Make Your Manuscript Work : A Guide to Developmental Editing for Scholarly Writers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Portwood-Stacer, Laura.

Series:

Skills for scholars.

Skills for scholars

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Manuscripts--Editing.

Manuscripts.

Academic writing.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (265 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2025.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

From the bestselling author of The Book Proposal Book, a practical, step-by-step approach to mastering the four pillars of scholarly writing for authors, editors, and publishing professionals Developmental editing holds the power to make a manuscript connect with publishers and readers, yet few scholarly writers have the training to do it well. Make Your Manuscript Work offers a practical method for assessing and refining the features of their texts that matter most--argument, evidence, structure, and style. This guide shows scholarly writers how to identify what's been holding their writing back and fix it so they can accomplish their publication goals. Laura Portwood-Stacer, a writer, editor, and consultant for academic authors, explains how manuscripts move through the publication process and identifies the key stages for authors to improve their texts. She helps writers better understand who they are writing for and why, enabling them to determine what their drafts need most to move forward. Drawing on a decade of experience as a developmental editor of scholarly manuscripts, Portwood-Stacer details the most common opportunities for development she's encountered and shares practical tips for implementing needed edits. The book also includes a checklist of assessment questions, examples from real scholarly manuscripts, tips on seeking additional help, and advice on offering developmental editing assistance to other writers. Written with candor, empathy, and a deep awareness of the challenges faced by academic writers who want to publish, Make Your Manuscript Work is an indispensable how-to guide for scholars at all career stages.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Introduction: How to Develop a Scholarly Manuscript

What Is Manuscript Development?

Who Can Use the Method? On What Kinds of Texts? When?

How I Think About Manuscripts and Publishing

Phase I. Clarify Your Mission

1. Three Moments for Manuscript Development

Moment 1: Development Before Submission To Publishers

Moment 2: Development After Peer Review

Moment 3: Development After Approval for Publication

Use an Author Questionnaire to Clarify Your Mission in Manuscript Development

2. Delineate Your Goals, Timeline, and Capacity

Clarifying Your Goals

Clarifying Your Timeline

Clarifying Your Capacity

Use an Author Questionnaire to Clarify Your Mission in Manuscript Development, Part 2

Phase II. Assess Your Text

3. Read Your Manuscript Like an Editor

Marking Up the Text

Taking Your Time or Truncating the Assessment Process

Opportunities Versus Problems

4. Opportunities to Develop Your Argument

Give Your Text an Argument

Distinguish Your Main Argument from Subordinate Arguments and Other Types of Claims

Make Your Argument Portable

Sharpen Your Argument by Defining Your Main Concepts

Solidify Your Contribution by Aligning the Scope of Your Argument with the Interests of Your Intended Readers

5. Opportunities to Develop Your Evidence

Support All Arguments with Evidence

Provide Only As Much Support As Your Arguments Need

Present Sufficient and Reasonable Analysis of All Evidence

6. Opportunities to Develop Your Structure

Create a Strong Sense of Narrative with Your Book's Table of Contents

Organize Your Material in a Logical Flow at the Section and Paragraph Level

Consider Conventions When Deciding How to Organize Your Book into Parts

Use Titles, Headings, and Topic Sentences to Signal Content and Purpose to the Reader

Use Breaks and Transitions to Signal Relationships Between Parts of the Text

Shorten or Lengthen Your Text to Align with Reader Needs and Publisher Requirements

7. Opportunities to Develop Your Style

Foreground Your Own Ideas

Make Considered Choices About Notes

Strike a Consistent and Appropriate Tone

Clear Up Sentence-Level Obfuscations

A Few Words of Encouragement

Phase III. Plan and Execute Your Edits

8. Draft Your Editorial Summary

The Content of Your Editorial Summary

Close Your Summary by Listing Next Steps in Order of Priority

9. Itemize Your Edits

How to Itemize Your Edits

Keeping Edits in Scope with Your Plan

10. Alter Your Text

Five Tips for Executing Your Edits

After the Developmental Edit

Your Role in the Production Process

Conclusion: Let Your Manuscript Do Its Work

Acknowledgments

Appendix A. Checklist of Opportunities and Assessment Questions

Appendix B. Sample Editorial Materials

Appendix C. Supportive Readers in Manuscript Development

Appendix D. Using This Book's Method to Support Other Writers

Notes

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.

ISBN:

0-691-25748-5

OCLC:

1519123044