PWR 395: Editing and Revising
Course Information: Professor Information:
Credit Hours: 3 Writing Intensive Dr. Bernard Earley
Office:117A Old
Location:
G-17 Old
Texts/ Materials Required:
Joseph Williams Style: 10 Lessons in Clarity and Grace 8th ed.
Richard Lanham Revising Prose 4th ed.
Mark Honegger English Grammar for Writing
On reserve: Karen Gordon The Deluxe Transitive Vampire (Recommended)
Karen Gordon The New Well-Tempered Sentence
Constance Hale Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
A stapler and two computer disks
Catalog Course Description: This is a course designed to provide intensive practice in revising and editing. Students will examine theories of revising and editing; learn and practice the craft of mechanical and stylistic editing of non-fiction prose; and understand the editor’s obligations to readers and clients. In workshops focusing on students’ own writing, the writing of their peers and assigned manuscripts, students will learn strategies for revision, effective editing, and proofreading.
Course attendance policy: The college attendance policy in the College Handbook states "Penalties for excessive absences . . . shall not exceed one-third of a letter grade per class hour of absence" (53). The term "excessive" will begin with the fourth hour of class that a student misses. Students will lose credit to the full extent that college policy permits. Students who come to class unprepared or late for their presentations will be welcome to attend but will be marked absent. So, three absence are permitted, but thereafter, each absence will reduce your average by 1/3 of letter grade, making the “A” grade impossible.
Evaluation of Student
Performance:
1: Your best paper from last year, to edit and revise 20%
2: A prose paper from this semester, something to work on 20%
3: A 500 word definition paper on revising and editing 10%
4: Problem Solving Document: Revision Analysis 15%
5. Tech log synthesis 15%
[papers 1-5 must total 15 pages minimum]
6: Presentation: Williams chapter exercises
7: Presentation: style and grammar monsters
8: Presentation: a section of one of your papers and how you revised [tech log]
9: Real-life editing, in-class editing exercises, lard factoring
10: Peer Evaluations [requirements 5-10 = 20% or 4% each]
Plagiarism: Plagiarism, submitting another person’s work as your own, is punishable as
A serious violation of university code.
Goals/Objectives of the Course:
This diverse set of assignments above will help students understand the various purposes for which language is used. The course also focuses on collaborative learning, writing process, and evaluation of techniques for both published literature and student essays. In other words, student need to learn the difference between, revising, editing, proofreading, re-writing, and polishing. Students needs also to develop the following: a sense of humor, a sense of audience, an ability to revise prose, a discernable style and voice, proofreading skills, narrative lines and predilections of a piece, how to create and change a sentence, knowledge of patterns and shapes of paragraphs and essays, an awareness of personal stylistic and grammatical habits that can be changed. To better meet these objectives, students will engage in computer activities.
Papers: All writing assignments must be typed in 12pt. standard font and double-spaced within standard margins. Pages must be numbered, titles centered, and name, assignment, date, instructor’s name, course and section number entered in the top corner of the first page. Papers must be stapled. Do not submit papers in folders until portfolios are due.
Grades:
A+ 97-100 B+ 80-82
A 93-96 C+ 77-79
A- 90-92 C 73-76
B+ 87-89 C- 70-72
B 83-86 NC no credit E failing
If you are a student with a disability and wish to request accommodations, please contact the Office of Student Disability Services located in B-40 Van Hoesen Hall or call (607) 753-2066 for an appointment. Information regarding your disability will be treated in a confidential manner. Because many accommodations require early planning, requests for accommodations should be made as early as possible.
Assignments:
Papers #1 and #2: Only these two papers are revisable. #1 will be an academic paper
from a previous semester, a paper that will undergo extreme revision.
Paper #2: This paper is basically a narrative essay with a thematic pitch, exploring experience and meaning; it will be revised several times.
Paper #3: This papers will be a definition essay that
concentrates on the meaning of editing and revising. As an academic paper, it
will use reading sources and synthesize the references
Paper #4: Problem Solving Document: Analysis and Revision: Student will find an article or paper that is poorly written, describe a problem (or, more likely, a set of related problems) and take actions to eliminate the problems. This paper will include: (1) a statement about why you selected the paper (not your own); (2) plans for its revision; (3) an account of the actions you take as you change the paper; (4) a comparative evaluation of the final draft compared to the draft with which you began.
Williams Presentation: You will be presenting the exercises from the chapter you have been assigned. Prepare exercises from your assigned Williams’ chapter, reviewing the key concepts in the chapter; use your assigned exercises as examples. Be prepared to answer questions about the chapter and exercises. I will grade your presentation exercises.
Presentation of a grammar monster: For this presentation, whose purpose is to review a grammar problem, prepare an entertaining presentation of the section for which you are responsible. As entertainment, presentations must use figural language to signify the “monster”.
Real-Life Editing/Critiques: We will be editing submissions to the Cortland Writers’ Association magazines along with some other real-life editing experiences to be announced. Written critiques of poetry and short fictions will be drawn from group editing sessions.