Project Assessment Memo

ENGL 4183 MEMORANDUM

TO:

Dr. Greg Wicklif

FROM:

MIRNA GARCIA

SUBJECT: Assessment of Editing Project

DATE:

3/23/16

CC:

1) Overall Assessment: General Editing Process and goals for the

project, including technological goals (using Adobe Acrobat Pro for
comments, for example)
Throughout the editing process of Project B I encountered some
differences than in Project A. This project was edited in Adobe rather
than Microsoft Word. Part of my personal editing style initiates with
looking over document thoroughly while asking myself; what it is
about, whats the authors goal, whether it was reached or not, etc. I
look over the document as unbiased as I can. Then I go through the
document a second time and start reading into the sentences more
carefully. I tend to look at grammar, punctuation, and overly wordy
sentences that could be stated more concisely and clearly. I give
comments and suggestion on how to enhance and correct their errors.
Once I review those topics I read into the documents graphs, charts,
images, etc. A large part of editing is not only to look for spelling
mistakes, but rather help (help the author) produce a more cohesive
product. This includes the document as a whole style, layout, visuals,
syntax, etc. After revision and editing I seek help from my peers by
comparing edits. I find this to be an essential part of the editing
process given that it helps visualize another perspective of the
document. I then review my editing again and make any additional and
final comments/suggestions.

My goal for the project was to enhance my editing skills from Project A.
I wanted to give the maximum feedback to help the document look
and sound its best. Not only that, but I want to be an insightful editor
that can help the other students with their classwork and grades. This
ultimately, made me stronger both as a writer and an editor. In doing
so, I found myself utilizing a new application that I grew to know and,
essentially, appreciate as a student. I found Adobe a much more useful
application for making edits. When first starting using it I had some
difficulty figuring out how to highlight, mark through, insert, etc.
However, as I continued to edit I realized the various methods of
inserting comments making it easier for the author(s). All in all, I
successfully used Adobe to its fullest editing potential.
2) Audience members goals for this project (you have differing kinds
of readers)
The audience members of this usability report can consist of library
technicians, designers, coders, writers, school librarians, and anyone
who is hoping to make the interface a more user-friendly website.
These documents can help the teams involved with creating effective
databases for school libraries. They can reach other schools who are
also in the attempts to create an interface such as this. The documents
can reach higher level faculty who are involved with the digital
spectrum of the library. There can be several audience members who
can benefit of the usability tests and results transcribed on the
document.
3) Key Results from Peer Review
The Peer Review, mentioned above, helped gain a different
perspective. There are certain ways that I intake a document that
wont coincide with another students. For that sole purpose it is
essential to compare edits, revise, and discuss the variety of
possibilities there are to help enhance the document. However, as the
Peer Review may aid in visualizing anothers perspective it can also
help us affirm our edits. Key results that I found were:
- Sentence syntax that I had overlooked were commented on and
rephrased
- more grammar errors were noted
- more punctuation errors were noted
- additional ideas on style and layout were also listed
4) Specific Assessments of the Final Document

a. Do you believe the report meets your own and your audience
members goals overall?
Yes, I believe that the usability report meets my goals in
editing as does my goal for the audience members. I feel
that my suggestions and edits will help aid the authors
enhance their final product and make it more user-friendly
and cohesive.

b. The specific features of your document that seem to be working well

All the editing marks that Adobe allows are functioning
well. This will enable both you, the instructor, and the
authors to easily review and revise their document in order
to make any necessary changes.
c. The specific features that seem to not be working well and ideas for
revision as time allows
The figures of the document held me back in editing the
document. They did not appear throughout my entire
editing process although I tried to open it up in other
applications. This is something that could be fixed by the
authors and perhaps be revised at a later time with steady
communication between the authors and editors in the
future.