METM24 presentation

Checking and improving maps in texts

Joy Burrough-Boenisch, Renkum, Netherlands

This presentation sets out to explain how language professionals can routinely check that any maps included in their assignments are not only free from language errors but also meet basic cartographic and publishing conventions.

Good maps communicate information effectively and efficiently. They save words, which is why scientists and scholars from a wide range of disciplines use them as illustrative material. They can give an instant, detailed impression of a fieldwork area, showing precisely where data have been collected by sampling or measuring; they help visualize distributions and flows of people, animals, and things; they can display where events have taken place or changes are expected.

Certain conventions should be followed when creating or reproducing a map, but authors do not always observe them meticulously. Being a geographer, cartographic carelessness pains me, especially as often very little needs to be done to bring a map up to standard. So, in this presentation I will explain how I try to help authors to improve inadequate maps. Although I will use examples of maps I’ve dealt with as an authors’ editor for environmental and social scientists, many of the issues raised and solutions suggested will apply to maps used to illustrate humanities texts or more popular writing such as guidebooks or travel blogs. My authors are not native speakers of English, so not all the shortcomings in the example maps are cartographic: some are linguistic errors or cultural transfers and are therefore part of our remit to correct. Redrawing a map is not in our remit, however, and it’s rarely advisable (or possible) to open a map and make corrections to it directly, so I will also suggest how to nudge authors to make certain corrections and improvements themselves.

About the presenter

A seasoned authors’ editor working primarily for scientists and scholars from Dutch universities, Joy Burrough-Boenisch is an experienced trainer and conference speaker on second-language interference, non-native English, and editing, and is the author of various scholarly and professional publications. She is a founder member of MET’s sister society SENSE.