Introduction to Abstracting and Copyediting

This class meets in GCB 2021 MWF at 0900

Tentative Syllabus for Fall Semester 2001
 

Date	Topic	Reading	Remarks/Assignments
#1 Aug. 15-17	Introduction & Overview
#2 Aug. 20-22-24	Introduction to Writing Abstracts	CP 2-9	Writing Assignment #1 (Abstract) due  8/20
#3 Aug. 27-29-31 #4 Sept. 3-5-7	Introduction to Editing	CP 10-21; TE Ch 1	No Class on Sept. 3rd (State Holiday) Writing Assignment#2 (New Kid on the Block) due 9/10
#5 Sept. 10-12-14	Copymarking	CP 23-27; TE 4	Worksheets #1-4; Application #1 ( #4.1 Nitrogen Dioxide) due 9/17
#6 Sept. 17-19-21	Readers & Documents	TE 2
#7 Sept. 24-26-28	Basic Copyediting	CP 28-35; TE 7 & 8	Worksheet #5
#8 Oct. 1-3-5	Mechanics of Copyediting	CP 37-42; TE 9; WW Appendixes A & B	Worksheets #6-7; Application #2 (#7.1 Environmental Impact Statement) due 10/8
#9 Oct. 8-10-12	Grammar & Usage	CP 44-59; TE 10; WW Ch 1-5	54 A.D. and All That Stuff; Worksheet #8
#10 Oct. 15-17-19 #11 Oct. 22-24-26 #12 Oct. 29-31 & Nov. 2	Punctuation	CP 61-79; TE 11; WW  Ch 6	No Class Oct. 15th--(Fall  Break Day!) Worksheet #9; Application #3 (#9.1 Urban Planning) due 10/29;Application #4 (9.2 Monoclonal Antibodies) due 11/5
#13 Nov. 5-7-9	Editing Quantitative Material	CP 81-85; TE 12	(Early Registration for Spring 2001 runs all week) Worksheet #10
#14 Nov. 12-14-16 #15 Nov. 19-21-23	Proofreading	CP 87-94; TE 13	Worksheet 11; Take-Home Worksheet (Ten Tips...) due 11/19 Take-Home Final due 12/5 No Class on Nov. 21-23 (State Holiday)
#16 Nov. 26-28-30	Introduction to Advanced Editing	CP 96-104; TE 3, 5 & 6	Take-Home Final (#11.1 The Human Genome Project) due 12/5
#17 Dec. 3-5	Review	None	Take-Home Final due 12/5
Dec. 13th (Thursday)	Final Exam		1100-1300 (11:00-1:00 p.m.)

Brooks, Brian S., James L. Pinson, and Jean Gaddy-Wilson. Working with Words: A Concise Handbook for Media Writers and Editors. 4th ed. St. Martin's, 2000.

CoursePak English 3870: Introduction to Abstracting and Copyediting. Spring 2001.

Rude, Carolyn D. Technical Editing. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2001.

• General Remarks
• Format Standards
• Late Assignments
• Submitting Assignments
• Summary of Assignments

General Remarks

Please notice that your fees for this semester include a Computer & Technology Fee, which entitles you to any empty seat at most of the computer labs located around campus. Although some labs are restricted (the BVTE Lab is reserved for BVTE students, the Writing Lab is reserved for freshman composition students, etc.), most students use the lab in Austin.

Also, it's a pretty good idea to keep a backup copy of everything you write. You'll need a 3.5" DS/DD (720 KB) or DS/HD (1.44 MB) "floppy," and these are available at the bookstores.

Format Standards

A professional appearance establishes any writer's credibility and improves reader understanding; thus, all written work submitted for evaluation should follow the criteria below:

• Use 20 lb., white, bond paper (or whatever paper is available for printers in the various campus writing labs)--avoid onion skin or erasable paper.
• Maintain a 1-inch margin (top, bottom, left, and right margins).
• Printed text should be dark and clear but without smears and smudges (if a dot matrix printer is used, make sure to print in the letter-quality mode).

Late Assignments

There aren't any, but if an assignment is submitted after a deadline has passed, 10 points per class meeting will be deducted for the grade awarded.

