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Final Exam

English 307: Editing and Publishing Practices
Mary Adams, Instructor
Email: [email protected]
web page: http://www3.wcu.edu/~madams
Class meets MW 3:30 - 4:45 CO205/202 (computer lab)
My Office Hours CO 420 MWF 11:00 - 12:00

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  • Syllabus
    		•  Class Resources
  • Goals
  • Texts
  • Policies
  • Grade assessment
  • Schedule of Classes
    		•
  • Proofreading symbols and common abbreviations
  • Copy editing links
  • Copy editing jobs
    		•

     
    Goals: This course is an advanced study of professional editing and publishing from the standpoint of writer, editor, and publisher. Class discussions and the textbook should provide a good look at practices in the "real" world. Writing our own fiction and non-fiction and editing and selecting the work of others for publication will provide an opportunity to see editing from the standpoints of editor and writer. Producing our own magazine and exploring publishing opportunities on the Internet will give us an opportunity to apply a variety of editing skills. 
    Texts
    • Friend, Cecilia, et al. Contemporary Editing. (Rental)

      • - Thompson. Contemporary Editing Workbook. (Purchase)
      - Bivins & Ryan. How to Produce Creative Publications. 
      - A zip disk formatted for DOS/ Windows. 
    • - You will be responsible for the cost of duplication and supplies. We sometimes workshop your original work, and these and other copies are part of the text of this course.
    Policies.
    • Late papers will not be accepted. 
    • Plagiarism is against the law and will result in failure for the course. 
    • Each absence after the third absence lowers your grade one letter grade.
    • Exnsive or extreme tardiness or early departure will be counted as absence. 
    • Tardiness is disruptive and should be avoided. 
    • Participation is part of your grade
    Grade Assessment
    • Editing Exercises 30%

      • Midterm 10%
      Article for Magazine (with editing partner) 10%
      Production/ Layout/ Illustration of Article 10%
      Magazine and Brochure Participation (including log) 10%
        Participation will involve working with either marketing, art, editorial, or production departments. We may also have a web department, if there’s sufficient interest. 
      Fund-raising for Magazine 10%
      Presentation on Editing 10%
      Final 10%
    This course's main project, the collaborative magazine, is an important part of your grade. If the magazine is of especially poor quality, or if it comes out significantly after the deadline, or if we run out of money, everyone's grade will be affected. 

    NOTE: This is a class about editing. Simple editing errors, such as mistakes in punctuation and spelling, will be counted very heavily. Of course, this rule is relaxed for in-class exams. Strive to produce professional work. 

     
    Departments:*
    Editng & Design (Style sheet, Article Selection, Final edits,) Marketing (Banking, Advertising, Marketing plan, Ad checks)
    Art (Cover art, illustrations, advertisement design (in conjunction with marketing) Production (Desktop Publishing; document layout (includes type face and headings); Printing estimates)  
    *You will be assinged to one of these based on your background, skills, & interests
    NOTE: All students will participate in each aspect of production. Each student must sell at least one ad (more for extra credit) and must create or locate one illustration. Each student will write an article for the magzine, and each will edit one article 
    Editng Partnerships:

    Oral Report Topics:
     
    Each student will do one oral presentation on a topic related to publishing. You can choose one of the topics below or, with permission, something else of interest to you. You should profile a particular publication or, in the case of careers, a person who works in the field. 

    ? Magazine profiles should discuss the following: a typical issue’s content, editing formulas, type of illustrations, audience and circulation, types of advertisers, special features, representative articles and columns. 
    ? Web profiles should discuss the following: Type of content; type of organization, types of advertising, editing issues, document design. 
    ? Production presentations ought to give the class a good idea of the state of that field today and its importance to writers and editors. 
    ? Career presentations should talk about salary, career track, job availability, and required skills. 

    All presentations must be visually interesting. They should use PowerPoint and other aural  / visual medium to engage the audience. They will be graded on information, visual interest, clarity, and specific connection to the class. 

