Eastern Illinois University New Course Proposal ENG 4765, Professional Editing

Eastern Illinois University New Course Proposal ENG 4765, Professional Editing Agenda Item #07-58 Effective Fall 2008 Please check one: New course Revised course PART I: CATALOG DESCRIPTION 1. Course prefix and number, such as ART 1000: ENG 4765 2. Title (may not exceed 30 characters, including spaces): Professional Editing 3. Long title, if any (may not exceed 100 characters, including spaces): 4. Class hours per week, lab hours per week, and credit [e.g., (3-0-3)]: 3-0-3 5. Term(s) to be offered: Fall Spring Summer On demand 6. Initial term of offering: Fall Spring Summer Year: 2008 7. Course description (not to exceed four lines): Advanced practice and theory in professional editing, including copyediting and comprehensive editing. Focus on working effectively with writers, publishers, and audiences. Discussion of the production process and the role of technology in editing and information design. 8. Registration restrictions: a. Identify any equivalent courses None. b. Prerequisite(s). English 2760, 3005, or 4760 c. Who can waive the prerequisite(s)? No one Chair Instructor Advisor Other (Please specify) d. Co-requisites: None. e. Repeat status: Course may not be repeated. Course may be repeated to a maximum of hours or times. f. Degree, college, major(s), level, or class: N/A g. Degree, college, major(s), level, or class to be excluded from the course, if any: N/A 9. Special course attributes: Writing-centered 10. Grading methods (check all that apply): Standard letter C/NC Audit ABC/NC ( Standard letter i.e., ABCDF--is assumed to be the default grading method unless the course description indicates otherwise.) 11. Instructional delivery method: lecture lab lecture/lab combined independent study/research internship performance practicum or clinical study abroad other

PART TWO: ASSURANCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 1. List the student learning objectives of this course: a. Use professional language for discussing editing and conventions of grammar, punctuation, and spelling; b. Copyedit effectively for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and consistency; c. Edit documents globally for organization, content, style, and document design; d. Demonstrate ability to adapt documents to specific rhetorical situations; e. Demonstrate effective strategies for collaborating with writers, colleagues, and clients; f. Show understanding of the production process and technologies used in editing and production. 2. Identify the assignments/activities the instructor will use to determine how well students attained the learning objectives: a. Use professional language: midterm and final exam, editing letters directed toward writers, in-class discussion; b. Copyedit effectively: graded assignments, midterm and final exam, in-class and homework exercises; c. Edit documents globally: graded assignments, client-based project; d. Adapt documents to rhetorical situation: graded assignments, client-based project; e. Demonstrate effective strategies for collaborating: client-based project; graded group and individual assignments, in-class exercises and discussion; f. Show understanding of the production process: brief reports related to interviews with editors and visit to regional publishing house, graded assignments using editing software 3. Explain how the instructor will determine students grades for the course: Homework and in-class exercises 10% Copyediting assignments 15% Copyediting exam 10% Comprehensive editing assignments 15% Information design projects 10% Client-based project proposal 5% Client-based project progress report 5% Client-based project editing/report 15% Client-based project presentation 5% Final exam 10% 4. For technology-delivered and other nontraditional-delivered courses/sections, address the following: N/A 5. For courses numbered 4750-4999, specify additional or more stringent requirements for students enrolling for graduate credit. These include: a. course objectives In addition to objectives (a) to (f) (under 2.1 above), students enrolling for graduate credit will also have the following learning objective: (g) Demonstrate knowledge of theories and issues in the field of editing. b. projects that require application and analysis of the course content 2

In addition to completing assignments/activities listed in items (a) to (f) (under 2.2 above), students enrolling for graduate credit will also complete research reports using academic and professional sources, and participate in editing listserves. This additional work will help graduate students achieve objective (g) demonstrate knowledge of theories and issues in the field of editing. c. separate methods of evaluation for undergraduate and graduate students. As mentioned in 5b, additional assignments will be required of graduate students (research reports using academic and professional sources, participation in professional listserves). In addition, in the copyediting and style units, graduate students will be asked to edit longer documents with more difficult issues of consistency and style than undergraduates. Graduate students will be asked to edit data sets involving complex number editing. Graduate students must find a client-based project that involves editing a document of 30 or more pages (e.g., a manual). 6. If applicable, indicate whether this course is writing-active, writing-intensive, or writing-centered, and describe how the course satisfies the criteria for the type of writing course identified. (See Appendix *.) Writing-centered. Consistent with the department s other professional writing courses, the process of writing and all its stages are the primary focus of this course, and the quality of students writing is the principal determinant of the course grade. PART III: OUTLINE OF THE COURSE Provide a week-by-week outline of the course s content. Specify units of time (e.g., for a 3-0-3 course, 45 fifty-minute class periods over 15 weeks) for each major topic in the outline. Provide clear and sufficient details about content and procedures so that possible questions of overlap with other courses can be addressed. For technology-delivered or other nontraditional-delivered courses/sections, explain how the course content units are sufficiently equivalent to the traditional on-campus semester hour units of time described above. The class meets for 15 weeks for three 50-minute classes/week or two 75-minute classes/week. Sample Course Outline Week 1: Introduction to Professional Editing Types of editing jobs Stages of the publication and production process Introduction to editor s audiences : writers, users, clients, and publishers Differences between editing and proofreading Activities Interview professional editors Visit regional publishing house Weeks 2-5: Mark-up and Copyediting Mark-up symbols in paper editing Software for electronic editing Editing for consistency 3

