Genealogists write. Their written narratives include stories of ancestral families, biographies of individual ancestors, and explanations supporting genealogical proofs. For their writing to succeed, genealogists—like all effective writers—repeatedly self-edit everything they write. The process results in polished products that the genealogist’s readers will understand, enjoy, and cherish.
Emphasizing genealogical narrative, these two webinars will addresses the self-editing process. Part 1 will focus on “big-picture” editing, including stages of self-editing; focus; keeping the writer out of the narrative; editing the writing’s overall structure, organization, and flow; and improving major and minor subdivisions of written genealogical narratives, including paragraphing. Part 2 will focus on “nitty-gritty” editing, including capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure, spelling, word choice, and reducing word count.
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Syllabus
This was a great webinar. I liked that the speaker didn’t race through the presentation, and spoke slowly enough that we could absorb what he was saying and take notes where necessary. Also his use of examples was great too. Respectfully, other presenters could learn from him.
Thank you for an outstanding presentation packed with recommendations for how to write clearly. I am looking forward to part 2.
Exceptionally good. I always enjoy Tom Jones’ webinars.
This lecture was so clear and instructive, but most of all encouraging!! So many times I have felt that the massive revisions I am making means I must not be a good writer – how many times is it going to take me to get it right? After this lecture, I can see that revision, even on a large scale, is a necessary iterative process that will only improve my work. The handout was beautifully done and comprehensive. Thank you for an excellent presentation!
I love research. I HATE writing. Yes, I learned the basics in school, but thank you Tom, for reminding me how important it is to pass on what I have learned to future generations effectively. I am looking forward to part two of this series.
Outstanding, great material and well presented. Thank you.
He gave a lot of thoughts.
Tom Jones can be counted on to deliver a well prepared and logical presentation. Appreciate the 8 steps to self-editing. Will review time and time again. Looking forward to Part 2.