🚀 go-pugleaf

"James C. Phillips" <jcp@viking.lanl.gov> wrote:

>I have to object to the implication that authors of books don't need to
>worry about spelling and grammar because there is always someone else to
>clean up the mess.  Good writing skills are AT LEAST as important in
>this business as scientific skills.  One does not generally hire
>professional editors for much more important documents like professional
>correspondence, grant proposals, and (some) journal articles.

>Also, an editor is likely to do a much better job of suggesting
>structural improvements when they are working with a well-written text
>(which is what they are trained for) than when they have to play a
>fifth-grade grammar teacher (which would certainly give me a bad
>attitude about my job).  Even if you have a housekeeper, your home will
>still show if you are a slob.

Actually, I think you have to be good in grammer and language use to
protect yourself against Editors whether they are well intentioned or
not.  Everyone I know has their horror story to tell of editors and I
have yet to see a paper go out of our lab that didn't involve some
serious correcting of the editor's corrections.  My favorite story on
big goofs was the editor that went through a scientific paper and
changed  all of the "significant at" the such and such level to
"important at" the X level.  DK

>Kudos to the original author for accepting criticism well.  I've seen
>really bad flame wars started over genuine, helpful advice.

>-Jim Phillips
> jcphill@uiuc.edu