsletter editorVirginia Cooke regarding future directionsfor the newsletter, and discussions on the role our website plays inthe Society. Virginia will be seeking your input into the newsletterand I encourage you to let her have your ideas, as well as volunteerto offer contributions, so please give some thought as to how youmight be able to assist.

We have been thinking about the role of the website followingcomments in Joe Massinghams report. Personally I would like itto support all our objectives, but I would particularly like to see itpromoting contact between editors, playing a role in communicationfrom the Society to members, and helping members providefeedback to the executive. We are also looking at design optionsto help us achieve all this. Again, your thoughts on this are alwayswelcome.

Have you noticed that the Freelance Register is now called theEditorial Services Directory?

Another great meeting last month, and we have finally managedto get back to our practice of including a summary of the talk inthe newsletter. Bruce Moores talk reinforced how colourful ourAustralian English is, and the extent to which it has influenced otherforms of English. This is good news for those of us who had beenfeeling that our language was being unduly influenced by British andAmerican forms.

Dont miss the next meeting eitherDr Neil James is a veryentertaining speaker and his topic, structuring large documents, isvery relevant to editing. I look forward to seeing you there.

Ted Briggs


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The Canberra Editor Canberra Society of Editors Inc. 2009

ISSN 1039-3358

Published byCanberra Society of EditorsABN 77 022 481 553PO Box 3222Manuka ACT 2603www.editorscanberra.org

Opinions in signed articles are theresponsibility of the authors.

Newsletter scheduleThe next newsletter will appear in lateAugust 2009.

The deadline for submissions to the nextissue is Wednesday 12 August. The editorwelcomes contributions by email to using a .docfile format.

Committee members 200809PresidentTed Briggs6161 4924; 0407 018 [email protected]

Vice-PresidentSharon [email protected]

Immediate past President

Virginia Wilton0417 691 [email protected]

SecretaryBrian ODonnell0419 620 [email protected]

TreasurerMargaret Mil lard6288 6754 (h); 0402 029 [email protected]

Web minder, membership filesPeter Judge6296 6211 (w/ h/ fax)[email protected]

Membership SecretaryDallas Stow6247 3111 (h)[email protected]

Training CoordinatorMartine Taylor6260 7104 (ah)mart [email protected]

Newsletter editorVirginia [email protected]

Catering coordinatorTina [email protected]

General Meeting coordinatorKevin Maguire0417 244 [email protected] membersGil [email protected]

Kerie Newell0412 042 [email protected]

Damaris Wilson6247 3111 (h)[email protected]

Elena [email protected]

Public OfficerHelen Topor6275 7222 (w)[email protected]

IPEd delegateVirginia Wilton0417 691 [email protected]

IPEd Accreditat ion Board delegate

Larissa Joseph6161 [email protected]

Many editors took advantageof the early-bird discountand registered for this yearsaccreditation examination by30 June. Registration for theexam, which will be held onSaturday 12 September, remainsopen until Friday 31 July. You canregister online at.

The other big event for theprofession this year is the 4th

National Editors Conferencefrom 8 to 10 October. Theconference is being organisedby the Society of Editors (SA),an esteemed member of IPEd,which has chosen the marvellousAdelaide Festival Centre as thevenue. Program details and anonline registration form can befound at or via .

The Annual GeneralMeeting of IPEd will be heldin association with the nationalconference on 7 October. Oneitem on the agenda will be theappointment of new councillors(each member society has onedelegate to the Council). Someexisting councillors may seek tobe nominated again as delegatesfrom their society; others maywish to retire: check with your

committee.

The Institute of ProfessionalEditors Limited is a not-for-profit Australian company(ACN 129 335 217) limited byguarantee. The councillors aredirectors of the company andcarry the responsibilities ofsuch. They play a crucial role inpursuing IPEds overall objective:To advance the profession of

editing. The IPEd Council needspeople not just with experience

in editing but also with skills inall the other fields in which itmust operate, including financeand administration, websitedevelopment and maintenance,publicity and promotion, andprofessional development,to name a few. Their work ischallenging and interesting. Youmight like to consider if there is arole for you on the Council.

The Council met by

teleconference on 14 May and 17June. Two sessions were neededto complete a packed agenda.Topics discussed included thebudget for 200910; organisationand implementation of the 2009accreditation exam; a proposalfor an annual professionaldevelopment calendar; the needfor a national brand for theprofession; upgrading of theIPEd website; and the urgent

need for Council successionplanning. An on-screen examworking party headed by theNSW Councillor Pam Petersreported good progress and anexcellent response to the call forvolunteers for the trial on-screenexam held this month. Well lookat the outcome of that in a futureIPEd Notes.

