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Course Description

Theory and practice of editing within professional contexts. 4 hours. Prerequisite: completion of the university writing foundation requirement.

Course Overview and Objectives

The course will provide three kinds of learning opportunities:

• Critical knowledge in five areas important to editorial practice: application of rhetorical theories to editing (with particular emphasis upon theories of style and genre), ethical and legal aspects of editing, social and organizational factors in editing, and editing visual and design elements of documents;
• Practical knowledge of skills and tools needed by editors; and
• Experience in applying these principles, tools, and observations of editing in exercises with sample documents and a client project.

Required Texts

Stoughton, Mary. Substance & Style: Instruction and Practice in Copyediting. 3rd Edition.

The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition. (This is the older, 2003 edition and can be obtained cheaply as a used volume.)

Additional readings will be provided.

Course Policies

• Absences. Since WRT 333  is a collaborative, discussion-based course, I expect everyone to attend every class session and participate in online activities. However, I understand that "life" happens, and I permit you to be absent from up to two class sessions or online activities without penalty. This includes absences due to illness, car trouble, or schedule conflicts. Participation in online activities counts as class attendance. For each absence beyond those allowed, your final course grade will be lowered by 0.15. If you miss more than six class sessions, you will receive a final course grade of 0.0.
• Technology. Technology excuses are generally not viable in this class. You are responsible for practicing sound data management, thoroughly testing your work before and after submission, and taking all other reasonable precautions for putting up with technology.
• Communication. You are responsible for keeping up with your oakland.edu email account and regularly checking the class Moodle site for updates to the News forum.
• Collaboration. When working collaboratively, your group is responsible for sharing the most current versions of your work. You may want to get in the habit of distributing your group's most current drafts at the end of every in-class work day using email, Oakshare, or Google Docs.
• Public use of your work. The grades you earn in WRT 333 are confidential. However, the work you produce in this class may be shared with your classmates as a part of peer review or other instructional activities. You should always assume that the work you compose in this class is public, not private.
• The writing center. The Oakland University writing center is open to OU students, faculty, and staff in all disciplines. The center offers consultants to help you develop your drafts during any stage of the writing process. Appointments may be scheduled online.
• Late work. I reserve the right not to accept late work.
• Email queries. I am always happy to answer your questions by email, but I reserve the right not respond to questions whose answers are readily available from the course webpage, on the Moodle site, in assignment descriptions, etc.
• Plagiarism. All work in this class must meet the standards of Oakland University's Academic Conduct Regulations.
• This syllabus. I reserve the right to revise this syllabus throughout the semester.

Assignments

There will be three major assignments in this class, listed below, which are due on the dates listed in the course calendar. You must complete all of these assignments to receive a passing grade. The assignments are as follows:

1. Research project.
2. Style project.
3. Client project.

Grading

I will give grades (0.0, 1.0–4.0) for all major assignments in this class.

Quizzes are graded on a percentage scale and their average will be converted to a four-point scale to calculate your final grade. An average score less than 40% will be converted to 0.0. All others will be converted to (Average quiz score−40%)÷15%.

The final grade is determined as follows:

ADA Notice

Students with disabilities who may require reasonable accommodations should contact Oakland University’s Disability Support Services office for assistance:

• Phone: (248) 370-3266
• TTY: (248) 370-3268
• Fax: (248) 370-4989
• Email: doss@oakland.edu.