Editing for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and numeric information Activities Analyze field-specific style manuals Develop style guides Complete in-class and homework copyediting exercises and assignments Take copyediting exam Weeks 6-10: Global Editing Editing for style Editing for organization Information design Strategies for communicating with writers Strategies for adapting to user s needs/usability testing Activities: Complete in-class and homework style editing exercises Complete comprehensive editing assignments Design text and data to meet users needs Create and carry out a usability test Weeks 11-15: Client-based Project Project management Strategies for communicating with clients and publishers Comprehensive editing and copyediting for a specific rhetorical situation Activities: Write proposal Write progress report Edit project to client s specifications Give oral presentation PART IV: PURPOSE AND NEED 1. Explain the department s rationale for developing and proposing the course. The course provides advanced students in Professional Writing with field-specific theory and practice in the area of professional editing, practiced by almost all professional writers, whether or not they work primarily as editors. The course helps students develop an understanding of the different relationships they may have to texts, writers, publishers, users, and readers. 2. Justify the level of the course and any course prerequisites, co-requisites, or registration restrictions. Level of course: We propose that this course be placed at the Junior, Senior, Graduate level for two reasons: (1) professional editing is designed for those students who have already completed course work in professional writing and are now ready to apply that knowledge to the specific area of editing; (2) offering this course at the 4765 level allows us to meet, with a single course, the needs of both our undergraduate Professional Writing minor and our graduate concentration in Composition/Rhetoric and Professional Writing. 4

Course prerequisites: The prerequisite of ENG 2760 (Introduction to Professional Writing), ENG 3005 (Technical Communication), or ENG 4760 (Special in Professional Writing) ensures that students will have a grounding in the concepts necessary to edit effectively. English 4765 would assume that students already have an understanding of concepts and genres important to effective professional writing. 3. If the course is similar to an existing course or courses, justify its development and offering. a. If the contents substantially duplicate those of an existing course, the new proposal should be discussed with the appropriate chairpersons, deans, or curriculum committees and their responses noted in the proposal. ENG 4765 does not duplicate any existing course in the English Department. By title alone ( Professional Editing ), ENG 4765 appears similar to JOU 2901 (Introduction to Copy Editing) and JOU 3800 (Advanced Editing); however, ENG 4765 differs markedly from these courses in content, scope, and focus. Whereas the journalism courses focus on editing skills, practices, and software associated with the publishing trade, ENG 4765 has a complementary but larger scope of acquainting students with professional editing in corporate, government, or non-profit organizations. ENG 4765 focuses on editing issues of content, organization, style, grammar, punctuation, and spelling, which will help students learn discipline-specific language used in English Studies and Professional Writing. The English Department also plans to use ENG 4765 as a replacement for JOU 3302 as a core requirement for its Professional Writing Minor, a revision encouraged by both departments. 4. Impact on Program(s): a. For undergraduate programs, specify whether this course will be required for a major or minor or used as an approved elective. This course will be required for the Professional Writing minor and will be an approved elective (Group 5) for the English major. b. For graduate programs, specify whether this course will be a core requirement for all candidates in a degree or certificate program or an approved elective. This course will be an approved elective for the graduate concentration in Composition/Rhetoric and Professional Writing. c. If the proposed course changes a major, minor, or certificate program in or outside of the department, you must submit a separate proposal requesting that change along with the course proposal. Provide a copy of the existing program in the current catalog with the requested changes noted. See attached sheet outlining the proposed changes to the Professional Writing minor and the current requirements. 5

PART V: IMPLEMENTATION Eastern Illinois University Course Proposal Format 1. Faculty member(s) to whom the course may be assigned: English 4765 may be initially assigned to the following faculty: Terri Fredrick, Angela Vietto, Letitia Moffitt, Tim Taylor 2. Additional costs to students: 3. Text and supplementary materials to be used (Include publication dates): Sample texts: Rude, Carolyn. Technical Editing. 4 th edition. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2006. Chicago Manual of Style. 15 th edition. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Good quality dictionary PART VI: COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRANSFER N/A PART VII: APPROVALS Date approved by the department or school: April 23, 2007 Date approved by the college curriculum committee: Sept. 26, 2007 Date approved by the Honors Council (if this is an honors course): Date approved by CAA: CGS: *In writing-active courses, frequent, brief writing activities and assignments are required. Such activities -- some of which are to be graded might include five-minute in-class writing assignments, journal keeping, lab reports, essay examinations, short papers, longer papers, or a variety of other writing-to-learn activities of the instructor's invention. Writing assignments and activities in writing-active courses are designed primarily to assist students in mastering course content, secondarily to strengthen students' writing skills. In writing-intensive courses, several writing assignments and writing activities are required. These assignments and activities, which are to be spread over the course of the semester, serve the dual purpose of strengthening writing skills and deepening understanding of course content. At least one writing assignment is to be revised by the student after it has been read and commented on by the instructor. In writing-intensive courses, students writing should constitute no less than 35% of the final course grade. In writing-centered courses (English 1001G, English 1002G, and their honors equivalents), students learn the principles and the process of writing in all of its stages, from inception to completion. The quality of students' writing is the principal determinant of the course grade. The minimum writing requirement is 20 pages (5,000 words). 6