This course, Editing Business, Government and Technical Information, is currently being offered as ETWR 2379 (and as POFT 1007 continuing education) at Austin Community College, Austin, Texas. In this course you learn administrative forms and organizational processes for technical editing, both for in-house and freelance; practice proofreading and copyediting (including standard, traditional hardcopy editorial markup and proofreading symbols); review grammar, usage, and punctuation rules; practice substantive (comprehensive) editing; develop portfolio-quality editorial samples; explore methods of editing electronically; and learn how to create style sheets and style guides.

See the Course Calendar for a calendar-style view of semester due dates.

Most of the links on this page have been removed. If you need more detail, contact hcexres@io.com.

Instructor	David A. McMurrey
Class location & meetings	Online class
Office	Northridge 4225
Office hours	Tues./Thurs. 10:00 - 3:00 p.m., and by apptmt. (Always call before driving all the way out to Northridge Campus.)
Phone	512-223-4804
E-mail	hcexres@io.com

Week of August 25

Getting organized. In this first week, take a look at the schedule, policies, objectives, and requirements for this course. Fill out an online questionnaire and write a brief get-acquainted memo that will be posted on our course website so we can all get know each other! We'll try to find a time when we can all meet "live" in a chatroom or Adobe Connect.

Due dates

Fill out the questionnaire — due Aug. 28. Set up your edit log. Every time you do an edit, fill out this log: you can watch your efficiency and accuracy improve over the semester. You'll also have a good idea how to estimate editing projects. — due Aug. 28. Write the get-acquainted memo to introduce yourself to your instructor and the rest of the class. This memo will be password-protected; only our class can see these memos; ask your instructor for the password. — due Aug. 28. See the get-acquainted memos.

Technical editing overview. In this first week of our course, focus on a broad definition of technical editing.

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 1. Editing: The Big Picture Rude: Chapter 2. Readers, Users, Browsers, Problem Solvers...
Quizzes	Chapter 1 — due Aug. 31 Chapter 2 — due Aug. 31

Practice edits. Let's see how well you can copyedit "straight out of the box"! Rest assured that the results you enter in your edit log will have absolutely nothing to do with your grades in this course.

Warm-up edit	Let's see how we do on the hikikomori document. You'll receive e-mail containing a link to the online meeting room where we will do these "live" edits together.
On-your-own edit	Before next week's meeting, edit the first aid document. When we meet next week, I'll quickly go over my edit and take questions.

Week of September 1

Technical editing overview: editing organization and process. Let's explore how editors fit into organizations and how the editorial process works.

Lecture notes

Editing process Edit process—forms Organizations & editing Types/levels of edit Edit standards

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 3: Collaborating with Writers Rude: Chapter 24. Management
Quizzes	Chapter 3 — due Sept. 7 Chapter 24 — due Sept. 7

Diagnostics. In the first two weeks of this course, take the grammar diagnostic which checks how well you know grammar terminology and sentence diagnostic which checks how well you know your traditional usage and punctuation rules. (ETWR 2379 does not feature these topics; you can use the diagnostic results to study on your own.)

Diagnostics

Grammar-terminology diagnostic — due Sept. 4 Sentence diagnostic — due Sept. 18

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the warning system document in addition to going over the on-your-own edit requested last week.
On-your-own edit	Nitrogen dioxide. Edit this document before our online meeting next week. In our online meeting, we'll go over this edit together.

Looking forward exam 1. We'll discuss what's going to be on exam 1.

Exam	Exam 1 — available Sept. 22; due Sept. 28 Review questions for exam 1 are available. Exam 1 will cover chapters 1, 2, 24, 3, 4, and 5. Topics will include the editing overview, copyediting. There will be multiple-choice and short-essay questions along with some copyediting.

Week of September 8

Electronic editing, copyediting, style sheets. This week we continue one of the major focuses of this course: copyediting. That focus will include style sheets and methods for editing online.

Tutorials

Electronic editing: tutorials

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 4: Copymarking — Hard Copy Rude: Chapter 5: Copymarking — Soft Copy
Quizzes	Chapter 4 — due Sept. 14 Chapter 5 — due Sept. 14

Practice edits. This week as in nearly every week, you'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the stem cell document in addition to going over the on-your-own edit requested last week.
On-your-own edit	Virtual directories. Edit this document before our online meeting next week. In our online meeting, we'll go over this edit together.
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of September 15

Electronic editing, copyediting, style sheets. We continue with our studies of copyediting and look into style sheets and methods for editing online.

