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COURSE SYLLABUS

Term: Fall '16

Course: EWPC 410 -- EDITING

Course Information:

Course Time: Wednesday, 7pm to 10pm

Course Description: This course introduces students to the principles and practical applications of copy marking, copyediting, and comprehensive editing. Students will work with professional writing from several fields: technology, business, and science, as well as literary texts and texts intended for academic publication. The course is focused on practical, skill-building exercises and assignments in editing. Students gain hands-on experience working on publications at CCSJ, including brochures, web-based texts, and the student literary magazine, Against the Grain. Learning Outcomes/ Competencies: Students will: Upon completing this class students will: • Understand the role of professional editors and the evolution of that role in relation to evolving markets and technologies, • Recognize, identify and correct common stylistic, usage, and grammatical errors at the sentence level • Employ common tools of the editor’s trade: copyediting symbols, style guides, specialized dictionaries, and common spelling and grammar checking software, • Evaluate and edit whole texts with an eye on correctness, accuracy, style, and clarity, • Evaluate and edit texts with an understanding of a variety of editorial roles and perspectives (medical, technical, financial, copy, literary, etc.) Classroom: (tba)

Prerequisites: EWPC 325, 335, and 340 Required Books and Materials:

--All students are required to buy the AP Stylebook, though the edition is up to you. The 2016 edition costs about $25. The 2009 edition costs $1.98. Either one will work. --Most texts and exercises will be administered through Blackboard or handed out in class. --We'll also do a big bag of editing and grammar exercises through the IXL software package.

Learning Strategies: This is an experiential course. We learn by doing. A lot of the doing will be homework and exercises, but some of the doing will be real-live editing and writing, for the CCSJ website, for The Shavings, and for Against the Grain. Experiential Learning Opportunities: Our class will create and edit a full-length edition of the school's literary magazine, Agains t the Grain .

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Instructor Information:

Instructor Name Prof. Robinson

Office Number: 176

Email: krobinson@ccsj.edu Hours Available: tba Instructor Background: I've been a writer, an editor, and a professor for longer than some of you have been alive. My first "editing" job was as a technical writer for Lucent Technologies (AT&T) in about 1996. I've been the managing editor of a long-running literary magazine (ACM), and I was the lead editor on Psychiatric Nursing Made Incredibly Easy. I've been a professor here since 2009. Before that, I was at UIC and OSU. I was the lead editor on about ten other medical texts, but that one is the funnest to say. I've got four kids. I drive a minivan. Assessments:

Major Assignments: Homework and Exercises: 40% Editing quizzes: 15% Lit Mag Project (or) Shavings Project: 15% Editing Tests (3): 30%

Student Responsibilities

Class Policy on Attendance: This section of Engl 410 is a process-based class. As such, actual and literal attendance is required. When you are attending to other things (your cell phone, your hovercraft), you are not attending the class, even if your body is in the room. In accordance with English program policy, any student missing more than NINE (9) hours of class will receive an F. These nine hours include both excused and unexcused absences. Please be aware that these hours include any and all time taken off for illness, work, sports events, and personal / family celebrations. If a problem arises with your absences, please come and talk to me immediately. Class Policies on Technology and Courtesy: The classroom is a community. Please silence all cell phones and doohickeys for the full duration of each class so as not to disrupt the community. (See “Attendance,” above.) If you will need to communicate with the world outside our classroom, (e.g. illness at home, work situation, the bowling team is at nationals again), and you must use electronic devices for non-academic purposes during class, please speak to me about it before the class meets, and set your device to vibrate. I recognize that we live in a digital age, and I will often provide a “text-break” or a “facebook” break or just an old-fashioned break in the middle of class. Also, technology is a medium for language, our field of study, and we'll sometimes your phones in class to assist our study. But, if your attention to whatzits distracts my attention, I will count you absent for that particular class and discredit you for the work of the day. The point of all of the above is not to find ways to dock you points. The devices and behaviors listed here distract me, which costs us class time, and in turn costs other students who are paying lots of money and attention for opportunities to learn. And of course ANY behaviors (distracting chatter, frequently leaving the room, setting small fires in the corner, etc.) that distract other students from the business at hand can’t be tolerated in this setting. So, anyone doing that kind of thing might be asked to leave, possibly without warning. Class Policy on Late Work: All homework projects are due at the beginning of class on the due date. For paper homework, a hard copy of the assignment will be collected. Any writing projects collected after that (again, hard copy only) will be assessed a penalty of 25% per day. I will only make exceptions to this policy in cases of documented emergencies.