    Profiles: 
    ? Magazine Profile: Gender
    ? Magazine Profile: In-house
    ? Magazine Profile: Music/ Entertainment
    ? Magazine Profile: News
    ? Magazine Profile: Literary/ Small Press
    ? Magazine Profile: Teen
    ? Magazine Profile: Regional

    Web Profiles: 
    ? E-zines
    ? Newspaper sites
    ? Company sites (in-house)
    ? Online copy-editing resources
    Production: 
    ? Editorial Law
    ? Layout (Cover, margins, whitespace, display types)
    ? Illustration (line drawing, grayscale, half-tones, full-color, special effects)
    ? Circulation and Distribution
    Careers: 
    ? Careers in Copyediting
    ? Careers in Editing (Book)
    ? Careers in Editing (Magazine)
    ? Careers in Editing (Newspaper)
    ? Careers in Editing (Electronic)
    Schedule:
     
    Week Date Topic & Reading (Due by this date) Additional
    1 R 1/11 Introduction; Editing
    2 T 1/16 Project Teams Created 

    http://www.house.gov/writerep/

    http://www.state.wy.us/state/welcome.html

    Introduction to Classroom

    		 CE 56-81; 90-97

    CEW Ch. 3 ex 4, 5
    R 1/18 Identification of Magazine Format
    Lexis Nexis
    Associated Press
    Proofreading symbols and common abbreviations    		 HPCP 3-38
    3 T 1/23 Discuss content; assign article topics
    		CE 100-118 

    CEW 4:ex 1-5
    R 1/25 CE 119-136

    CEW 4: ex 6-8
    3 T 1/30 Introduction to PowerPoint; students pick or are assigned report topics HPCP 39-78

    CEW 4: ex 9-12
    R 2/1 HPCP 167-202

    Editing punctuation: handout exercises
    5 T 2/6 CE 151-162

    CEW 5: ex. 6,8 (first 8), 9
    R 2/8 HPCP: 2-3-236

    CEW 5: ex 10, 11, 14
    6 T 2/13 Layout links
    web page with advertising (1 column)
    class links    		 HPCP 237-266

    CEW 17,18,19
    R 2/15 press release editing: text and instructions
    pbs press release
    Strong verbs: handout exercises
    Read CE 305-333 for Tuesday
    7 T 2/20 Work on editing features Strong verbs: handout exercises
    R 2/22 Possible Illustrations due for your article Strong verbs: handout exercises
    8 T 2/27
    R 3/1
    9 T 3/6 Articles due to Editing Partners
    14 leads based on the same press release
    R 3/8
    10 T 3/13 SPRING HOLIDAY
    R 3/15 SPRING HOLIDAY
    11 M 3/  last day to drop with a W
    T 3/20 Editors return articles for editing. 
    Production should design a layout and select a font and point size. They should decide whether to justify text or leave margin ragged.  They should and give editorial a provsional idea of how many words articles we can use. 
    Discussion of fonts    		 Editorial partners: Create a contents blurb for your article (place at top of article--due Thursday in Share folder)
    R 3/22 Fonts
    Writers turn articles in to editors IN SHARE FOLDER  (MS WORD FORMAT) and include contents blurb; turn in both copy-edited and finished articles to me. Layout for articles is due in one week. (Thursday)    		 HPCP 79-122
    table of content blurbs (see examples at CommArts.com and Time.com)
    12 T 3/27 Editorials return list of accepted articles to class with a suggested order. Also include a provisional list we can use if space permits. 
    R 3/29 Layout is due with illustrations. Your layout should include your article, your illustrations, at least one ad, and if necessary to fill space, the text from your partner's article. 
    This layout is graded by me and won't go to production. 
    M 4/2 National Poetry Month reading at 7:30 PM in Mountain Heritage. 
    Attendance Strongly encouraged and rewarded. 
    13 T 4/3 All ads must be sold by today. Production should get all ads as they come in along with specifications.  Electronic Editing
    handout + 
    CE 577-584
    R 4/5 All ads must go out to sponsors for check. Must be approved by Tuesday, 4/10. (Any unapproved ad with which sponsor is unhappy will be charged refunded by the student who sold it).  Ethics
    CE 367-389; 458-467
    14 T 4/10 All Edits due today. Last minute corrections. Magazine copy due to me by end 4:00 Wednesday, 4/11. 
    R 4/12 Magazine uploaded today. (Takes at least 10 business days to be mailed). 
    15 T 4/17 All web presentation topics today
    Editing articles for web guide to web design
    Yale Style Guide
    web site checklist
    Chunking article
     
     
    R 4/19/01 Contents blurb due in share folder
    16 T 4/24/01 All career presentations today Editing Wire Stories
    CE  250-567
    R 4/26/01 All production presentations today
    Magazine mailed today by printer; UPS ground. 
    17 T 5/1/01 All magazine presentations today
    R 5/3/01 Magazine arrives; distribution
    R 5/10/01