This hybrid course (both in-person and synchronous online) will teach how to edit technical documents, from proofreading for errors at the surface to ensuring that the document contains appropriate content, organization, and visuals for its audiences. Students will also learn how to use traditional editing marks, editing functions within word processors, and principles of layout and design. Finally, students will learn about the profession of editing and develop pieces to support their careers.
There are two kinds of technical writers: those who have been handed a .docx and been told to turn it into a professional, published work— with professional images, interactive ToC, an index and digital edition.
And those who haven’t yet.
This course will teach editing concepts and processes for particular rhetorical situations. It will cover using editorial tools (software and techniques), collaborating using, creating and customizing style sheets and style guides, multilingual content management, usable typography, and managing document production for digital, responsive, and single-sourced deliverables, including ePub ebooks.
This course emphasizes developing an editorial eye for verbal and visual details in order to achieve style, accuracy, consistency, correctness, and complete-ness, for popular genres of both print and online outputs.
- ENGL 5374 syllabus, Spring 2024
- The Blackboard website for ENGL 5374, Spring 2024.
- a video recording, from the first day of class