Reviewers

Guide v.1.0

Reviewers have a fundamental responsibility within the Emerging
Cast team of freelancers: quality control. In terms of content, the
scripts published on our website, either as narration for our How To
videos, or in their original written form, form the foundation of the
service we provide. Therefore it is imperative that these scripts meet
our standards for quality; as a reviewer, it is your job to make sure
that they do.

This guide should help give you a better idea of the criteria that
should be used to decide whether or not a script is rejected, accepted,
or sent back to the writer for revision. While the evaluation of a
script submitted for approval ultimately requires you to use your
best judgment, we need all of reviewers to be on the same page as
much as possible in order to maintain a consistently high level of
quality regarding our content. To that end we have established a set
of guidelines that we expect all of our reviewers to follow, and have
divided them up into three basic categories:

1. Use of Language
2. Content
3. Tone

Please read this guide carefully, and feel free to revisit it whenever
you feel unsure about whether or not you should be approving or
rejecting a problematic script.

Also, make sure to read the FAQ section at the end of the guide as it
contains more detailed information regarding specific points such as
Fun Facts, additionals, and plagiarism.

1. Use of Language

Given the fact that our primary audience is located in the USA, and
primarily composed of native speakers of American English, it is essential
that approved scripts display a thorough command of the language.
First and foremost, a script should read naturally, and not sound awkward,
stilted, or overly simplistic in its use of language. Remember that many of
the writers submitting scripts are not in fact native speakers of English so
dont be surprised if a large number of the scripts you review do not meet
these criteria.
If your first impression of a script is that is sounds strange, and you can
immediately identify several mistakes in the use of language, you should
simply reject it, and not try to rewrite to make it passable. While as a
reviewer you do have the option to edit a script, this option should only be
used to touch up a few mistakes in an otherwise acceptable script, not to
rewrite a script in order to bring it up to par. Keep in mind that by
approving a subpar script, you are in fact encouraging whoever wrote it to
continue submitting more scripts, which only serves to slow down the
entire process of content production for Emerging Cast.
Some typical mistakes to keep in mind that indicate a less-than-perfect
grasp of written English include:
1.
2.
3.
4.

basic syntax problems (poorly or awkwardly structured sentences)

misuse of prepositions
incorrect use of idiomatic expressions or slang
poor use of vocabulary (word choice)

Please refer to the Support Section on the Emerging Cast website to find a
few examples of previously rejected scripts that demonstrate an incorrect
use of language.

 2. Content

Once you have decided whether or not a script demonstrates a proper use
of language, it is time to evaluate its content. There are two principle
factors to consider when evaluating a scripts content. First, does it explain
what it is supposed to explain? That is, could you follow the three steps
(plus the additionals) and learn to do whatever it is the script is trying to
show you to do? A script should be clear, precise (as opposed to confusing
and/or vague), and well thought out in order to be approved during the
review process. Verify that there is little or no overlapping from step to
step; redundancy is a valid reason for rejecting a script, and if you find that
one or more of the steps or additionals is simply a rehashed version of
another, then you can either reject the script outright, or request that the
writer simply rewrite any redundant portions.
The second factor to consider regarding a scripts content is whether or not
the script meets our technical criteria. Is it long enough? Does it respect
the online template format? Is the Fun Fact appropriate? Does it make use
of the additionals options? Reading a couple of the sample scripts should
help you get a better sense of what an acceptable script should look like in
terms of content.

3. Tone
Tone is possibly the hardest, or at least most subjective of the facets to
consider when reviewing a scripts. Basically, you are going to have to use
a little common sense here. While all approved scripts should demonstrate
a lively, conversational tone, and lend themselves easily to an audio/video
format, not all writers will have a great sense of humor, and a script should
not necessarily be rejected outright simply for being a bit too dry. Keep
the topic of the script in mind when evaluating its tone. Purely technical
scripts may be a little more straightforward, and explanatory, whereas
some of the more colorful topics, such as How to Get a Person to Like You
require a more playful tone.

It is also helpful to consider the target audience of a given script when

evaluating its tone. For example, a script that purports to teach you How
to Fake an Illness is probably intended for high schools students, and
should employ a lighter tone which that age group can understand and
relate to. Again, use common sense to evaluate whether or not the tone of
the script matches its subject, but make sure that all scripts you approve
lend themselves to being read out loud comfortably. Another problem to
watch out for are scripts that use a bunch of he or she, or his or her
phrases.
Nobody wants to listen to a video the says his or her every time there is a
possessive pronoun, and it is the writers responsibility to word her script
appropriately to avoid this. Feel free to point out this problem to a writer
in the comments section of your review.