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 6. Electronic Editing Rude: Chapter 7. Basic Copyediting. An Introduction Rude: Chapter 8. Copyediting for Consistency
Quizzes	Chapter 6 — due Sept. 21 Chapter 7 — due Sept. 21 Chapter 8 — due Sept. 21
Resources	Copyediting resources (in our meeting) Study stylesheets Practice creating stylesheets. (Use this stylesheet grid or design your own.) Perils of editing. Read and henceforth beware.

Practice edits. As usual, you'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit another stem cell document in addition to going over the on-your-own edit requested last week.
On-your-own edit	Ultrasound instructions. Edit this document before our online meeting next week. In our online meeting, we'll go over this edit together.
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of September 22

Review for exam 1. We'll complete whatever studies we have not done yet and review for exam 1.

Exam	Exam 1 — available Sept. 22; due Sept. 28 Review questions for exam 1 are available. Exam 1 will cover chapters 1, 2, 24, 3, 4, and 5. Topics will include the editing overview, copyediting. There will be multiple-choice and short-essay questions along with some copyediting.

Copyediting — continued. Review some essential issues for technical editors . spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, gramar and usage.

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 9. Spelling, Capitalization, and Abbreviations Rude: Chapter 10. Grammar and Usage
Quizzes	Chapter 9 — due Sept. 28 Chapter 10 — due Sept. 28
Practice	Copyediting resources

Practice edits. As usual, you'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit	Dell copier. Edit this document before our online meeting next week. In our online meeting, we'll go over this edit together.
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of September 29

Punctuation and proofreading. We'll finish up with the copyediting and proofreading segment of this course with these two chapters from Technical Editing. See if you can explain the difference between copymarking and proofreading! (Prizes awarded in various categories.)

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 11. Punctuation Rude: Chapter 13. Proofreading
Quizzes	Chapter 11 — due Oct. 5 Chapter 13 — due Oct. 5

Practice edits. You'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of October 6

Editing indexes. Let's practice some essential skills for evaluating and editing indexes.

Readings & quizzes	McMurrey: Indexing McMurrey: Index editing (let's edit this in our meeting)
Quizzes	Indexing quiz — due Oct. 12

Quantitative and technical material. Read the Rude chapter on editing quantitative and technical material and take the quiz. We will probably not do any of the exercises from that chapter. Instead, we'll probably catch up with studies from the preceding week and review for the exam.

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 12. Quantitative and Technical Material Rude: Chapter 23. Type and Production
Quizzes	Chapter 12 — due Oct. 12 Chapter 23 — due Oct. 12
Exam	Exam 2 — available Oct. 13; due Oct. 19 Review materials for exam 2 are available. Exam 2 will cover chapters 7-13 and 23. Topics will include the copyediting, proofreading, type, and production. There will be multiple-choice and short-essay questions along with some copyediting and proofreading.

Practice edits. As usual, you'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of October 13

Comprehensive editing. We'll complete whatever studies we have not done yet and review for exam 2. This week we begin studying and practicing the business of comprehensive editing, as defined in Technical Editing.

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 14. Comprehensive Editing: Definition and Process Rude: Chapter 15. Style: Definition and Sentence Structures Rude: Chapter 16. Style: Verbs and Other Words
Quizzes	Chapter 14 — due Oct. 19 Chapter 15 — due Oct. 19 Chapter 16 — due Oct. 19

Code-style markup. Let's go over a simpler system of indicating fonts, margins, and alignment.

Coding examples

Serious code. Frightening, huh? Let's use this simple format. Example coding markup. Here's how the codes are used. In your markup, please code every separate textual element. Use { (curly braces) or < > (angle brackets), whichever you are most fond of.

Review for exam 2. We'll complete whatever studies we have not done yet and review for exam

Exam	available Oct. 13; due Oct. 19 Review questions for exam 2 are available. Exam 2 will include advanced copyediting, style sheets, and electronic editing.

Practice edits. You'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of October 20

Comprehensive editing — continued. This week, get some ideas about how to edit for potential organizational problems and the overall visual design of a document.

