Learn the Fundamentals of Editing
for: Articles, Newsletters, Web sites, Blogs, Reports, Submissions, Resumes, Student Assignments, Letters, Books, or anything else.
- What You Write Matters
- When You can Edit Faster and Better: Your Writing is Better
- When You Write Better You Succeed More
It is said that the sign of a good editor is one whose work goes unnoticed – however those who reach this level of expertise are very much noticed by others. Anyone with superlative editing skills is sought after.
Do you wish to develop your skills in this area? Your editing efforts can bring greater meaning and clarity to a work, ensuring the author’s voice is heard and the message is clear. Editing is much more than reading and spell-checking however. It is a specialised area of writing which involves liaising with writers and publishers to ensure all sorts of documents are as good as they can be before they are published.
Editing is a process which involves a number of steps from securing the work, checking manuscripts and contents, copy or subediting, and ultimately proofreading. The complexity of what is involved varies with the type of work, the length of manuscript and the duration or time-frame allocated.
When it comes to editing, we all have a lot to learn – we all have improvements to make.
Whether your write for business or pleasure, on-line or on paper, this course offers you a flexible and accessible way to enhance your editing skills and understanding.
COURSE STRUCTURE
LESSON 1 HOW MUCH EDITING?
- Introduction
- Finding a Balance and Setting Priorities
- Why Are You Editing?
- Fiction and Non-Fiction
- Editing Fiction
- Editing Non-fiction
- Personality Traits of Editors
- What do you need to be a good editor?
- Dysfunctional Editors
- Functional Editors
- Editing Traps
- Review what you have been learning
LESSON 2 STAGES OF EDITING
- Introduction
- Editing Steps
- Step 1 – Securing the Document
- Step 2 – Be clear about what you need to do
- Step 3 – Plan
- Step 4 – General Editing
- Step 5 – Copy Editing
- Step 6 – Illustrations
- Step 7 – Styling
- Example of a Simple Style Guide
- Step 8 – Proofreading
- Step-By-Step
- Review what you have been learning
LESSON 3 TYPES OF EDITING
- What Are Your Editing Criteria?
- Improving Content
- Aim for Originality
- Maintain Interest
- Keep it Current
- Make Sure It’s Complete
- Improving Readability
- Clarity
- Accuracy
- Tone and Style
- Impact
- Grammar
- Spelling
- Consistency
- Spelling and Grammar isn’t Constant!
- Editing a newsletter
- Editing a blog
- Editing a print magazine or newspaper
- Editing a sales catalogue
- Editing a brochure
- Editing a fiction book
- Editing a non fiction text book
- Editing research papers and journal articles
- Conclusion
- Review what you have been learning
LESSON 4 TOOLS AND LANGUAGE
- Editing and Proofreading Symbols
- Examples of Proofreading Symbols
- Proofreading Tips
- IT Tools
- Spellcheckers
- Autocorrect
- Find and Replace
- Track Changes
- Editing Images
- Plagiarism
- Review what you have been learning
LESSON 5 INTERPERSONAL SKILLS FOR EDITORS
- Communication
- Listening and Talking
- Written Communication
- Advanced Written Communication
- Structure
- Style
- Content
- How Editors Communicate
- When and Where Editors Work
- Review what you have been learning
LESSON 6 FINDING WORK AND SELLING YOURSELF
- Editing Today
- How to Sell Yourself
- Freelancing
- Setting Up Your Own Website
- Resources
- Final Thoughts
- Review what you have been learning
- Final Assessment