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Blackboard assignments have digitally posted dates and deadlines, and it's quite easy to see what is early, what is on time and what is late. Late work for Blackboard will receive zero credit. IXL assignments have to be completed before the designated class period to be counted for credit. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that pencils break, computers crash, and flash drives malfunction -- it happens to all o f us! -- but these are not emergency reasons for late work. They just happen. Save and backup often. Class Policy on Quizzes: Here's the deal on quizzes and daily assignments; when you miss them, you miss them. They can't be "made up" later. They are meant to be real time assessments and reinforcements of what we are doing in class at the time, and it makes no sense to administer them at other times, in other ways. So, you get a lot of them, and each is a low-stakes assessment, centered around our course material, with the intention of preparing you for exams and reinforcing your knowledge. Missing one or two shouldn't hurt your grade at all, if you are up to speed on everything else. Three more notes on quizzes: 1) they are worth more as the semester goes on, so if you have trouble early on, you aren't punished for it. Later, as you get better and work harder, you are rewarded with quizzes that are worth more. 2) At any time, you can get over 100% on a quiz by going beyond the subjective expectations listed elsewhere in the syllabus. These will be marked "commendable," and can help you make up for poor scores elsewhere. 3) Also, I drop the two lowest quizzes at the end of the term when I figure out your semester grade. By "lowest," I mean the two that hurt your overall quiz grade the most. Doing your own work: If you turn in work that is not your own, you are subject to judicial review, and these procedures can be found in the College Catalog and the Student Planner. The maximum penalty for any form of academic dishonesty is dismissal from the College. Using standard citation guidelines, such as MLA or APA format, to document sources avoids plagiarism. The Library has reference copies of each of these manuals, and there are brief checklists in your Student Handbook and Planner. What to do if you unexpectedly miss class: First off, here's what you don't do; don't write me a note asking "Did I miss anything?," because of course you did. And while you might want to know "what did I miss?," and I will certainly want to tell you, it's impossible. It took an hour and a half for that course session to happen, in class. I won't be able to capture it in an e-mail. So, come in to talk with me during my scheduled office hours (see above), and we'll go over it. Or, schedule an appointment at a time other than my office hours. I'll find some availability, because I'm seeimingly always on campus. I'll enjoy the conversation, and you probably will, too. What to do when you know at l eas t 36 hours in advance that you will miss class: If you've got a collegiate game, or a court date, or a wedding or funeral, you'll know well in advance. If you let me know in advance, we usually can arrange an alternative assignment or due-date for you. I'm happy to try to accommodate these situations, but I don't make promises, and I can only consider it with at least 36 hours of notice. Any alternative will be on terms I designate. It will require dialog. Remember, there are no "make-up" quizzes, but there can be some alternatives ... IF they are arranged 36 hours in advance. Reaching me Online or Outside of Class: I'm in my office a lot, and -- while I won't usually take your work via e-mail -- I'll be very happy to discuss it with you via e-mail. In fact, I'll answer any questions about the course (or anything else, really) via e-mail, usually within 10 to 15 hours. When you write me, make sure you include your name, and specifics about the course you are in. It's a very small school, but I still have at least 100 students each term. I also strongly recommend that you stop by my office hours as well. Office hours are a great place to talk through questions or problems. If you are coming in during scheduled office hours ... just come in. You don't need an appointment. CCSJ Policy on Withdrawing from Class After the last day established for class changes has passed (see the College calendar), you may withdraw from a course by following the policy outlined in the CCSJ Course Catalog.

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Student Resources Student Success Center:

The Student Success Center provides faculty tutors at all levels to help you master specific subjects and develop effective learning skills. It is open to all students at no charge. You can contact the Student Success Center at 219 473-4287 or stop by the Library.

Disability Services:

Disability Services strives to meet the needs of all students by providing academic services in accordance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. If you believe that you need a “reasonable accommodation” because of a disability, contact the Disability Services Coordinator at 219-473-4349.

