Editing Skills

Editing is much more than spell-checking. It is a specialised area of writing which involves liaising with writers and publishers to ensure all sorts of documents are as good as they can be before they are published. Whilst it is said that the sign of a good editor is one whose work goes unnoticed, those who reach this level of expertise are very much noticed by others. Anyone with superlative editing skills is sought after.   

Editing is a process which involves a number of steps from securing the work, checking manuscripts and contents, copy or subediting, and ultimately proofreading. The complexity of what is involved varies with the type of work, the length of manuscript and the duration or time-frame allocated. Whether you are just editing a website blog page or a technical report the better the understanding you have of editing, the better the job you’ll be able to do. Take this short course to enhance your editing skills and learn more about what is involved in becoming a top editor.

What is covered in this course?

HOW TO WORK THROUGH THIS COURSE

LESSON 1 HOW MUCH EDITING?
Introduction
Finding a Balance and Setting Priorities
Why Are You Editing?
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Editing Fiction
Editing Non-fiction
Personality Traits of Editors
What do you need to be a good editor?
Dysfunctional Editors
Functional Editors
Editing Traps
Review what you have been learning

LESSON 2 STAGES OF EDITING
Introduction
Editing Steps
Step 1 - Securing the Document
Step 2 - Be clear about what you need to do
Step 3 - Plan
Step 4 - General Editing
Step 5 - Copy Editing
Step 6 - Illustrations
Step 7 - Styling
Example of a Simple Style Guide
Step 8 - Proofreading
Step-By-Step 
Review what you have been learning

LESSON 3 TYPES OF EDITING
What Are Your Editing Criteria?
Improving Content 
Aim for Originality
Maintain Interest
Keep it Current
Make Sure It’s Complete
Improving Readability 
Clarity
Accuracy
Tone and Style
Impact 
Grammar
Spelling
Consistency 
Spelling and Grammar isn’t Constant!
Editing a newsletter
Editing a blog
Editing a print magazine or newspaper
Editing a sales catalogue
Editing a brochure
Editing a fiction book
Editing a non fiction text book
Editing research papers and journal articles
Conclusion 
Review what you have been learning

LESSON 4 TOOLS AND LANGUAGE
Editing and Proofreading Symbols
Examples of Proofreading Symbols
Proofreading Tips
IT Tools
Spellcheckers
Autocorrect
Find and Replace
Track Changes
Editing Images 
Plagiarism 
Review what you have been learning

LESSON 5 INTERPERSONAL SKILLS FOR EDITORS
Communication
Listening and Talking
Written Communication
Advanced Written Communication
Structure
Style
Content
How Editors Communicate
When and Where Editors Work
Review what you have been learning

LESSON 6 FINDING WORK AND SELLING YOURSELF
Editing Today
How to Sell Yourself
Freelancing
Setting Up Your Own Website
Resources
Final Thoughts
Review what you have been learning
Final Assessment

 Features:

• Enrol any time of day or night.
• Start studying immediately or later (as you wish).
• Configure your study sessions at any length and frequency you wish.
• Work through at your own pace.
• Automated self assessment tests pop up at the end of each lesson. You can attempt these as many times as you wish; and each time, upon completion, you can see your results. You will need internet access to complete the self assessment tests.
• At the end of the whole course, you are presented with a major automated examination which can be attempted online, anywhere, anytime.
• If you achieve a 60% pass in the exam; you immediately receive a downloadable certificate of completion with your name on it.

• Help desk -email anytime- emails answered every workday admin@acsedu.co.uk