Sometimes, our task is to help clients figure out what they want to learn; other times, it’s to help them share what they already know. Last year, Clarity worked with Lumina Datamatics, a publishing services provider, as part of a team helping a large professional organization revise a series of educational texts. Clarity provided developmental editing services for two of the books in the series.
Developmental editing is always about the big picture: helping writers make what’s written as effective as possible as a whole. But the big picture may look different depending on what the writer hopes to accomplish. Purpose, audience, content, style, and structure are all interconnected variables, and answers to questions about one shape choices about all the rest. For example: Is the purpose of writing to tell a compelling story? To make a persuasive case? To share knowledge? Each would call for different approaches to content, style, and structure that may vary further depending on the intended audience. For this project, the purpose of the books is education—to teach foundational concepts and practices (contents) to students in the industry in question (audience). Clarity worked closely with two of the revising authors, providing feedback aimed at updating content; ensuring adherence to the overall style and structure that had already been chosen for the series; and strengthening both writing and teaching by conveying the right information, at the right time, in clear language, with useful examples and opportunities for application and reinforcement of learning.
One of the unexpected (and highly rewarding!) aspects of the project was the chance to help revising authors avoid implicit bias in the examples provided and employ more inclusive language throughout.