Submitting Assignments

Assignments are submitted in either of two ways:

• Turning it in at the end of the class when it is due, or
• Delivering to the instructor (or his office) by the end of the day the assignment is due; actually if it's in the box by my door by the beginning of the next class day, that'll be okay, too (but remember that I get here around 7:00 a.m.).

  

Table 2: Grades and What They Mean
Letter Grade	What the Grade Means
A (100 - 90)	Your boss would be impressed and remember you at promotion time.
B (89-80)	Your boss would be satisfied with the job but not over impressed.
C (79-70)	Your boss would be disappointed and ask you to revise before others saw it.
D	(It's either acceptable, or it's not!--if it's acceptable, it's at least a "C"; if it's not, it's an "F".)
F (69-0)	Your boss would start looking for someone to replace you!

Course Description

This course is designed to help students develop skills and techniques for editing material that is technical in nature, especially material that has been written by another author. In order to achieve this, this course stresses copymarking, copyediting, and proofreading. Of course, the mechanics (spelling, abbreviations, and capitalization), grammar and usage, and punctuation are properly emphasized.

Policies

• Attendance
• Participation
• Plagiarism

Attendance

• Missed classes and submitting assignments will be penalized.
• All drafts submitted to the instructor must be printed out (i.e., not handwritten).
• Missing scheduled conferences with the instructor will be penalized.

Although "life's little problems" often come up at the darnednest times, students are expected to be in class on time, every time, for all the time allotted to this course because it is in the classroom that information essential for the successful completion of this course is presented. However, if circumstances require your presence elsewhere, you are still responsible for material presented in class. If you anticipate any absences, please see me before hand.

Students will be rewarded for their studentship, which includes appropriate attendance, active participation, and support for the work of others.
 

 Participation

Class participation is an important element of the learning process, and students are expected to feel free to freely and openly discuss the subject at hand. Since participation demonstrates (at least in part) your preparedness for each class, you are expected to:

• Participate in class discussions and honor the Honor Code (read: Don't Plagiarize!).
• Develop and maintain a sense of professionalism and decorum at all times (by now, students should be serious about developing some degree of professionalism).
• Be honest--don't try to B. S. me (my two sons haven't been out of college that long!).

Plagiarism

Know this: such action violates the university's Honor Code and does a disservice to students who "copy the 'right' solution" from past assignments. Although former students have thought they'd help their friends, they have really harmed them (by robbing students of the opportunity to learn from their mistakes). The "real world" doesn't follow this unethical practice, and if I find that any of my students (either present or former) participate in this form of plagiarism (by either copying a completed assignment of a former students or by providing an assignment for you to copy) both students will be prosecuted to the fullest of my ability. This is not a warning; it's a promise.

Portfolio

On the last day of scheduled class, students are expected to submit the following

• all drafts (assuming their first two writing assignments were submitted after revising one or more drafts),
• all graded material (to ensure the instructor's grade book is correct), and
• any other material the syllabus required to be submitted then.

Packets may be picked up anytime after the start of Labor Day; any packets not picked up by then will be disposed of in an ecologically safe manner #};=).

 

Course Objectives

During this course, students will have the opportunity to:

• Develop an understanding of the editing process and its role in the development, printing, and use of a publication.
• Develop productive attitudes and habits.
• Prepare for their role as a professional and for ongoing learning once this course is completed.
• Copymark documents using established symbols and conventions.
• Learn the function of a document style sheet and how to create and use two types of document style sheets.
• Identify reasons for editorial emendations and edit objectively instead of arbitrarily.
• Increase their mastery of grammar, the mechanics (spelling, abbreviations, and capitalization) of American English, and punctuation.
• Distinguish proofreading from copyediting, and proofread for verbal and visual aspects of a technical document.
• Copyedit reference citations and technical and quantitative material.
• Copyedit visuals.
• Learn more about the resources that are available to editors, including style manuals, professional organizations and periodicals, and publications about writing and editing.
• Learn what an abstract is and how to write one.

Created May 1, 1998  Last Updated September 14, 2001