When confirmed, the minutesof the latest meeting will be

placed on the IPEd website.

Ed Highley

Secretarywww.iped-editors.org

IPEd notesNews from the Institute of Professional Editors

2

The Canberra Editor | Volume 18 | Number 6 | July 2009


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(Continued on page 5)

The French have just celebrated their nationalday, 14 July, Bastille Day, la F te de la B asti ll e, the219th anniversary of the fall of the Bastillea fallmarking the end of the ancien Rgime and the startof the French revolution. What was it all about?

A Bassetilleor Bastidein the 14th centurywas a fortif ication, large or small, of wood orstone, temporary or permanent, built for defence.

L a Bastilleis always understood to be the greatstone building whose eight towers, 30 m highsurrounded by a 24 m wide moat, dominated Paris.It became a state prison in the 17th century. Youwere sent there by royal ordera lettre de cachet, aletter with the kings sealwithout trial or appeal,if you bothered one of the noble families. It wasa symbol of oppression and thearbitrary use of absolute power.

In 1789 France was in turmoil,politically and economically. TheFrench king, Louis XVI, had

been well-disposed but weak. Hisfinancial and military supportfor the Americans in the War ofIndependence (177583) pushedup taxes and almost resulted innational bankruptcy, but he couldnot obtain agreement on measuresto combat this. Food prices rose by over 50 percent in the last third of the century, benefittingthe great landowners but further impoverishingthe poor. In desperation the king called a meetingof theE tats-Gnraux, the Estates-General, withrepresentatives of the nobles, the clergy and the

common people, the Third Estate. This thirdgroup, fearing that they would be overruled by thetwo privileged orders in any attempt at reform, setup a revolutionary A ssemble N ationale, a NationalAssembly.

The king would have nothing to do with thenew Assembly and tension built up. Events inParis advanced to a call by the Third Estate for aconstitutional monarchy. This went too faron11 July Louis prepared his troops to crush therebels. The following day the Parisians began tomobilise and on the morning of the 14th they

stormed theH otel des Invalides, looking for arms.The Invalideshoused aged or invalid veterans who

had no answer to this attack, and the mob seizedmore than 30 000 muskets and ammunition. Theyalso took a dozen cannons, but without the properpowder and ball. It was rumoured that they couldobtain powder from the Bastille, so the mobrushed there, only to be courteously turned away.

They persisted and matters escalated. Nearbytroops were asked to fire on the mob, and

unanimously roared, N on! But eventually thegarrison of the Bastille, ordered by the governor,M. de Launay, did start shooting and there wasan exchange of fire. A contingent of the G ardes-franaises, the guardians of the royal palaces, arrivedwith more cannon, but these they turned on theBastille. At 5.00 pm the governor surrendered,

on condition that the lives of thegarrison be spared. This didnthappenmany of the garrisonwere murdered; de Launay himselfwas hacked to death and his head

sawn off with a penknife by anapprentice cook who then carriedit along triumphantly, stuck on apike.

So who was imprisoned in theBastille? Just seven people, livingin reasonable comfort: two lunatics

who were sent off to an asylum, four forgers whowere transferred to another prison, and the CountHubert de Solages, who had displeased his noblefather-in-law and had been incarcerated under alettre de cachet for the past 24 years.

The king couldnt accept that he was now just

a constitutional figurehead, with no real power.In June 1791 he tried to escape to the east, butwas caught and brought back to Paris. After thisnobody trusted him, and after various further vainattempts to recover his power he was tried forcollaboration with anti-revolutionary forces andwent to the guillotine on 21 January 1793, followedby his wife nine months later.

Theguillotine? It was not the invention of M.Guillotin, an elected member of the Assembly,but it was he who suggested beheading as ameans of execution that was both more humane

than other methods and more egalitarianupto then only the nobility enjoyed the privilege of

Thinking about words the fall and the terror



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Apostrophes for possessionand omissionnot plural

Whole books have beenwritten about the use of theapostrophe. This can beconfusing. My rule is just afew lines long, and I will tell

you about it next year. For now, here are somecorrect examples: This is theboyscap; Theseare theboys caps; Themensshoe department ison this floor; Please arrive at six oclock; In the1960s, the Beatles were popular.

