Editage Blog
Can I get a Certificate of English editing?
Yes. We provide with a certificate of English editing upon request.
A certificate of editing is a proof, a certification, indicating that your manuscript has been edited for language by Editage.
Please let us know that you would like a certificate of editing while submitting your job to us. Upon competition of your assignment, we will send you a certificate of English editing in PDF format. To help us issue a certificate of editing, please provide us with the following information: (1) paper title, (2) your organization/department name, and (3) journal or publication to which you are submitting.
There is no extra charge for issuing a certificate of editing. Kindly allow us one working day to send the certificate to you.
[This is a part of the series of post, entitled How Editage works, showing you a glimpse of what and how we do at Editage, and Cactus in general, and how you can make the most of it.]
Want to be a better writer? First, be a good reader. The simplest and most effective way to improve your writing is to read books written by good writers. If you are a researcher, your reading is probably restricted to the relevant journals, reports, and so on-and a daily newspaper and a magazine or two. But the compelling demands of newspapers and news magazines make little allowance for revising and polishing text-speed is everything. Whereas it takes much longer to publish books, and their writers have more time to craft their prose. Read about twenty books written by good writers, and you will notice a distinct improvement in your writing.
English abounds in good science writing. Two good series are The Best American Science Writing and The Best American Nature and Science Writing-although anthologies of good writing taken from magazines, the series will get you started. Also check winners of the Aventis prize given annually to the best-written science book for the general public from among the books published in Britain. A modern anthology is Richard Dawkins's The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing.
How does it work? It works the way you picked up your first language-by immersion. If you read a thousand correctly written sentences, chances are that your mind will pick up the correct patterns and start using them. The important thing is to find the time to read good books: but then, don't you want to be a better writer?
[This is a part of a series of posts, titled Open Space, where we talk about things that generally interest us, and hopefully you as well.]
CRM @ Editage
As a potential client, it may interest you to know that Editage has a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) department. One of the most important functions of the CRM department is to ensure that clients have a smooth, satisfying experience in dealing with Editage.
With this goal in mind, an important part of CRM operations is collecting and acting upon client feedback, as well as disseminating the feedback to the concerned departments (including the editors, the managing editor of the concerned team, the Quality team, and the Marketing team). Feedback can be both negative and positive. All feedback is considered seriously and acted upon promptly. The CRM team is also involved in facilitating clients to give feedback easily and conveniently.
As mentioned earlier, the CRM team’s main function is ensuring client satisfaction and providing greater value to clients. This goal influences all the tasks and activities of this team. For instance, an important task of the CRM team is bringing a better understanding of client needs and expectations to all employees whose work influences clients, such as editors, Quality team members, and client managers.
At Editage, CRM is presently a one-member team represented by Janet Quadras, who is Manager, Client Relationship Management. To write to her your suggestions, tips, and feedback, please email customercare@editage.com.
[ This is a part of the series of post, entitled How Editage works, showing you a glimpse of what and how we do at Editage, and Cactus in general, and how you can make the most of it. ]
The convention about capitalizing proper nouns – names of people and places – is well understood. What always puzzles me is the tendency among technical writers to elevate common nouns to the status of proper nouns the moment they come together in an abbreviation.
Of course, some abbreviations do require capitals when they are spelt out—but that is because they represent names of organizations, as in UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme” or OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
In our last two posts, we covered some (of the very many) finer aspects of what exactly “takes place” at Editage, including the role of your client manager and how the message flows to and fro between the editors and CM. Today, we will look at some of the jargon that we follow at Editage.
Response time: Apart from the elaborate care and service we provide to our clients, two of our most important service indicators are: response time and on-time delivery.
We recognize the need for a quick response, especially when a quick job is needed. All inquiries received by us are responded to within 1 hour during our working hours.
We consistently strive to maintain our response time even during the busiest days.
On-time delivery: Punctuality and delivering what we promise are two qualities we strongly believe in and adhere to. On-time delivery is one of our biggest strengths and we pride ourselves in having a success rate of almost 100%. We let you choose your own deadline and always try to deliver much earlier.
Complaint Management: At Editage, we recognize the need for effective complaint management. Our Customer Relationship Management representative, a part of our Client Servicing team is especially designed to handle complaints and to ensure a smooth, quick and satisfactory resolution.
Technology in Client Servicing: The Editage Online System has been developed as a customer service system that is easy for our clients to use. It is a secure online interface that helps our clients to manage their relationship with us in a faster, safer, and more convenient manner.
Our philosophy of work is based on client understanding. The client is the prime focus of all our activities. At Editage, we CARE for our Clients and brings this to our daily operations.
