WRIT 320: Professional Editing

Welcome

Editing is a multifaceted craft. Successful editors are sympathetic, generous, organized, well-read, and perceptive. In addition they are clear communicators, have encyclopedic knowledge, and know the ins and outs of English style. Oh, they also are technologically proficient. No sweat, right?

Over the course of this semester, we’ll read about the craft and profession of editing. Students will become familiar with the details of English grammar and style, they will learn how to communicate with authors, they will gain facility with various digital technologies related to editing, and they will develop documents needed to pursue freelance editing. In addition, we will hear from several guests who work as editors in various capacities.

Assignments

Course Grading Scale: A 100-93; A- 92-90; B+ 89-87; B 86-83; B- 82-80; . . . F 59-0.

Required Texts

  • The Subversive Copy Editor by Carol Fisher Saller. ISBN: 9780226240077
  • What Editors Do edited by Peter Ginna. ISBN: 9780226299976
  • The Copyeditor’s Handbook : A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications edited by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz. ISBN: 9780520286726
  • Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer. ISBN: 9780812995701

Resources

Course Calendar

The course meets in HAL 209 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00-3:15. This schedule is subject to change.

Week 1

Week 2

  • Tue 9/5: Presentations on What Editors Do; Read Subversive Chapters 4-6; Style Report on Dreyer Intro, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2.
  • Thu 9/7: Read Subversive Chapters 7-9; Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 3; Read Handbook 3-37

Week 3

  • Tue 9/12: Read Subversive 10-11; Read Handbook 39-48; Complete Exercise 2.1; Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 4
  • Thu 9/14: Lizzy Schinkel

Week 4

  • Tue 9/19: Read Subversive 12-14; Read Handbook 68-85; Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 5; Complete Exercise 3.1 and 3.2
  • Thu 9/21: Megan Fowler; read her recent essay to prepare.

Week 5

  • Tue 9/26: Read Handbook 48-58; complete Exercise 1.1; Presentations on What Editors Do
  • Thu 9/28: no class (Liberating Arts event)

Week 6

Week 7

  • Tue 10/10: Small Editing Portfolio due; Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 7; Presentations on What Editors Do
  • Thu 10/12: Cindy Marsch; poke around Cindy’s website and this one to get a feel for the world of freelance editing.

Week 8

  • Tue 10/17: Presentations on What Editors Do; Exercise 3.4 Ngram
  • Thu 10/19: no class (Fall Break)

Week 9

  • Tue 10/24: Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 8; Write a blogpost in MD or MMD format (use headings, block quote, links, a list, bolded or italicized text, and an image—try out other stuff too, for fun!), and then use Dingus (https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/dingus) or another editor to convert it for your website. Turn in the MMD document and a formatted html version.
  • Thu 10/26: Complete exercise 3.6; Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 9

Week 10

  • Tue 10/31: Presentations on What Editors Do
  • Thu 11/2: No class (Canisius)

Week 11

  • Tue 11/7: Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 10; Publication Report due
  • Thu 11/9: Bonnie Kristian and Bob Hosack

Week 12

Week 13

  • Tue 11/28: Presentations on What Editors Do; Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 11; Find a job on mediabistro.com and craft a set of application materials (résumé and cover letter). Turn these in with a copy of the job ad you responded to. You might also find Amy Sherman’s document on editing careers to be helpful.
  • Thu 11/30: Presentations on What Editors Do

Week 14

  • Tue 12/5: Presentations on What Editors Do; Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 12
  • Thu 12/7: Presentations on What Editors Do; Create sample Fiverr or Upwork profile (should include description and three gigs)

Week 15

  • Tue 12/12: Style Report on Dreyer Chapter 13; Presentations on What Editors Do

The final will be held on Saturday 12/16 from 6-8 p.m. We’ll gather at our house, and you’ll give a five minute recap of your final editing portfolio and what you learned from the process.