Editing, Writing, and Formatting of Environmental Documents

Get help from an experienced professional who understands the environmental consulting industry.

Technical Editing, Technical Writing, Document Formatting, and Custom Style Guides

I provide technical editing, technical writing, and formatting services, mostly for environmental resource and planning reports. I also create custom style guides that pull together all the details of your organization’s preferred writing style and format. The style guides typically cover all the information in the lists below.

Typically, clients send reports to me in Microsoft Word, and I use track changes and comments for edits. I don’t usually track formatting changes. (If a formatting change might be substantive, I’ll check with you first or use the comment feature to suggest it.) I use various file-sharing platforms when needed to share large documents or sets of files like figures, appendices, etc.

For most documents, I follow The Chicago Manual of Style, 17^th edition, and Scientific Style and Format. I also use the Society for American Archaeology style guide for archaeological reports. I follow the style guides of specific federal agencies when applicable, and I am always happy to use your own in-house style guide or your client’s style guide.

Technical Editing

Technical editing services typically include the tasks listed below. The scope of work and level of effort can be customized based on your project schedule, budget, and needs.

Check grammar, punctuation, and spelling
Check the introduction and use of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms
Check open, closed, and hyphenated forms of words
Check capitalization of terms
Check list punctuation and structure
Check for filler words, unclear wording, and passive voice; suggest revisions where needed
Check consistency of data in text, tables, figures, etc.
Check references cited and source information provided; I work with Endnote, Zotero, and other bibliography programs

Document Formatting

Basic document formatting services usually include the tasks listed below. The scope of work and level of effort can be tailored to your specific project needs.

Fix spacing, page breaks, and overall layout
Ensure heading styles are clearly differentiated, consistently applied, and enhance the reader’s experience and overall ease of reading; when numbered headings are used, ensure the numbering is automatically applied and tied to heading styles
Apply appropriate formatting to the contents of tables
Use Microsoft Word’s built-in tools for automatic numbering of figures, tables, etc. and create linked callouts to such items in the text
Create the table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, list of appendices, and any other front matter needed

Section 508 Accessibility

Many of the reports produced by environmental consultants need to be compliant with federal Section 508 accessibility guidelines. I can create a Section 508-compliant PDF for you. This requires additional steps beyond basic document formatting and typically includes the following tasks, at a minimum:

Clean up the formatting of the original document in Microsoft Word and apply styles correctly
Make table formatting consistent, simplify table formatting where needed, and apply tags and spans
Create metadata for the PDF
Ensure the reading order is correct and content is tagged correctly
Create alternative text for all tables, figures, and other illustrations
Ensure all document headings have correct hyperlinked bookmarks