Copyediting II

In Copyediting II you will practice judicious and defensible editing so you can master how to thrive as a copyeditor (or copy editor) in the modern-day workplace. This class will acquaint you with a medium edit, one of the three levels of copyediting covered in the program, and prepare you for Copyediting III. It will give you a solid grounding in fostering healthy author-editor relationships, recognizing bias in language, mastering common editorial practices, and addressing subjective writing errors.

Copyediting II is focused not only on acquainting you with the purpose of a medium edit, but also conducting a medium edit. You will study parallelism and sentence structure, learn to use style guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style, and address editing for concision.

This course will also introduce you to the professional art of querying so you can practice communicating with the author through sensitive and appropriate copyediting inquiries. It will provide you with opportunities to practice maintaining the author’s voice and meaning, while correcting subjective errors that result in convoluted writing.

Furthermore, you will explore copyediting as a business venture, as well as how to freelance copyedit— and best practices associated with both. Finally, you’ll learn why the human element is important in the copyediting process, and how to use AI responsibly.

Copyediting I is a prerequisite for this ten-week online course.
 

What You Will Learn:

• Gain additional practice with style sheets and electronic editing.
• Delve deeper into The Chicago Manual of Style, editing for standardized content style.
• Explore varying editorial best practices.
• Perform a medium edit—revising and improving those language elements identified in class.
• Find answers to usage questions in The Chicago Manual of Style.
• Use professional queries to provide feedback to authors.
• Nominalizations and tackling wordiness.
• Apply bias-free language usage.
• Demonstrate the essentials of web editing.
• Discuss the business of copyediting, including freelance editing. 
• Learn how to use AI responsibly.

Required Textbooks:

• The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications, 4th Edition by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz 
  ISBN: 9780520286726
• The Copyeditor’s Workbook by Erika Buky, Marilyn Schwartz, and Amy Einsohn
  ISBN: 9780520294356
• Online subscription to The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
• Free online Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Quarters Offered: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall | 10 weeks | Online
Prerequisite: Grammar Lab (WCWP-40234) & Copyediting I (WCWP-40236). You may enroll in a future section of Copyediting II while currently taking Copyediting I. Passing grades of prerequisites will be verified before the quarter begins.
Requirements: Microsoft Word 2016/Office 365 (PC or Mac) or higher required. Access to a printer and scanner or scanning app required.
Next class: To continue progress in the Copyediting Certificate, the next class is Copyediting III.
Note: Fulfills 3 units toward requirements for the Copyediting Certificate. This online course is not self-paced. There are assignments and readings with weekly due dates. Please purchase textbooks before class begins.