TOPIC FOR TODAY’S SESSION EDITING and REVISING SPEAKER: MD. SHAFI-UL-ALAM FORMER MDS, BPATC

Edit ruthlessly Edit your writing ruthlessly By omitting unnecessary words Spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors in a document can undermine the effectiveness or desired impact. By rewriting for clarity.

What helps for Clarity and Consistency Best way to achieve clarity in your writing is to allow some time to elapse between the first draft and its revision. Try to leave it over the weekend, or at least overnight. If you are really under pressure and this is simply not possible, at least leave it over a lunch or coffee break.

Editing and Revising Avoid wordiness( ˃ ) Don't use jargon that your reader may not understand/may misunderstand. Don't rely entirely on your word processor's spell checker. It won't pick up incorrect use of a word, i.e. to vs. too vs. two.

EXAMPLE: WORDINESS- CONCISE Due to the fact that the micro-credit recipients have not attempted to pay back the money owed to the Bank in the amount of Taka-8 millions/, it has become absolutely essential that the Bank takes appropriate legal action in order to obtain payment of the aforesaid amount Since the debtors have not paid the Taka-8 millions/, owed to the Bank, a lawsuit will be filed seeking reimbursement ( ˂ 21)

Proofing Careful proofreading is particularly important in any writing. The enemy of good proofreading is speed. Many people rush through their documents, but this is how you miss mistakes. Follow some guidelines to check what you've written

Proofing guidelines-1 Proof your headers and sub- headers – People often skip these and focus on the text alone. Just because headers are big and bold doesn't mean they're error free! Read the document out loud – This forces you to go more slowly, so that you're more likely to catch mistakes.

Proofing guidelines-2 Use your finger to follow text as you read – This is another trick that helps you slow down. Start at the end of your document – Proofread one sentence at a time, working your way from the end to the beginning. This helps you focus on errors, not on content.