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 17. Organization Rude: Chapter 18. Visual Design McMurrey, Page design. Headings, lists, notices, highlighting, and more in the online textbook. Colon News. Fast-breaking, up-to-the-minute news from the constantly changing world of colons! Worst Manual Contest. The ultimate challenge in comprehensive editing. Modernization edit. Comprehensive editing out of control. Word Play. Sites that feature fun with words, provided by Judi Wolinsky.
Quizzes	Chapter 17 — due Oct. 26 Chapter 18 — due Oct. 26 Page design quiz — due Oct. 26
Exercises	Comprehensive editing resources Problem modifiers. Even editors can have fun . . . twisted though it may be. Example review letter. We will write an edit-review summary (Word document) like this in our meeting together. Practice review letter. We will write this one on the infamous "open heart surgery" document.

Practice edits. As usual, you'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of October 27

Style guide project. In our online meeting, you'll see how to create a simple style guide, and then you'll create one on your own.

Readings & quizzes	McMurrey: style guides
Practice	Style guide practice
Project	Style guide project — due Nov. 9

Comprehensive editing — continued. Let's continue our work in comprehensive editing by exploring how to edit graphics and online documents.

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 19. Illustrations Rude: Chapter 21. Editing Online Documents
Quizzes	Chapter 19 — due Nov. 2 Chapter 21 — due Nov. 2
Exercises	Don't do these exercises until we've discussed the corresponding topic in our meeting: Headings problems. Identify standard formatting and style problems involving headings. List problems. Identify standard formatting and style problems involving various types of lists. Notices. From the online textbook. Highlighting. Use style-guide notes to mark highlighting in a document. Organization. Practice identifying and revising organizational problems in outlines and paragraphs. Transitions. Practice identifying and revising transition problems in paragraphs.
Resources	Comprehensive editing resources Practice review letter. We will do another edit-review summary.

Practice edits. As in every week, you'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of November 3

Comprehensive editing — continued. Let's continue our work in comprehensive editing by exploring how to edit graphics and online documents.

Exercises

Comprehensive editing resources See About hypertext and the web — draft chapter from Power Tools for Technical Communication (sorry: it's big; see the second section on hypertext.) Online edit 1. We'll discuss this one in in our meeting. Online edit 1 revision. Notice what a great job the writer did in using our recommendations!

Sentence-style editing. A gray area of editing involves sentence-style editing, which many call "wordsmithing." We're not sure whether to call it copyediting or substantive editing. If your edit should include recommending changes to make sentences clearer, more economical, and more emphatic, use these techniques and the terminology associated with them.

Exercises

Sentence-style problems. We will do about half of these in our meeting after we go over the classic sentence-style problems. You'll do the rest on your own afterwards.

Practice edits. As usual, you'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of November 10

Comprehensive editing — continued. Let's continue our work in comprehensive editing by exploring how to edit graphics and online documents.

Practice

Comprehensive editing resources

Readings	McMurrey: Book design
Quizzes	Book design quiz — due Nov. 2

Practice edits. You'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together.

Live edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of November 17

Comprehensive edit project. We can discuss issues for this project (but not directly related!) and do similar practice work.

Projects

This comprehensive edit — due Dec. 4.

Big issues for technical editors. Consider how an editor must take global contexts into account as well as ethical and legal issues.

Readings & quizzes	Rude: Chapter 20. Editing in Global Contexts Rude: Chapter 22. Legal and Ethical Issues in Editing
Quizzes	Chapter 20 — due Nov. 16 Chapter 22 — due Nov. 16
Practice	Comprehensive editing resources

Practice edits. As usual, you'll edit a document before our online meeting, you'll see how I edited it, then we'll edit another document together. Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

On-your-own edit	In this week's meeting, we will edit the the document specified last week.
On-your-own edit
Completed edits

Week of November 24

Visit from a professional editor. Let's find out what it's really like out there.

Readings

Dell computer guides (click the manuals icon) Dell manual (for discussion)

Catch-up time. We'll see where we are, if we need to do some catching up.

Project 3	This comprehensive edit — due Dec. 4.
Completed edits	Completed edits. I'll post these each week.

Week of December 1

Comprehensive edit project. We will continue getting ready for this project.

Readings & quizzes	—
Quizzes	—
Extras	Freshman metaphors
Projects	This comprehensive edit — due Dec. 4.

Week of December 8

Semester wrap-up. If we are still interested, we can discuss the comprehensive edit after I hand your projects back. Revisions of the style guide project and comprehensive edit due no later than December 11.

Readings & quizzes	—
Quizzes	—
Projects	Revisons due — Dec. 11.