If you go through the archives of these

articles, you will find that I have written aboutapostrophes at least three times previously.However, it is certainly one of the gremlinsthat beset writers and editors, so perhaps it bearsanother airing.

Is the apostrophe dead or dying?I hope not. Which is the clearest of thesethree: T his is her sisters house / T his is her sistershouse / T his is her sisters house? The first exampledoesnt tell you how many of her sisters own thehouse. The second and third examples are moreexplicitthey tell you that the house is owned byone or more than one sister respectively.

On the other hand, does it matter whether wewriteFort Str eet Boys H igh Schoolor Fort Street BoysH igh School? Probably not. The first example iswhat the school was called many years ago, andthe apostrophe implies that the boys had someownership in the school. The second exampleis the current spelling and makesboysinto anadjective, distinguishing this school from a similarschool for girls, perhaps.

Have you noticed the blackboard specials outsidefruit and vegie shops? I often see specials suchasonions, tomatosand avocadoes! And how aboutitems that come in pack ets of 50 s, or the songs thatwere popular in the 1960s?

Some plurals cause confusion when possession isexpressedis it the ladies and mens washrooms orthe ladies and mens washroomsor the ladies and menswashrooms or what? In fact, its none of those.Its the ladies and mens washrooms.

And lets not forget possessive pronouns. Thisbook is his but that one is hers is that correct?And I ts a good day to give the house its annual springclean correct?

And thats just possession. Lets go through eachof these sets of examples:

Possession pure and simpleWhen you want to express possession(ownership) you have two options as a ruleoneis to use the of structure: thi s is the home of myfather. The other is to use the apostrophe: this ismy fathers home. If we choose the latter structure,how do we know where to put the apostrophe?

Time for my three-step rule:(1) Write down the possessing noun: father(2) Add an apostrophe without even thinking:

father(3) Add s if it sounds* right: T his is my fathershome*Language was spoken long before it was written,and written language follows speech always.

This three-step rule applies to all nouns in theEnglish language and even to some pronouns likesomeone and anyone. It applies to singular andplural nouns:

This is the cap belonging to the boy

(1) boy(2) boy(3) boys This is theboyscap

and in the pluralThese are the boys caps

(1) boys(2) boys(3) boys (no extra s because boyss wouldsound ridiculous) These are the boys caps.

It even works when the singular noun ends in s

already:

(1) Dickens (the novels written by Charles Dickens)(2) Dickens(3) Dickenss CharlesD ick enssnovels

(There is one exceptionBiblical names: wewriteJesus garmentnot Jesuss.)

and(1) princess (who owns a tiara)

(2) princess(3) princesss the princessstiara

Nuts and bolts...possession and omission


(Continued on page 6)


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decapitation. I t wasnt even a French invention,being in use in England (the Halifax gibbet)from 1256 until 1650, and in Scotland (theMaiden) from 1556 to 1710. The Frenchanticipated more beheadings than the handfulof skilled executioners could manage, and sothey proposed to mechanise them. A machinewas devised with assistance from Dr AntoineLouis of the Academy of Surgery, so thatinitially it was called a louisonor louisette. It was agreat success and soon copied to other towns inFrance. During The Terror (179294) anybodywho was thought to oppose the revolution waskilledmore than 17 000, including most of thenobility. Far-sighted aristocrats had already fled

the country (themigrs).Other countries copied this wonderfulmachine: the Papal States in Italy used itsome 369 times from 1840 to 1870. VariousGerman states used it from 1798 on, and Hitlerguillotined more prisoners between 1938 and1945 than were killed in France during theTerror. The last use in West Germany was in1951 and in East Germany in 1967. The Frenchhad public executions until 1939, but after thatheld them in the prison yard; the last guillotiningwas in 1977 and France finally abolished the

death penalty in 1981. The guillotine lives on,trimming paper in English-speaking offices, butin France that useful tool is called amassicot.

You went to the guillotine in a tomberel, atumbrel, a two-wheeled cart, mostly used byfarmers for carrying manurethey unhitch thehorse, tip up the cart and out fall the contents,hence the name from tomber, meaning to fall. Atthe scaffold (lchafaud) you climbed onto theplatform; the old women, les tricoteuses, sat aroundknitting, watching how you performed. If youwere famous enough, Mme Tussaud retrievedyour head from the basket and took it away to

make a death mask for her waxworks show.A feature of the Bastille Day celebrations is

always, of course, the playing of theM arseil laise,which must be the most bloodthirsty nationalanthem ever devised:

Arise children of the fatherland, the day of glory has arrived

Against us tyrannys bloody standard is raised

Can you hear in the fields the howling of these fearsome soldiers?

