Debra L. Thornton, Ph.D.
email: thorntde@uvsc.edu
office: LA 126c
office hours: 11:30-1:00 T TH, and by appointment
phone: 863-8573

English 2050

Editing

The course is designed to give students a solid background in manuscript editing. As such, it has several components: a grammar, usage, a hands-on lab experience in document design and layout, and a real-world experience in producing a text. We’ll explore the layers of text, learning to strengthen overall organization of a text, its paragraphs, sentences, and words. We’ll learn that punctuation matters. We’ll learn some of the basic typesetting conventions. All of the material in the class is geared to produce in you marketable skills.

Texts

Course work

Assignments vary from exercises to hands-on projects which will become press-ready documents in your capable hands. The standard punctuation and grammar projects will comprise the majority of assignments early in the semester. A usage unit will follow. After the grammar and usage dust clears, you decide on individual and group production projects.

Course format

The course will be a bit of lecture and a lot of discussion. Therefore, your attendance and participation are necessary. So is your reading the assignments and being prepared to discuss the readings of the day. For every three absences, your final grade will drop half a step. If you know you are going to be absent, you are responsible for finding out what happened in class. Missed quizzes cannot be made up.

Final exam

The final exam will be given on Thursday, 18 December at 1:00 p.m. in the classroom.

NO EARLY FINALS CAN BE GIVEN.

Grades

I follow the standard scale:

You should be familiar with your rights and responsibilities, as they are outlined in the UVSC catalog. Policies of particular interest to you include the following statements.

UVSC Disability policy: “Utah Valley State College is committed to the goals and ideals of the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990). UVSC will take all steps necessary to assure full implementation of these goals and ideals. It is the intent of the following to assure compliance with this commitment” ( http://www.uvsc.edu/info/policy/admin/A-9_2.htm). This course will run in harmony with the dictates of the disability policy.

quoth the catalog regarding cheating: ( http://www.uvsc.edu/info/policy/stud/E-6_2.htm):

D. Each student is expected to maintain academic ethics and honesty in all its forms, including but not limited to, cheating and plagiarism as defined hereafter:

1. Cheating is the act of using or attempting to use or providing others with unauthorized information, materials or study aids in academic work. Cheating includes, but is not limited to passing examination answers to or taking examinations for someone else, or preparing or copying other’s academic work.

Plagiarism is the act of appropriating any other person’s or group’s ideas or work (written, computerized, artistic, etc.) or portions thereof and passing them off as the product of one’s own work in any academic exercise or activity.

Tentative schedule follows. All changes, be they logical or whimsical on my part, will be announced in class well in advance (at least one day) of the due dates; you will be responsible for them even if you are not present in class when changes occur.

Please note that the lab fee you paid is a standard fee for using materials in this computer classroom, and it covers printing costs, etc., for your work herein.

Tentative Schedule