Introduction to Copyediting

The core job of editing is copyediting: correcting text for errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and consistency. In this intensive workshop, you will learn to define the scope of copyediting, detect and correct common writing errors, use standard rules of punctuation, and apply a consistent editorial style. In addition, you will learn seven specific ways to make writing more clear and concise. 

Introduction

• Overview of the publishing process
  
• Substantive Editing versus Copyediting
  
• Level of authority
  
• Skills required
  
• Standard copyediting marks
  
• Tools of the trade for copyeditors
  

Getting the Words Right

• Recognizing "suspicious" words and letter combinations
  
• British versus American spellings
  
• Confusing words
  
• Hyphenation
  

Getting the Punctuation Right

• Punctuation for sentence structure: periods, commas, semicolons, colons, dashes
  
• Finer points of punctuation: apostrophes, quotation marks, parentheses, hyphens
  

Getting the Grammar Right

• Parallelism
  
• Misplaced and dangling modifiers
  
• Verb agreement
  
• Verb tense and mood
  
• Pronoun case
  
• Pronoun agreement
  
• Changes of person
  

Making the Text Consistent

• Applying an editorial style consistently
  
• Writing Style
  
• Seven ways to make writing clearer and more concise 
  

Schedule

This two-day intensive workshop offers 12 hours of instruction.