They are coming into our midst to cut the throats of your sons and

consorts!

To arms, citizens, form in your battalions, march, march!

Let their impure blood water our furrows!

Both words and music (six verses in theoriginal) were written in a single night in April1792, by the young Rouget de Lisle, a captainof engineers (and amateur cellist) in the French

Army of the Rhine, responding to a requestfrom the Mayor of Strasbourg for a marchingsong. I t rapidly became widely knownwhenvolunteers from Marseilles marched north inAugust to support the Revolution they enteredParis singing this song and it took their name. I tbecame the official national anthem of Franceon 14 July 1795, although it was banned duringthe intervals when the monarchy returned topower because of the songs revolutionaryassociations. I t was officially restored in 1879 andhas inspired generations of French ever since.

Peter Judge

Sources: TheOx ford E ngli sh D ictionaryon CD-Rom v. 4.0. E ncyclopaedia Bri tanni ca2009 on DVD.L e T rsor de la L angue franaiseat .


(T hink ing about words...continued fr om page 3)

Free lunch! oh...and anAGMnow 29 August

The Canberra Society of Editors Annual GeneralMeeting will be held at Old Parliament Housedining room on Saturday 29 August from 11.30amto 3pm, with tea and coffee available from 11am.Members can enjoy a free light lunch and theMembers Bar (cash bar) will be open. Guests arewelcome at $26 per person.

We look forward to seeing an exceptionalattendance at this years AGM. We need todiscuss ideas about changing the way our Societyworks. Several changes in the committee are

mootednot the least of which is the need toelect a new President. Ted Briggs has servedhis maximum two years and is looking forwardto welcoming our new incumbent. We willbe looking for a new Iped representative avery rewarding position and one that can havesignificant bearing on the future of our Society.

All are welcome to the AGM but if youd liketo come for lunch, you must RSVP by Monday10 August to Kevin Maguire, [email protected]; phone 6297 2704. Please make sure that dateis in your diary as wellno RSVP, no lunch!

The full agenda will be published in the August

newsletter and on our website.


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or many princesses all looking sparkly at the ball:(1) princesses (who collectively own a lot oftiaras)(2) princesses(3) princesses the princesses tiaras sparkled inthe ballroom

(no extra sprincessessis over the top inspeech!)

Possessive or adjectivalis it really ownership?In the example Fort St reet Boys H igh School, theschool has decided that there is no real sense ofownership of the school by the boys currentlyattending it, so they have opted to delete theoriginal apostrophe and treat boysas an adjective.I once belonged to a club in Sydney which wasoriginally known as T he G irl s Secondary Schools C lub,as though there was some sort of ownership by thegirls of both the secondary schools and the club asa whole; and ownership by the secondary schoolsattended by the girls of the club. Complicated, eh?Well, the club finally realised that the apostrophescould go because there was no real ownershipjustan adjectival sense distinguishing the schools fromthose attended by boys, and the club as a placewhere girls who had attended secondary schoolscould have lunch, freshen up in the middle of ahectic day of shopping in Sydney, and so on. Youmay know of similar examples.

Blackboard specials

Yes, I know, that apostrophe shouldnt be there,but thats what I often see in advertising, whetheron blackboards outside shops or in newspaperadvertisements. Many people who went throughschool when English grammar was not taught asrigorously as it was in earlier times, are confusedabout where and whether to use apostrophes, sothey use them whenever they put s at the end ofa word. When plural is intended, no apostropheis necessary (except in very rare instances). Sothe plural of onion is just onions, of tomato itstomatoes, of avocado itsavocados(not avocadoes like

potatoes).The same goes for most other plurals. Pills oftencome in 10s, 20s, 50sno possession is intended, sojust use the s. An exception is when we pluraliselower case letters as in M ind your ps and qs. Thesentence would look odd without the apostrophes,and they are there to help pronunciation. The samegoes for the 1960s.

I rregular plurals plus possessionThe problem about the separate washrooms forladies and men is that menis an irregular plural. The

plural of manis not mansitsmen. But if we justfollow the three-step rule, we cant go wrong. Itsthe ladies and mens washrooms.

