This past week I have been copyediting journal articles for the IJSE. They range anywhere from 25-47 pages and it's taking me about an hour to do 10 pages. I feel like that's a ton of time, but I'm trying to be really picky about things and do a good job. I got 7 articles and 2 weeks to do it in, although Val said again today not to kill myself getting them done in that time frame. I guess that they're ahead of schedule on the journal so far. But I really don't want to be the one to put them behind, so I am trying to get them done. However, I only have 3 done at the moment because I am the world's worst procrastinator. I got all of these articles last Wednesday, and when did I start them? That's right, not until Sunday night. But I have the whole next week to finsh the next 4, so I should be fine.
Obviously, I need to work a bit on my time management skills. I also feel that my APA style is getting significantly improved. It's taking me a lot less time to check all of the references because I'm more familiar with how they should be. But my one rant is why did my high school use MLA format? I don't think I have ever used MLA format since. I've used APA and Chicago, but never MLA. Franklin High School, you did not adequately prepare me for college. Oh well, I'm surviving. Also, I think there should be a specific English class that centers on the difference between i.e. and e.g. and when they should be used. I know the difference, but it's still causing stress in my life this week.
Other than that, I'm just working along on my articles. I only had two minor questions on the three articles and Val answered them for me this morning. She told me to email if I have any questions in the upcoming week. She seems happy with my progress and is still being very helpful
2 comments:
I am certainly in the same situation as you are. I am working on copyediting journal articles also and I am finding that it is taking me about an hour every 10-12pages or so. Currently I am working on a forty-two page journal entry. I am not familiar with the Chicago Style which my journal uses so it has been difficult to edit. ALong with copyediting, I also have responsibilities of writing and organizing for an upcoming Appalachian Studies Conference with an estimated 800-1000 members of academia in attendance. I also have to copyedit their information as well like their programs which run about forty pages. Like you, I am trying to be as careful as possible because I know this is highly important to their reputation as an organization especially. I feel that checking the exact references for accuracy is the most cosuming. For instance, if the author used a quote on page six of a particular book, I have to hunt down the book and check on page six for exact wording. I find it difficult to find some books except through interlibrary loans. Do you have to do this also? I am just curious because I know you said you had to check referencing. I definetely agree with you about the class that teaches you how to use the different styles. Again, like you, my high school used MLA format only and up until now--my senior year--has it not come in handy. I had to write a paper for the first time in APA format for a Linguistics class and now the journal is wanting Chicago which I knew not even one rule about. I guess we will both survive though as long as we are very patient because these tedious tasks are difficult to handle due to the time constraints, but ever so important within the internships that we are doing. Good luck with getting your articles finished!
I think one interesting topic for both of you to explore this semester would be to figure out--either through your "hunches" as you read more and more articles in these respective fields, or through explicit research into the topic--about what use these different citation formats have for different fields. Why, for example, do many disciplines in the humanities use MLA format? What information does that format contain vs. APA vs. Chicago? Why would one discipline want to use APA? What does it emphasize and what does it de-emphasize? Any why?
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