Copy-editing and proofreading by John Linnegar 24 April - 15 May
Copy-editing and proofreading by John Linnegar
Dates: 24 April to 15 May( Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00
Course fee: R6 500 full fee: Staff and students: R6 000: Professional Editors Guild members R6 000
Maximum: 30 participants
Platform: MS Teams
This is a virtual webinar-based introduction to Copy editing and proofreading. It is designed to provide participants with the essential fundamentals for editing the manuscripts of books, journals, magazines and reports and to proofread laid-out pages with both competence and confidence. It will equip you with a range of knowledge and skills that will enable them to improve a variety of aspects of texts to render them publication-worthy. It is also designed to equip newcomers to enter the world of publishing; or, if you are already in publishing, it will equip you with formal knowledge and skills where perhaps you have hitherto acquired them only informally or partially. Completing this course has already helped some employees move from the periphery into editorial positions. The course also prepares trainees for the various editing and proofreading tests that some publishers set for aspirant freelancers or employees. It is strongly suggested that participants who complete this course and the post-training assignment gain some experience in putting their learning into practice before proceeding to the Advanced copy editing and proofreading course. Doing so will enable them to derive maximum benefit from the Advanced course, thanks to their actually having engaged with the problems and errors that arise in manuscripts (or Word documents onscreen).
This course will also enable editors to set and apply a uniform standard of proofreading at the various stages of proofs when proofreading themselves on either hard copy or onscreen using Adobe Acrobat Reader to mark up corrections on proofs.
The course consists of six three-hour sessions with appropriate exercises issued to the participants as preparation for each session.
Session 1 What is proofreading? What are the differences between proofreading and copy-editing? Explain certain conventions and marks’.
Introduce some basic BSI proof correction marks. Illustrate different facets of proofreading.
Session 2 Introduce the remaining BSI proof correction marks. Illustrate different facets of proofreading. Stages of proofreading Introduce aspects of copy editing, house style and author queries. Proofreading and editing in the publishing process.
Session 3 Copy-edit a text plus raise author queries and list house style decisions. Distinguish between house style and writing style.
Structural and content problems. Problems with sentences; word choice; punctuation. Recap editing versus proofreading. Introduce CCC Model & macro editing and detecting errors systematically.
Session 4 Editing an article destined for an international audience on a website. Identify gaps and unevenness in a manuscript.
Guidelines on organising information following simple organising principles. Removing bias and achieving gender neutrality in texts.
Raising awareness of a variety of errors authors can commit in a text (muddled thinking and unclear, ambiguous writing; mother-tongue interference); clichés, tautology, mixed metaphors, generalisations, inconsistencies; verbosity.
Session 5 House style: why editors and proofreaders need it; how to apply it throughout a manuscript. House style: conventions for using numbers. House style: em-rules, en-rules, hyphens. House style: con-ventions for capital letters. House style: conventions for italics.
Session 6 A survey of correct and consistent punctuation usage. Further explanations of punctuation usage. Identify and correct gram-mar errors. Defining versus non-defining clauses. Active versus passive voice. Lists: three styles. Closure and summing up.
Next steps: joining PEG, mentorship, gaining experience and work; bridging the gap between training and paid work by making contact with work opportunities
Optional recommended reading
R Allen How to write Better English (2005)
GV Carey Mind the Stop: A Brief Guide to Punctuation (1983)
M Cutts Oxford Guide to Plain English (2013)
A Einsohn & M Schultz The Copyeditor’s Handbook 4 ed (2019)
BA Garner Garner’s Modern English Usage (2016)
J Kahn (ed) The Right Word at the Right Time (1985)
J Linnegar & K McGillivray Grammar, Punctuation and All That Jazz … (2019)
J Linnegar & K McGillivray Writing & Editing Academic Texts: Towards Clear, Concise and Coherent Texts (2024)
N Lukeman The Art of Punctuation (2007)
J Mackenzie The Editor’s Companion (2011)
New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide (2014)
New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (2014)
E Partridge Usage and Abusage (1999)
K Van de Poel, WAM Carstens & J Linnegar Text Editing: A Handbook for Students and Practitioners (2022)
B Yagoda When You catch an Adjective, kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better or Worse (2007)
John Linnegar has been an improver of writers’ words for more than four decades, having specialised in the academic articles, textbooks, theses and dissertations of authors across the globe. He also taught academic writing skills to doctoral students at the University of Antwerp for several years. And he continues to edit articles and text-books for academic journal and book publishers in South Africa and Europe. He has been training individuals in copy-editing and proof-reading skills since 1999.