(1) men (whose washroom it is)(2) men(3) mens menswashroomPossessive pronouns

In English we have whats left of a case system inthe table of personal pronounshe/ she(subject),him/ her(object), his/ herand his/ hers(possessive).Because there are special forms for each case,there is no need for apostrophes at all. So thecorrect version of the sentence at the beginning isT his book is his but t hat one is hers(no apostrophe).In this table, the possessive form of i t is i ts(noapostrophe). Well come to itsin a moment.

OmissionThe apostrophe is also used to show that somethinghas been omitted. So should notcan becomeshouldnt, six of the clock can becomesix oclock, and itiscan become its. So a correct sentence would beIts(contraction of it is) a good day to give the house its(possessive case of i t) annual spring clean.

and you thought I d forgotten about theposer from last month, didnt you?What would you choose here singular or pluralverb?

A box of textbooks on various Europeanlanguages was/ were delivered yesterday.

If you said singular, you were right! Its just the boxthat was delivered. The fact that the box containeda lot of textbooks (plural) about various Europeanlanguages (plural) doesnt make any difference. Justa box (singular) was delivered.

ReferenceMurphy, Elizabeth M (1989) Effective writing:plain English at work, Pitman, Melbourne (copiesavailable from the author)

Elizabeth Manning Murphy, [email protected]

(Possession and omission...continued from page 4)


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The Small Business Essentials WorkshopTurn Ski lls into Profit..!

Training News

The Small Business Essentials Workshop Turn Skills

into Profit..! was held in June and presented by DavidGrantham and Jean McIntyre. It was encouraging to hearthat Canberra is a great place for small business withabout 24,000 small businesses14,000 of these are inthe micro business category.

David started the day by posing the questionwhyset up a small business? This was followed by discussionaround the rewards and pitfalls of going into business.This session focused on factors such as being preparedto try the new, being highly ethical, enjoying the business,and lateral thinking and allowing for time away from thebusiness.

How can you tell if a business is a good one? Jeansmarketing session noted that good businesses spendtime and money to develop a marketing plan, have astrong brand identity, know the competition, have agood database, take an integrated approach to marketingand will usually have someone who is responsible andaccountable for their marketing strategy. I t was interestingto hear Jean discuss the dif ference between a sales/advertising approach and a marketing approach.

David introduced participants to the concept ofthe business plan, a vital management tool that shouldbe used frequently and built up over time. In addition,David explored the elements of a business plan andhighlighted the importance of having this documentwhen seeking to borrow capital to establish a business.

The workshop also focused on the use of social mediaas a free and easy way to promote a small business. Socialmedia includes face book, linked in, f lickr, you tube, myspace, twitter and weblogs. Social media can drive websitetraffic, encourage referrals, promote products and buildcustomer relationships.

There were lots of useful handouts to supportsessions on business structure, registration, licences,business names, insurance, financial management andtaxation. In addition, the presenters distributed a detailedcontacts list, reading list and small business tips list.

An open forum, and questions and answers sessionconcluded the day.

Two of the comments from the evaluations were:

both excellent everything clearly presented andrelevant

both very good and professional in their trainingpresentations also very friendly

A big thank you to our presenters Jean McIntyre andDavid Grantham, to Kevin Norton of NurturingNortons and to the participants for their attendance andcontributions.

This workshop will be especially relevant to those

members who work with designers and need to knowenough about design matters to function fully as editors.

Session 1An introduction to design and layout, typography,working with colour, photographs and illustrations.

Session 2Readability, type selection, displaying creativity andworking within a tight budget.

Session 3Picture selection, sourcing of commissioning images,print effects and designing-on-a-shoestring.

Session 4Web design conventions and the requirements forsmooth navigation and retaining readability.Friday 28 August at the National Library of Australia9.15am 16.30pmMembers: $150, non-members: $250

Bookings: Martine Taylor 6260 7104 (ah) [email protected]

David Whitbread was the Head of Graphic Design at the

University of Canberra and the Design Director of theAustralian Government Publishing Service.

He is now the Design Director of the AustralianGovernment Department of Education, Employmentand Workplace Relations. David taught graphic designat the University of Canberra from 1992 to 2004 and atthe Canberra Institute of Technology between 1986 and2004 and has run seminars and workshops on design inCanberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

He was art director and one of the co-authors ofthe Australian GovernmentsStyleManual for Authors,

Editors and Printers(6th edition, Wiley, 2002) and wrote amonthly Design column in Niche Publishings AustralianMacWorld for 11 years.

