Revised 04/2012

ENG 205 - Technical Editing (3 CR.)

Course Description

Prepares business and technical communicators to edit self-generated writings as well as writings prepared by others, including individual or collaborative authors. Teaches students to make editorial content decisions, verify information and copyright compliance, adapt and design formats for audience and purpose, and edit the work of several authors into a seamless final product. Covers basic proofreading and markup skills and the design of technical documents.

Lecture 3 hours per week.

General Course Purpose

To provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to perform successfully in both internships and occupations requiring knowledge of editorial purview and the application of editing skills to their own and others’ work. 

Course Prerequisites/Corequisites

Course Prerequisites/Co-requisites ENG 111 or equivalent.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• Use appropriate and expected editorial purview
• Determine content decisions that are generally the responsibility of an editor and content decisions that require editor-author negotiation
• Verify information and to assure copyright compliance.
• Design and adapt formats to meet the needs of a particular audience and purpose
• Design a document for maximum readability and clarity by using appropriate headings and graphs
• Align collaborative writing projects into “seamless” final products that reflect consistent organizational tone, style, and design.

Major Topics to Be Included

• The differences in application and responsibility between copy editing and comprehensive editing The terminology associated with all stages of professional editing
• Editorial decision-making and the design and assembly of technical documents

Additional Topics

• Basic proofreading
• Markup skills