Pen and paper are a must for effective editing
Between the green movement and the habits of the mobile computing device age, there’s a growing movement against the unnecessary use of paper.
Let’s state that a different way: more and more people think it’s evil to use paper documents.
Even though paper comes from a renewable resource, there are many downsides to the process of making paper, including pollution, clutter, and garbage.
When it comes to writing (and computing in general), more and more people are getting in the habit of doing everything on a computer screen: writing, editing, and reading.
As a member of Generation X, I spent many, many years both handwriting and using a typewriter to create documents. Every single assignment that I did in high school was done by hand. 90% of the assignments that I did in university were either done by hand or on an electric typewriter.
I use a heck of a lot of paper at work, too. I’m not proud of this, it’s just the habit that I’ve developed.
I’m trying to cut back on my use of paper, at least a little bit, but it’s not going away.
Here’s the thing: I do my best document editing on paper.
I’m doing a little experiment at the moment whereby I’m taking a blog post of about 800 words and I’m forcing myself to edit it. A lot. I have a goal of editing and proofing the post 15 times to see if I can really make something exceptional. I’ve even set up a separate blog to track the editing process, mainly for my own information, but I’ll link to it when this project is done for anyone who’s curious to see.
Here’s the thing that I’m noticing about the editing process: the more substantial, higher quality edits are occurring on paper.
- I can edit for spelling and grammar reasonably well on screen.
- I can rearrange sentences or phrases fairly well on screen, normally within the same paragraph.
BUT
- When it comes to analyzing a paragraph to determine whether it’s necessary
- When I need to determine if the paragraph as a whole makes sense
- When it comes to determining whether or not entire sections of a document flow well
I’m reliant on paper.
There’s something about being able to lay out the pages side by side that I’ve never been able (or interested) to do either efficiently or effectively onscreen.
My conclusion is that paper is still required to do effective editing. Even if some trees must die.
Now that I’ll be barred from ever joining the green movement, I’d like to hear your thoughts. Are you able to do 100% of your blog post or document editing (including BIG documents) on screen? If so, how the heck do you do it?!?
ehelfant:
In Word 2007 you can select a view side by side option and pick the two drafts you are working on. You can also select synchronous scrolling. Then (with my tablet and that might matter), I find I can edit just as effectively. I also like the option within word to Publish directly to my blog. We are showing kids this functionality and they are beginning to like it as well. It does take some time adjusting to electronic editing and grading from paper editing. WIth the students, its nice to examine two drafts side by side in that mode.
13 November 2008, 6:15 amMark Dykeman:
Interesting: I still have Word 2003, and I don't have a tablet, so I can't try what you are suggesting. Do you use the tablet for annotating/notes as well?
13 November 2008, 6:36 amJohnMcDonald:
Suppose I do all my editing on the screen (but if someone wants me to edit *their* work I will always insist on a print out). Hmm I usually don't edit blog posts until after I hit publish and start to read it as it looks live. When I worked on a team and we all did weekly editing, we would usually take notes in a second digital document, or just fix errors as we found them (common mis-spellings, capitalization, grammar, etc…)
Its probably just repetition and training, because by the time I got to college word processing was required 100% of the time. Style requirements were always discussed in terms of font size and “standard MS Word” margins… When one is in college that paper & ink cost really hits home – so its easy to jump out of the comfort zone pretty quickly. Then again, when I got out of college and found the corporate supply room I got hooked on sticky notes.
What I really miss is the little doodles and drawings that would accompany my notes, poems, and essays. It would be pretty cool to combine the free-style aspects of pen & paper with the publishing convenience of the digital technology.
Yeah, now that I'm thinking about it… I might have to check out how the tablet technology has come along in the last few years.
OK, you got me writing about writing. I realize now that I could just go on and on answering more subtle aspects of you're question but I'll never actually get to the end that way…
13 November 2008, 1:34 pmAdamSinger:
Can't do it…my handwriting looks like a 4 year olds =)
I haven't written using pen and paper since I was in 4th or 5th grade – our school required laptops early on in life. I was smart enough to realize how much quicker I could nail essay tests and while all the other kids would write, I would sit there with my laptop, be able to organize and rearrange my thoughts quicker and more neatly than pen and paper.
I disgaree with you here, I type everything and could run circles around anyone with a pen and paper.
13 November 2008, 2:34 pmMark Dykeman:
Could be a generational thing: laptops didn't appear on the horizon until at least five years after I graduated from high school…
13 November 2008, 2:38 pmMark Dykeman:
Dude, this is one of the better comments that I've gotten in awhile. Great stuff.
Sticky notes, doodles, drawings… make documents bearable, if not fun.
See my comment below to Adam Singer and you'll get an idea of how long ago I was in high school and university…
13 November 2008, 2:42 pmConvert:
Honestly I couldn't go anywhere without my note book (format A5 it is). If I went however where would I write in the ideas that come to my head during day stages. Many of them are so useful but come handy months later. Each book filled is marked with the date and placed on my book shelf.
13 November 2008, 5:36 pmMark Dykeman:
I actually maintain two notebooks: one for 1 – 2 line ideas and the second to expand on ideas
13 November 2008, 5:50 pmehelfant:
We do use the tablet to annotate notes but usually we use OneNote 2007 for handwritten notes. We can insert audio notes- even record student response in our notes. We can highlight and add tags. Then our tablet “written” notes are searchable…and if we want to share our notes with students or each other when we collaborate, we can start a shared sessions and write on the same pages.
13 November 2008, 7:44 pmPamela Weir:
I agree with you Mark.
For editing, paper is the way to go. You can't truly see the flow of words until you print them and look at the entire document.
It's not easy to make simple editing notes in word processor. It feels natural to put pen to paper and really tear into a first draft. Writing is getting at the words and arranging them in a way that creates an effect and doesn't just put words in the right order.
Sometimes, you can't really see that on the computer screen.
You don't have to print EVERY draft, just the first and last.
Even though I've spent most of my writing career using a computer, I always start and finish with pen and paper. That's where the true writing happens.
Once you strip away everything else and get back to basics, it's just you and the words.
That's the way it's supposed to be.
13 November 2008, 7:46 pmMark Dykeman:
Sounds very cool.
13 November 2008, 7:53 pmMark Dykeman:
Excellent suggestion about first and last drafts.
13 November 2008, 7:53 pm» Writing/typing Mozactly:
[...] thought about all this after reading this post on Broadcasting Brain. The author, Mark Dykeman, says he finds that editing on paper with a pen is [...]
16 November 2008, 7:27 pmScribbler:
What an interesting post and yet I was thinking about this a month or so ago too. I had just spent a month backpacking in Europe and had been forced to write my blogs long hand rather than use the PC at home. I found my writing was much better when drafted on paper , and more concise too. The visceral pleasure of writing is a great boon as well.
16 November 2008, 10:49 pm