UKZN SLR Hosts Training Workshop
The Editing Committee of the UKZN SLR attended a training workshop ahead of the commencement of the editing process of the second edition. In attendance were editors, reviewers and senior members of our academic staff, including the Dean of Law.
On 02 August, the UKZN Student Law Review hosted a training workshop which was attended by the Editorial Committee and reviewers who assist the Law Review. The workshop featured presentations from a number of esteemed staff members, and was an enriching experience for all.
The workshop kicked off with an address by the Managing Editor, Professor Yousouf Vawda, who plays an important role in the Law Review (frankly, we'd be lost without his pearls of wisdom).
This was followed by a few words from the Editor-in-Chief, fourth year Musa Kika. He shared with us the background and history of the Law Review, as well as its visions and missions.
The Dean, Professor Managay Reddi, followed with a short vote of thanks to all in attendance and offered her support and congratulations to the Law Revew.
Professor Shannon Hoctor addressed us on the monster that is the editing process, giving us wonderful insights from his own experience.
He suggested that we implement reference checks at the first stage of the editing process. This is a suggestion that has now been included in the Editing Protocol.
He warned reviewers of interfering with the author's voice when reviewing, but at the same time reminded us that authors sometimes must be tempered. Further, he cautioned reviewers to refrain from allowing their own ideolgies to colour their reviewing - reviewers must be fair and balanced.
He also gave editors a number of excellent technical tips that have assisted us in the editing process.
Professor Ed Couzens' presentation was targeted more at editors, and he gave us an editing exercise to demonstrate the importance of a technical edit. He also eludicated the difference between a technical edit and a review, which gave everyone a good idea of their role.
He gave us useful suggestions for the house style, and spoke to us about the importance of presentation.
He also made some useful suggestions which will help us counter plagiarism. One such suggestion was that we should use Turnitin, a suggestion which has become part of the Editing Protocol.
Chris Gevers shared with us some of the more "soft" sides of writing, explaining that writing is a very personal experience. He urged us to be gentle with authors and reminded us that the Law Review aims to nurture developing skills. After all, our authors are students.
This advice has caused us to be more gentle in our approach with authors, and we are extremely hesistant to reject articles. Instead of rejecting articles, we prefer to help the author realise his potential by having the article edited or reviewed until it is publishable. Further, we have taken an informal decision as a student team to offer assistance to authors on a one-on-one basis.
Further, Mr Gevers raised another novel idea - that we consider publishing articles in isiZulu. This is an idea which is under discussion and we hope to implement in the next edition.