David is the author of TheDesign Manualwww.thedesignmanual.net (UNSW Press, Sydney, 2001)which was first published by UNSW Press in 2001 andwas reprinted four times before the revised and expandedsecond edition was released in 2009. His work hasreceived recognition in the Australian Book PublishersAssociation Design Awards, the National Print Awardsand, with The Design Manual, The Australian Awards forExcellence in Educational Publishing.

Design for non-Designers - Friday 28 August

presented by David Whitbread


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The CSE meeting of 24 June welcomed DrBruce Moore, director of the ANUs AustralianDictionary Centre. Among other things, the Centreis working on the second edition of the AustralianNational Dictionary (AND). First published in1988, the AND is a dictionary of Australianismsand currently has about 10,000 entries.

But what is an Australianism? Accordingto Bruce, it is a word, meaning or idiomthat originated in Australia, or has particularsignificance here.

Bruces bakers dozen of Australianismsincludes: battler, bludger, dinkum, dob,larrikin, mate, no worries, ocker, rort, shell

be right, tall poppy, true blue and wowser. Thenext word he would add to those 13, is bogan, avery familiar word that appears to be replacing anumber of regional synonyms, including Westie(Sydney and Melbourne), Chigga (Hobart) andBooner (Canberra).

The AND is based on historical principlesand its structure is modelled on the large OxfordEnglish Dictionary. A prominent feature of eachentry is an, often extensive, set of citations. Thecitations establish the chronology of use of theword or term and substantiate its definitions.

The second edition of the AND will haveabout 4,000 extra entries. Older words and termswill be retained but might be shown as dated orobsolete.

A large number of new entries comes fromAboriginal cultures and languages and includesmoking ceremony, I nvasion Day and SorryDay.

A number of colloquial Australian phrases willbe included for the first time in the second edition.Some are old and some new but you will recognisemost of them. They include: dont know whetherIm Arthur or Martha, off like a brides nightie,

down the gurgler, a head like a robbers dog, thedogs are pissing on your swag and land of thelong weekend.

Some of the less obvious entries for the newedition are: Devonshire tea, display home,economic rationalism, eftpos, fairy bread,salary sacrifice and schmick. Such terms arebecoming easier to confirm as Australianismsbecause the Internet, and computerisation moregenerally, facilitates searching of books, articles anddatabases.

More information on the AND can be found

on the Australian National Dictionary Centrewebsite, see: http:/ / www.anu.edu.au/ ANDC/ .Sheridan Roberts


9

June meeting report It s time to renew your

membership

Dont forget to renew your membership duringJuly. Theres a renewal form on the website [www.

editorscanberra.org/ renewal_form.pdf]. Pleaseinsert your surname and initial if paying by EFTor direct deposit. A transaction that shows up asCSE subs 09-10 or similar is no help - who doesit belong to? Your name is more important soplease be sure to insert that first.

Money mattersand can be

fun

Do you think you need to be an accountant to bea treasurer? Well, you dont. All you really need toget the job done is interestno pun intendedgood record-keeping methods, attention to detail,a couple of hours each week (on average), areasonable level of skill with MS Excel and accessto internet banking. There is even the option ofusing a bookkeeping service, which I did for acouple of months at the beginning.

What does the job entail? Well, it can be moreor less what you make it but there are somecore things that have to be done. The treasurer

receives and banks money from various sources,pays invoices and records all transactions on aspreadsheet so the end-of-month balance tallieswith the bank statement. Pretty simple, huh? Atthe end of financial year, theres the paperworkto prepare for the auditor, and at membershiprenewal time, receipts and membership cards toissue.

There are many other things, like clearing thePO box, that could go on this list but that willdepend on how the new committee wants towork. Id be very happy to fill you in before the

AGM if youre interested in nominating for thejob.Im glad I took the opportunity when it

presented because the experience has been veryrewarding. My two years is up and, although I ll beglad to have a rest, it will also be a bit sad to handover the reins. I really encourage you to have a goif youre interested. After all, how hard can it be?

