Tag: copy editing

Class, Tues, 11/15

Speed Editing

Each of you will be responsible for reading and editing five essays with regard to only one of the following categories. You will have 4 minutes to read each piece.

Format

  • Document: 1.25″ margins, different first page
  • First page: Name, E110, Assignment, Date, sans serif, 1.0 spacing
  • Title: Bold, centered, sans serif
  • Paratext: Subheads, running head, sans serif
  • ¶s: 0.25 or 0.5 indent, 1.5 spacing, 6 points between ¶s, serif
  • BLQs: Indented left and right, 1.0 spacing

Quotations (In-Text)

  • Author identified
  • Page identified
  • Cross-listed in references
  • BLQ for quotations more than one sentence

References (End-of-Text)

  • Author, date, title, place
  • Alphabetical by author
  • Hanging indent, 1.0 spacing, 6 points between items

Project

  • Read the first page (or so). Mark where the author defines their project in writing their essay. Offer any advice you may have about phrasing or placement.

Take-Away

  • Read the last page (or so). Mark where the author states the take-way of the piece. Offer any advice you may have about phrasing or placement.

Sign your name and the category of your work to each piece you edit. Scan your essay once it has been returned to you. If you have any questions, ask your editors about them.

Titles

Read through your essay. Highlight (a) the names of other writers, artists, or works you discuss; (b) words or phrases you take from someone else; and (c) important words or phrases that you bring to the discussion. Then draw on these words to create the following types of titles:

  • Straightforward
  • Allusive
  • Doubled

Acknowledgments

  • In pairs: Here are two acknowledgments written by UD students. Using these two texts as examples of the genre, identify (a) what both writers do [constraints], and (b) what each does differently [options].
  • Fastwrite: Draft a version of the acknowledgments for your essay. The final version of your acknowledgments should appear after your main text and before your list of references.

To Do

  1. Wed, 11/16:I need to cancel my regular office hours tomorrow morning. If you would like to talk with me, please seem me to set up an appointment for later today or Thursday.
  2. Wed, 11/16, 4:00 pm: Email me the final version of your second essay. This essay should be at least 2000 words long, and include a list of references and a note of acknowledgments. Title your document “lastname e2 final”. Good luck!
  3. Thurs, 11/17: Please bring a laptop with you to class.

Class, Tues, 10/11

Essay Two

Project, Materials, Adding to Spelman

Trade drafts with a partner. Read through the essay. When you are done, write the author a note in which you complete the following three sentences:

  • “Your project in this essay is to . . .”
  • “The materials you work with include . . .”
  • “You add to Spelman’s ideas about repair by . . .”

When you have completed your note, go back to the essay and mark those moments in the text where the author (a) articulates her project in the essay, and (b) states what she is adding to Spelman’s ideas. If you can’t identify those moments in the text, point to where you would expect to find them.

Copy Editing (Lite)

Go back through the essay you’re working once more, this time with a pen in your hand. Circle or draw a squiggly line by

  • Typos, misspellings, repeated words, missing words
  • Things that look odd (extra white space, changes in font, ¶s that seem too long, etc.)

Make sure that

  • All quotations have a page reference
  • The titles of books, movies, magazines, and websites are italicized

Formatting

  • Document: 1.25″ margins, different first page
  • Paratext: title info and running head, sans serif
  • ¶s: 0.25 or 0.5 indent, 1.5 spacing, 6 points between ¶s, serif
  • References: alphabetical by author, hanging indent, serif

Writing Geek

Pilcrow
Pilcrow

Pilcrow

¶ (option + 7): Paragraph break (now marked by an indent or extra space between lines). See Wichary, “First In, First Out”.

To Do

Our next class on Thurs, 10/13, will meet in 116A Morris Library. Bring your UD One card so you can get into the library!

  1. Wed, 10/12, 4:00 pm: Email me the final draft of your first essay, saved as a Microsoft Word document. Name your document: <lastname e1.docx>.
  2. Thurs, 10/13, class: Have two good ideas for a “project of repair” that you’d like to write about in your second essay. Be ready to spend time in class locating texts that you might discuss in your writing.