Public Workshops

Client Site Training

One-to-One Tutoring

Custom Course Development

Instructor Bios

Copyediting for Technical Documentation

Date(s): Feb. 11 | Apr. 20
Instructor(s): Deborah Sauer
Duration/Time: One-day; 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Register Now

Description
This workshop is a hands-on review of what it means to be a professional technical editor. This workshop is for technical writers and editors who want to sharpen their editing skills. The course covers a range of best-practice copyediting techniques with an emphasis on improving your competence, speed, and confidence in reviewing technical manuscripts. Topics include a review of the technical writer as editor, editorial rules and style guides, copyediting techniques and proofreading symbols, types and levels of editing, the writer-editor review process, and online versus paper editing. Included are refresher-to-intensive copyediting exercises, a quick reference on editorial tips, and grammar and effective writing checklists.


Prerequisites:
The course assumes that participants have at least two years of technical writing/editing experience and are generally familiar with: Common editorial rules and in-house style guides, general copyediting techniques and proofreading symbols, types and levels of editing, editing and rewriting, and the writer/editor review process.


Topics Include:

 
  • Lesson 1: Role of the Technical Editor
    • The role of the Editor
    • Effective writing checklist
    • Definition of editorial terms
    • Editing procedures and tips
    • Editing principles

  • Lesson 2: Marking copy using proofreaders' marks
    • Proofreaders' marks
    • Exercise: practice marking copy

  • Lesson 3: Copyediting: Three groups of changes
    • Three groups of changes

  • Lesson 4: Group 1 – 'Down-and-Out' Wrong
    • Exercise: spelling
    • Why punctuation matters
    • Punctuation rules
    • Exercise: punctuation
    • Dangling and misplaced modifiers
    • Exercise: Dangling and misplaced modifiers
    • Guidelines on pronoun/antecedent agreement
    • Subject/verb agreement
    • Exercise: Subject/verb agreement
    • Parts of speech
    • Parts of sentences
    • Restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses
    • Exercise: Restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses
    • Who/Whom
    • Exercise: Who/Whom
    • Hyphenation
    • Exercise: Hyphenation

  • Lesson 5: Group 2 – Editorial Consistency
    • Consistency of style
    • Sample style sheet
    • Exercise: Editorial consistency

  • Lesson 6: Group 3 – Editorial enhancements/improvements
    • Using sensitive language
    • Exercise: using sensitive language
    • Repeating over and over, not only stating, but restating the obvious
    • Exercise: redundancy
    • Smothered verbs and other words
    • Exercise: Smothered verbs
    • To be or not to be – active and passive voice
    • Exercise: Passive voice
    • Exercise: Active and Passive voice
    • What's wrong with this picture? Parallelism
    • Exercise: parallelism

  • Lesson 7: Practice copyediting
    • Exercise: practice copyediting

  • Lesson 8: Levels of editing
    • Assessing needs and determining levels of edit
    • Factors influencing edit time
    • Guidelines for time estimates
    • Developing and using a checklist
    • Needs and levels of edit, again

  • Lesson 9: Practice assessing and copyediting

Reserve Your Seat Today! Bring a Colleague and Save!
Complete the form below to register for the Copyediting for Technical Documentation workshop at
nSight's Burlington office. Save up to 30% by bringing a colleague or friend with you! Ten days prior to the scheduled workshop date, we'll send you an email with a link to pay for the workshop via PayPal®/credit card.

First name:
Last name:
Title:
Company:
Phone:
Email:
Street:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Date:
# Registrants:
Name, Title, Email of
Additional Registrant(s):

(leave blank if just you)


Go to the top of the page.



Download nSight's Public Workshop Calendar




© 1982 - 2009 nSight, Inc. All rights reserved.  |  Home  |  Search  |  Site Map  |  WordsWise Newsletter  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Use  |  Contact Us