MargMillard, soon-to-beretiringtreasurer


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Its a new exam

The exam this year will be at least 90% different from

the 2008 exam and the sample exam, and you shouldnot expect to see questions repeated from last year. Anew extract will be provided for Part 2 of the exam.The allocation of marks remains the same: 20% forPart 1 and 40% each for parts 2 and 3.This year, the Part 2 extract will be provided as fourloose sheets so they are easier to handle. The stylesheet and page for writing queries for the author willbe in the bound exam booklet. Make sure all pages gointo the plastic envelope at the end of the exam.One question from Part 3 will also be provided asloose sheets. These pages must go into the envelopeas well, whether or not you attempt this question.Write your candidate reference number on all loosesheets.This year 30 minutes will be allowed for preparation:20 minutes for reading time and 10 minutes forwriting candidate reference numbers on every page ofthe exam booklet and loose sheets.

Some lessons from the 2008 exam

Manage your timeStick to the allocation of time suggested in the noteto the sample exam (most people last year did finishthe exam). There is no point in achieving 100% inone part of the exam if you fail to complete othersections. Every exam room has a large clock, so

keep an eye on it. Remember that doing a writtenexam is a skill in itself that needs practice. Beforeyou go into the exam, decide on the order you willtackle questions, and work out the times to start eachsection so there are fewer decisions to make on theday. We recommend you allow 30 minutes for Part 1,and 1! hours each for parts 2 and 3, including reviewtime. This reflects the allocation of marks across theexam.

Editing questions in Part 3 and the extract inPart 2We realise that candidates will be working underpressure in the exam, and that you would normallycheck your work carefully, which you may not havetime for in the exam. We have allowed for this bygenerally allowing a safety margin of marks, so thatyou can pass and even get full marks without doing aperfect job. We think this is a commonsense approachto exam conditions, rather than a matter of acceptingsecond-rate work.

The accreditation exam and the sample examThe sample exam has been revised this year tomake the format of questions more like the styleof questions used in the exam. Questions in Part 3are generally broken into sub-questions to make the

direction of answers clearthere will be no essay-style questions where only one question is asked.A new extract has also been prepared for the sample

exam. This focuses on sound copyediting skills andalso includes a substantial table to be edited and

marked up. You should always expect something inthe extract in the exam that tests more than languageskills, like the table in the new extract in Part 2 in thesample exam.The sample exam gives you an idea of the style ofquestions and the kind of subject matter that youmight find in the exam itself. You should not expectto find the same content in the final exam. If similarcontent does appear in the exam, you should takeextra care to read the question, as it may be slanteddifferently from the sample exam.Work through the sample exam under self-imposedexam conditions and mark your work using theanswer guide. Recognise areas where you could have

done better, and work on improving them. Spendsome time reading and reminding yourself wherethings are in the Style manual. I ts worth setting sometime aside in the weeks leading up to the exam forreading or working through the remaining questionsfrom the sample exam and honing your exam skills.If your work has become very specialised over theyears, you might also want to refresh your memory onthe basics.

A Style manual updateA query arose from the sample exam last year aboutthe duration of copyright as described in the answer

guide. The Style manual was produced before themost recent changes to the copyright lawit doesnot, for instance, include information on the changeto the duration of copyright, which is now life ofthe creator plus seventy years, and matters such asmoral rights and parody. To bring yourself up to dateon copyright matters, visit the Copyright Councilswebsite and look at the free fact sheetsthere. You can take these into the exam only if youhave them bound (you can just use the comb or wirobinding that office machines can do).

What you should take into the exam

Theres limited time for looking things up in theexam. Take a small dictionary that is easy to useand will fit on your desk, and Snooks & Co.sStylemanual for authors, editors and printers(you can tag pagesfor quick reference) as a minimum. If you have aspecialist reference or dictionary you use regularly,take that, too, but do limit the books you take, foryour own peace of mind.You can take Australian Standards for EditingPractice into the exam and things like CopyrightCouncil fact sheets (mentioned above) provided theyare bound.You might also want to take a ruler and calculator(but it must be stand-alone, not part of anotherelectronic device such as a mobile phone).

Notes on the accreditation

exam


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Part 1

Do only what you need toPart 1 requires you

to answer 20 questions, but you can answer all 24questions. Answering all questions allows you to pick upsome bonus marks in Part 1, but its not a good idea todo that unless you finish early and have plenty of time.

