Forums like the editorial summit help us to form good relationships with our colleagues as copy editors. By coming together and networking, we develop strategies and learn about resources that allow us to complete our work as best as we can with the materials we have at our disposal—
the services of the MCPS Pony mail,
the correspondence manual,
the acronyms booklet,
the Editorial Help Desk website,
calendars and other resources on the MCPS Web,
the editorial stylebook,
our dictionaries, and
our common sense.
Whenever we get a document to work on we should own it. That means we should work to make it the best it can be for the author (who created it) and for the reader (who will benefit from the information). We are caretakers of the document.
Our job matters because inaccuracies—
undermine the author’s authority,
confuse the reader, and
question the competency of MCPS.
Ultimately, we should know who our reader is and work on behalf of that reader, using good grammar and style. Knowing who our reader is will help us write and edit in a way that he or she will understand our message and have all the information needed to act on the message. When this is done, we will know that we have done our job well.
Thanks to all our wonderful presenters
John Marshall
Ron Parrott
Judy Coan-Stevens
Cindy Murphy-Tofig
Special thanks to those who helped plan and facilitate the program:
John Marshall (who gave his blessing and helped us get all we needed to make this happen)
Laurie Lane (who took care of the logistics)
MCPS TV for filming our presenters
Betty Payne (who helped with the mailings)
Clare Wilson and Bob Russell (who worked on the logo and signage)
And all my colleagues in EGPS who helped set up the room and give moral support.
Things to Remember
Please let us know what other resources you need to do your job better.
