Course Description
Students will learn about the publishing industry--including its
structure and economics--and will practice some of the varied
tasks performed by editors, from copy-editing and critique to
thinking about larger issues such as audiences, markets, formats,
and media.
Athena Title
Editing and Publishing
Prerequisite
ENGL 3540 or (two 2000-level ENGL courses) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- Students will learn about the history, structure, and economics of publishing, including its relationships to technology as well as the challenges and opportunities of publishing in the twenty-first century.
- Students will gain an understanding of the roles of different participants in the publishing industry, especially the types of work done by various kinds of editors.
- Students will sharpen their practical skills at copyediting and proofreading as well as learning the basics of other production-related tasks such as layout or markup.
- Students will develop their abilities to think critically, argue persuasively, write incisively, and respond cogently to the ideas and the writing of others.
Topical Outline
- Many students of English are interested in careers in editing, publishing, and writing. This course is meant to introduce them to publishing and to the work of editors, while offering a structural and practical approach to the work of writing and the production of books, textual content, and literature. Assignments and course structure will vary according to the instructor, but a typical version of the course might include the following units:
- The history of publishing in America
- Presses large and small; commercial and noncommercial; corporate, independent, and academic
- What is an editor? Tasks that editors perform
- Copyediting and proofreading: problems, practices, conventions
- Editing old texts and new ones
- Authorship and copyright
- Words and images
- Formats, genres, platforms
- Markets and audiences: more books, fewer readers?
- Technology, e-books, e-publishing, self-publishing, subscription models
- Books and publishing in the twenty-first century
- Where do we go from here? Career pathways in editing and publishing