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Credibility
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Accessibility
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Reliability
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Excellence
To conclude: Customer loyalty and Customer satisfaction are the foremost aims of client servicing at Editage. We recognize the importance of long term relationships and strive to establish and maintain them through our superior customer service.
[ This is a part of the series of post, entitled How Editage works, showing you a glimpse of what and how we do at Editage, and Cactus in general, and how you can make the most of it. ]
As I mentioned in the previous post, one of the fundamental and crucial aspects of your service experience is the interaction between the Editors and the Client Manager. Today, we will look at this aspect in a little more detail.
The Client Manager facilitates all communication between the client and the editing team. Client servicing and editing team work closely with each other, well almost. Our editing team consists of three sub-teams segregated by subject area. Our editors are evenly spread across these three subject-area teams, each specializing in a particular branch of academic knowledge:
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Medicine and life sciences
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Social sciences and humanities
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Physical sciences and engineering
Each of these teams has one Managing editor and several editors.
Once the Client Manager (CM) receives a job, it is forwarded to the Managing Editor (ME). The ME forwards the job to the appropriate Editor. Once the Editor finishes the job, it is again sent to the ME, who forwards it to the CM.
The CM then sends the job to the Client. This is how the process flows:
Client > CM > ME > Editor > ME > CM > Client
[ This is a part of the series of post, entitled How Editage works, showing you a glimpse of what and how we do at Editage, and Cactus in general, and how you can make the most of it. ]
In the early 1600s, a samurai named Miyamoto Musashi, emerged from obscurity and went on to swing with the royalty solely on the strength of his undeniable skill in man-to-man combat. In a series of duels, he defeated warriors who were thought to be unbeatable.
Musashi was Japan’s most renowned warrior. He was also a philosopher, poet, painter, and sculptor.
By the age of 30, he had fought and won over 60 duels. Invincible, Musashi eventually retired to a cave where he completed, just few weeks before his death, the well-known classic "A Book of Five Rings". He wrote it not only as a thesis on battle strategy but also “for any situation where plans and tactics are used.”
The book has been translated into many languages over the years, and it finds a readership that extends far beyond martial artists. For instance, some business leaders find its discussion of conflict and opportunities relevant to their work.
Not surprisingly, most business executives of present-day Japan revere Musashi. They use his philosophy as a guide for their daily decisions, managing their businesses like a military operation. The book’s strategies can be applied wherever there is conflict and competition. Many Japanese companies have made the book required reading for their key executives. The book is also popular among Western business managers, who turn to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations.
In the last few decades, the Book of Five Rings has attracted a great deal of attention and has garnered a reputation as some sort of salaryman’s Bible. Many have attributed Japan’s economic boom during the 70s and 80s to the bushidô legacy. The Japanese entrepreneur is not the product of an Asian equivalent of the Harvard Business School. Instead, he is born out of internalizing, living, and working according to this book.. It is no surprise then that the Book of Five Rings has earned the distinction of being a source of influence on the Japanese white-collared class—molding work ethic and honing their single-mindedness.
Unlike mundane many inspirational or self-improvement business books filled with feel-good platitudes, there is a hard core of wisdom in Musashi that shines through even the most enigmatic precept or the dullest translation.
The book can also be read online here.
It is divided into five parts: The Ground Book | The Water Book | The Fire Book | The Wind Book | The Book of the Void
References:
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The Book of Five Rings: The Real Art of Japanese Management, translated by Nihon Services Corporation: Bradford J. Brown, Yuko Kashiwagi, William H. Barrett, and Eisuke Sasagawa (New York: Bantam Books, 1982)
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A Book of Five Rings: A Guide to Strategy, translated by Victor Harris (Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 1974)
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The Book of Five Rings, translated by Thomas Cleary (Boston & London: Shambhala, 1993)
[ This is a part of a series of posts, titled Open Space, where we talk about things that generally interest us, and hopefully you as well. ]
Indian Words in English
[India was a British colony for many years. So most of the Indian words came into English during the period of the British rule. Below are 3 of them.]
