Author queries can be tough to write—at times it feels like they require the verbal equivalent of an Olympic balance beam routine. You want your questions to be friendly and supportive, but by nature they are critical; you try to be short and concise, but you also want to be complete and clear.

Register to join the Academic Editing Chapter’s September Coffee Chat on Wednesday, September 11, at 10 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m. EDT to discuss what works for other academic editors, how you can improve your query game, and maybe even how you could change your routine altogether. And if you’re one of those who feel you’ve nailed this routine, come and let others know the secrets, whether they include preparing the author beforehand, using a table instead of comments, or just getting lots and lots of practice.

Some topics we might cover:

• How to balance tough questions with praise
• Figuring out what issues to advise the author to prioritize
• When are long comments okay?
• What query issues are unique to academic writing?
• How do you handle situations when an author stets an obvious error?
• Do you use any querying tools, such as a query table or some kind of AI?

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