Part 2

Pay close attention to the style sheet you createasound copyedit usually depends on creating a soundstyle sheet. I f you arent used to using a style sheetwhen you edit, read up on the topic in the booksrecommended in the note to the sample exam. This isworth 20 marks in Part 2, which can make the differencebetween a pass and fail in that section. You gain marks

in Part 2 for a sound edit, not just the number ofchanges you make.In the case of the sample exam, for instance, includinga note in your style sheet that ship names are shown initalics will get you marks not only for the ships that youhave marked as italic in the extract, but also the namesalready in italicthats because you have shown yourdecision in the style sheet. This applies, for example,to things like the treatment of dates, numbers andmeasurements, too.

Good mark-up of the extractmanuscript editingshould be completed in the spaces between the lines,like the sample mark-up of the extract in Part 2 on the

website. Many candidates also used proofing symbols,placing edits in the margins. No one lost marks forworking this way, but it does make the edit unnecessarilydifficult to follow, and above all it wastes time!You will be able to work more quickly, more efficientlyand more clearly if you do an editorial rather than aproofreading mark-up. Start practising today if thats notthe way you usually work, but rest assured that markersdo not deduct marks unless errors are introduced to theedit.

Part 3

Answer only four out of the twelve questions in Part 3

of the exam. You must answer four whole questions inPart 3 and cannot answer parts from various questionsto make up the 20 marks.If you are asked to answer, for example, four of sixsub-questions in a particular question in Part 3, just dothe four, unless you know you have plenty of time, asanswering extra sub-questions in Part 3 will not let youpick up bonus marks. Markers will count the marksfrom the best four answers to sub-questions, so only dothe extra work if you have some spare time at the end.Dont answer extra sub-questions unless you finish earlyand have plenty of time.

Specialist questions

When the first sample exam was tested with societymembers, people asked for some specialist as well asgeneralist questions in Part 3. Each year, four specialist

questions will be included. Its important that youattempt these questions only if you have professional

experience in the area. Its unwise to think that you willbe able to produce a good answer to these questionsfrom general editorial knowledge. There are still eightgeneralist questions from which you can choose.

Dont touch the specialist questions in Part 3 unlessyoure a specialistyou need to have professionalexperience in the area to answer these questionsproperly. The structured sub-questions mean you wontbe able to bend a question into a more familiar area, asmarkers will be looking for a sound knowledge of thetopic. In 2009 the four specialist questions are questions912 in Part 3.

Follow the briefJust as you would for an editing job. Most questions willprovide a brief or outline the situation under discussion,and questions are very specific. Make sure you readcarefullyyou cant use highlighters on the exam paper,but you may find it useful to underline significant partsof the brief and question to help you stick to the pointin your answers.

Accreditation mattersThe exam development team aims to provide a fairexam that tests all the standards in Australian Standardsfor Editing Practice. I t is recommended that editors

not attempt the exam unless they have at least two tothree years full-time editing experience, or equivalent.IPEd has established the accreditation scheme so thatexperienced editors have a qualification that indicatesthat their work is of a high professional standard. Youshould therefore expect the exam to challenge you anddemand maximum effort from you over the three hours.It is not meant to be easy.

This is your newslettercan

you help to distribute it?

Responsibility for distribution of the newsletter hasusually fallen to the Newsletter Editor. However, this isno longer possible nor practicable.

Distributing the newsletter involves collecting it fromCopyQik in Allara St and taking it to a post office. I ts assimple as that. There is a form to fill in which includesthe CSE account number; our account is held at severalof the post of fices. The addresses are, as of this issue,printed on the shells, so the task is much easier thanbefore.

Please contact Virginia Cooke at virginia.cooke@gmail.

com and I will send you a brief email outlining theprocess. I, and your fellow members, would greatlyappreciate your offer of assistance.

(N otes on the accredit ati on ex am..continued)


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Contents

1 Next general meetingWednesday 29 July1 Presidents report2 IPEd Notes3,5 Thinking about wordsthe fall and the terror

4,6 Nuts and bolts...possession and omission

5 New date for AGMnow Saturday 29 August

7 Training newsJune workshop, The Small BusinessEssentials Workshop Turn Skills into Profit..!; Design

for non-DesignersFriday 28 August presented byDavid Whitbread

8 Membership renewal form

9 June meeting report; Its time to renew your membership; Money mattersand can be fun

10,11 Notes on the accreditation exam

.

Notes to self

1 Renew CSE membershipbefore 31 July to remain financial

2 There is such a thing as a

free lunch at the AGM, but only ifyou RSVP by Monday 10 Augustto [email protected]

the canberra editor july 2009

Documents