Spradley 1
Syllabus for ENG/COM 2433 - Editing
University of Texas at San Antonio
Fall 2008
Wes Spradley - Instructor
My Office - HSS 4.03.06 (Writing Program office - HSS 4.03.02)Office phone - 458-5390 (Writing Program phone - 458-5363)
Office hours - 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and 3:15 p.m.-4:15 p.m. TTh and other by appointment
E-mail -
Web page -
Course Description
Principles and applications of production editing and technical editing, including evaluation and revision of style, tone, and organization of documents. Practice in the use of editing symbols and copy marking.
Course Objectives
Editing is concerned primarily with perfecting skills in grammar, mechanics, usage, etc. However, the multifaceted nature of editing has expanded. In this class, we will attend to the traditional skills as well as edit on and offline, examine ethics and legalities, evaluate graphics and photographs. It is also my desire that our course strengthen your commitment to life-long learning, and lastly, it is my hope that the course will be enjoyable.
Course Requirements (Assignments will be posted on the Calendar page in WebCT.)
Homework - 45%
Quizzes - 10%
Midterm - 15%
Group Oral Presentation - 10%
Final - 20%
Important Guidelines to Get the Most out of Your Experience in this Course –
Classroom Courtesy -
1. Assume personal responsibility for your education.
2. Bring your textbook(s) to class (whichever one(s) we will be working from), which, of course, assumes that you have bought your textbooks. Either come to class with your textbooks, or drop the class.
3. Bring your brain to class. If your mind is elsewhere, take your body to wherever your mind is. The mere presence of a body does not count as being present. (If you sleep in class, you may be counted as absent.)
4. Be on time to each class.
5. Do not carry on private conversations in class.
6. Do not study for other courses in this class. If you have misused your time so that you need this hour to study, do so somewhere else.
7. Turn off your cell phones during class.
Attendance Policy - The above guidelines for classroom etiquette assume that you will be in class. For this course, three absences will not affect your grade (these would be like personal days at work), but the fourth absence will drop your final grade five (5) points. With every additional absence, your final grade will drop another five points. There is no distinction between excused and unexcused absences.
Scholastic Integrity (Academic Honesty) - The university and I expect every student to maintain a high standard of individual integrity for work done. Scholastic dishonesty is a serious offense which “includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test or other class work, plagiarism (the appropriation of another’s work in one’s own written work offered for credit), and collusion (the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing course work offered for credit)” (SH 10th ed. 24). In cases of scholastic dishonesty, university policy requires that the faculty member responsible for the class initiate disciplinary proceedings against the student. Such discipline can result in a student being dismissed from the university.
Disabilities - To receive support services, students with disabilities must register with Disability Services (MS 2.03.18; 458-4157-voice; 458-4981-TTY).
Conferences - Finally, any time you feel the need to discuss your writing or have questions about the class, feel free to drop by during office hours (I schedule office hours specifically for you), schedule a conference, or drop me an email.
Course Texts
Required Texts
Rew, Lois Johnson. Editing for Writers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Exercises in Editing. New York: Pearson Custom Editing.
Recommended Text
Lunsford, Andrea A. The St. Martin’s Handbook. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2008.
Course Schedule
Week 1
1. Thurs, Aug 28 - Introduction to the Course
Week 2
2. Tues, Sept 2 –Diagnostic - Bring a scantron #882-E to class.
Unit I - Sentence-Level Editing
3. Thurs, Sept 4-Sentence-Level Editing; the Editing Marks (Chap. 5)
Week 3
4. Tues, Sept 9 - Proofreading & the Style Sheet (Chaps. 6 & 7)
5. Thurs, Sept 11 - The Little Stuff - Caps, Spelling, Numbers (Chap 8)
Week 4
7. Tues, Sept 16 - Review of Basic Grammar I (Chap 9)
8. Thurs, Sept 18 - Review of Basic Grammar II (Chap 9 cont’d)
Week 5
9. Tues, Sept 23 - Punctuating Sentence Types - Compound Sentences (Chap 10)
10. Thurs, Sept 25-Punctuating Sentence Types - Complex Sentences (Chap 10 cont’d)
Week 6
11. Tues, Sept 30 - Abbreviations and Acronyms; Apostrophes and Colons (Chap 11)
12. Thurs, Oct 2 - Commas and Hyphens (and other punctuation marks sometimes associated with commas); Quotation marks and ellipses (Chap 11 cont’d)
Week 7
13. Tues, Oct 7 - Word Choice I (Chap 12)
14. Thurs, Oct 9 - Word Choice II (Chap 12)
Week 8
15. Tues, Oct 14 - Building Effective Sentences I (Chap 13)
16. Thurs, Oct 16-Building Effective Sentences II (Chap 13 cont’d)
Group Study Day for Oral Presentations
Week 9
17. Tues, Oct 21 - Building Effective Sentences III (Chap 13 cont’d)
18. Thurs, Oct 23 - Midterm
Week 10
17. Tues, Oct 28 - Group Study Day for Oral Presentations
Unit II - Document-Level Editing
18. Thurs, Oct 30 - Developmental and Organizational Editing I (Chap 14)
Week 11
19. Tues, Oct 30 - Developmental and Organizational Editing II (Chap 14)
20. Thurs, Nov 1 - Graphics editing (Chap 15)
Week 12
23. Tues, Nov 6 - Document Design and Access Aids (Chap 16 & 17)
24. Thurs, Nov 8 - Diagnostic II
Week 13
25. Tues, Nov 13 - International and Intercultural Issues (Chap 19)
26. Thurs, Nov 15 - What is editing? (Chaps. 1 & 2)
Week 14
27. Tues, Nov 20 - Group Oral Presentations
28. Thurs, Nov 22 - Thanksgiving Holiday
Week 15
29. Tues, Nov 27 - Group Oral Presentations
30. Thurs, Nov 29 - Last Day of Class
Week 16 -
31. Tues, Dec 4 - Student Study Day
Dec 5-11 - Final Exams