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Indian words in English |
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Shampoo: Even today, in many hair salons in India, you will find barbers giving their customers a vigorous head massage with oil. This oil massage is called champi, in Hindi. It is derived from the Hindi word champo or champna, which means “to knead or massage.” Getting such a head massage is always followed by a long bath. Perhaps, this is how the word shampoo (derived from champo) came to be associated with washing and, in particular, washing one’s head. In English, shampoo first came to be used as a verb, e.g., You should shampoo everyday. It was later used as a noun that refers to the preparation used to wash one’s hair—the liquid soap that we all recognize now. Example: A preservative commonly found in cosmetics such as shampoo and moisturizers harms developing nerve cells, according to a controversial study. (Source: An article from Nature magazine)
Bangle: Most Hindi words have their roots in Sanskrit. Even today, most people in India find Sanskrit words very hard to pronounce. Naturally, it was worse for the foreign rulers who tried to use these words in their conversations. This is why the English words that made their way into dictionaries are anglicized (or English-ed) versions of the original Hindi words. Bangle—which is an ornament worn around the wrist—is derived from the Hindi word bhangdi. Just like wearing rings signifies matrimony in Western cultures, wearing bangles around their wrists is a sign of marriage for women in some parts of India. Example: Sarika Watkins-Singh was banned from classes at Aberdare Girls' School in south Wales as she would not remove the bangle, which is a symbol of her faith. (Source: BBC)
Catamaran: As many as 23 languages are spoken across India. The English word catamaran has its origins in Tamil—a language spoken in southern India. It is born from the Tamil word kattumaram—kattu means “to tie” and maram means “wood.” Put together, these words tell us the way in which a catamaran was built. A catamaran consists of two hulls (or frames) and a sail. In the olden days, these hulls were made of wood, and tied together. Example: Over the past five years, teams of sailors and naval architects around the world have built, by hand, a new breed of multimillion-dollar racing catamarans that defy what you expect of a sailboat. (Source: CNN) |
We are pre-assuming that as an existing or a potential client of Editage, you might want to know what happens to your document (or what will) once you submit it to us through our submission form. This series of posts has been designed to primarily satisfy your (yes you) query in this regard.
Before we do that, let us cover a few basics.
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Editage offers editing services primarily to nonnative English speakers.
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Our clients are mainly researchers from around the world, largely in Asia, who aspire to have their research published in eminent international journals.
So, what is Client servicing in Editage?
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Client servicing occupies a unique position in our business model. Client servicing can be called the “face of the company” since it is the client’s interface with the organization and all interaction between the client and the company happens through Client servicing.
Our Client servicing team has close interactions with all the other departments in Cactus. A Client Manager (CM) is assigned to every client once we are approached with a job. From then onwards, the Client Manager looks after all the requirements that a client may have, and is the client’s key contact person in the company.
As a client, your service experience at Editage consists of: Customer Service, Editing, and Payments. All these three aspects fall under the supervision of your Client Manager and the Client Manager looks after both your pre-service and post-service requirements. One of the most important aspects here is the interaction and coordination between our Editors who work on your jobs and the Client Manager.
[ This is a part of the series of post, entitled How Editage works, showing you a glimpse of what and how we do at Editage, and Cactus in general, and how you can make the most of it. ]
Sometimes, journals can be very specific. Often, journal guidelines are (fortunately/unfortunately) immensely detailed.
Researchers, for the most part, are concerned with numbers that express quantities: 20 kg is twice as heavy as 10 kg and only half as heavy as 40 kg, for example, but is 2661 3832 necessarily larger than 2468 2100?
Not if the digits stand for telephone numbers. A tiny aspect that according to me, most writers overlook is the issue of the correct format of telephone numbers.
The form to render numbers that express numerical quantities is well understood: separate multi-digit numbers into thousands and use space as a thousand separator (123 and 4321 but 12 235, 654 321, 1 234 567, and so on).
The style for giving telephone numbers varies: (203) 245 1235 is common in the United States whereas in France and Germany it is common to give a telephone number as a string of pairs of numbers (for instance, 21 59 55 56).
Then again, the international form of a telephone number is different from that used for local dialing and for dialing non-local domestic calls.
One standard international form is +91 (20) 2661 3832, where the plus sign represents (and replaces) the digits to be dialed to access the international network or to initiate an international call (the digits may vary from country to country), and is followed by (a) the country code (1 for USA, 49 for Germany, 86 for China, and so on), (b) the city or the area code, and (c) the local telephone number. The local telephone number usually contains a space if it is longer than 4 digits. The typical grouping is 4+4 for eight-digit local numbers, 3+4 for seven-digit local numbers, 2+4 for six-digit numbers, and 2+3 for five-digit numbers.
The logic is that the number for the local telephone exchange is separated from the rest of the number, the exchange number being common to all numbers in a given neighborhood served by one telephone company.
When most of the calls to a number are expected to be domestic calls, the number illustrated above is rendered without the plus sign and the country code but with a zero prefixed to the city code, as in (020) 2661 3832.
Numbers used by postal systems are governed by the norms set by the country's postal system, and we have postcodes (UK), ZIP codes (USA), and PIN codes (India), for example. But that is another blog, another day.
["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
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