Author: Paul Buckingham

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Paul Buckingham

Non-fiction Developmental Editing

August 15, 2017 by Paul Buckingham | 10 Comments on Non-fiction Developmental Editing

I’ve always loved trying to understand things — investigating ideas and concepts to make sense of them, seeking clearer ways to view them. I was delighted, therefore, when I discovered that there’s a kind of editing rooted in exactly that pursuit: developmental editing. The name describes it well: you’re helping the author develop a manuscript […]

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Paul Buckingham

Stepping Into the Arena

May 30, 2017 by Paul Buckingham | 13 Comments on Stepping Into the Arena

We’ve all as editors had the odd grumble over something an author has written. Maybe a string of noun clusters has pushed us to the limit of our patience, or we’ve broken down over a text awash with comma splices. It’s easy to criticize when we’re on the sidelines, though. Our problems are not the […]

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Ours Is Not to Reason Why — Or Is It?

October 4, 2016 by Paul Buckingham | 7 Comments on Ours Is Not to Reason Why — Or Is It?

You’re editing a biography of Lester Pearson, and you see a line that says, “It is a fitting coincidence that Pearson was born the same year another great Liberal leader, Wilfrid Laurier, took the Canadian helm.” You’re drawn to the interesting coincidence of dates and decide to look up the facts. You discover that Pearson […]

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A Formula for Mathematical Editing

February 10, 2015 by Paul Buckingham | Leave a Comment

Mathematicians need editors. But why should that be? Aren’t mathematical manuscripts rather short on words? And as for the symbols, don’t they look after themselves? In fact, mathematics has plenty of words, particularly at the research level, and the wordy passages are often where the exposition and explanation occur. A page in a typical mathematics […]

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