Re:editing skills

[LCDR Thomas J Dekornfeld <dekornfe@nadn.navy.mil>]

I find that nothing sharpens my own editorial eye like the presence of the
audience for whom I am writing the paper. The many gasps of "Omigod" from
students the moment before they turn in a paper, and the associated
questions about the acceptability of pen-and-ink corrections, suggests to
me that I am not alone in this. This surge of editorial acuity may be
merely a function of adrenalin brought about by the presence of an
authority figure, but I think that the writer's previous inability to spot
errors, that become so apparent in the presence of the person/audience for
whom the paper was written, is in part caused by an inability to imagine
the future. If there is anything to this idea, that editing problems are
exacerbated by an inability to imagine the future, or perhaps rather, by a
lack of belief in the future, the recent A-bomb explosions in India will
do nothing to improve our students' editing. 
    If anyone notices a sudden deterioration in students' editing skills,
please let me know immediately. Perhaps this is a research opportunity.

				Tom DeKornfeld