CCSJ Alerts:

Required: Calumet College of St. Joseph’s emergency communications system will tell you about emergencies, weather-related closings, or other incidents via text, email, or voice messages. Please sign up for this important service annually on the College’s website at: http://www.ccsj.edu/alerts/index.html. In addition, you can check other media for important information, such as school closings: Internet: http://www.ccsj.edu Radio: WAKE – 1500 AM, WGN – 720 AM, WIJE – 105.5 FM, WLS – 890 AM, WZVN – 107.1 FM, WBBM NEWS RADIO 78 TV Channels: 2, 5, 7, 9, 32

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Daily Schedule: Each week we will have an editing quiz, an "error of the day" from published works, and will pay attention to one particular branch of editing a particular element of grammar. We will also briefly review the homework exercises for the day, and spend substantial time on our reading assignments. The schedule below notes where we will vary from these regular activities. Your progress on many skills will be tracked via IXL, our virtual workbook. Any part of our daily schedule may change at my discretion, and with little notice, based on your individual progress and on our progress as a class. On several occasions we will have a "virtual guest" via Facetime. These people are professional editors or interact regularly with professional editors. 9/7: Editing pre-test; The major roles of an editor; A glimpse at editing in several fields; Intro to Copyediting and copyeditors marks; Wordiness and Simplicity for next time: IXL: Sentences, Fragments, Run-Ons, and commonly misused words. (10: I.1-3, J.1-4, U 1-8) READ: John McPhee "Draft #4" and "How Copyediting Has to Change" 9/14: 30 Years of Evolution in AP Style; How to Use a Style Guide; Reuters Style Guide (and other more prominent and less prominent guides and manuals of style) for next time: IXL: Sentence Types; Clauses; Clean, Concise Sentences (10. L.1-2, S.1-9) READ: Raymond Carver (Two Stories) 9/21: A look at literary editing; The Carver/Lish Editorial Relationship; In-Class Guest, Philip Brooks (Brooks was a fiction writer under Gordon Lish's tutelage) for next time: IXL: General to Specific, Commonly Misused Words, Suggesting Revisions (11.A.1-4, F.1-8,G.1) READ: John McPhee "What to Leave Out" 9/28: Review for Editing Test #1, Begin Shavings Projects, Review trouble areas in IXL for next time: IXL: Punctuation (11. H. 1-5, I. 1-2, J. 1-4, K.1-2, M. 1-2 ) PRACTICE: IXL Trouble Areas 10/5: Editing Test #1; Begin Agains t the Grain project and CCSJ website project For next time: IXL: Sentences, phrases and clauses (11. P. 1-4, R. 1-2, S. 1-3) READ: Assigned Literary Magazines WRITE: Brief Review of Format, Design, and Editorial Approach 10/12: Review Editing Test #1; Peer Editing Workshop; Review: Rhetorical Appeals For next time: IXL: Clear, Concise Sentences and Rhetorical Appeals (11.W1-8, 12.C1-6) READ: Rejection Letters from the files of Knopf 10/19: Shifting Content from Audience to Audience A closer look at Medical Editing (guest, Meg Robison, Chief Operating Officer, Signa Medical Writing) For next time: IXL: Planning and Organizing Writing (12. A. 1-4, B. 1-6, G.1) Read: "The Middle of Things," Andrew Solomon

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10/26: A closer look at Financial Writing and Editing (guest, Tracy Ruciski, Financial and Legal Writer, Reuters); Updates, Website, Agains t the Grain , The Shavings For next time: IXL: Commonly Misused Words (12. E. 1-6, F.1-8) Read: John McPhee "Structure" 11/2: Review for Editing Test #2, In-Class Practice Exam and Review For next time: IXL: Punctuation (12. H.1-5, I.1-2, J.1-4, K.1-2, M.1-2, N.1) 11/9: Editing Test #2 For next time: IXL: Sentences, Phrases, Clauses (12. 0. 1-3, P. 1-4, R. 1-2) READ: John McPhee, "Oranges" 11/16: Against the Grain, Shavings, and CCSJ Website Workday; Guest Ethan Machado, Content Strategist, Digitas Media For next time: IXL: Clear Concise Sentences and Trouble Areas (12. W. 1-8, Others as needed) 11/23 No Class Session, Turn in Against the Grain, Shavings, and CCSJ Website Projects For next time: IXL: Trouble Areas Only 11/30 Editing for Television: Guests, Dan O'dair (Editor/Writer, Last Comic Standing, Sweetie Pie, Scrubbing In) and Ryan Leamy (Editor/Writer, The Amazing Race) For next time: IXL: Trouble Areas Only, with an eye on the Final Exam 12/7: Review for Final Exam (Editing Test #3) For next time: IXL: Trouble Areas Only, with an eye on the Final Exam 12/14: FINAL EXAM (Editing Test #3)

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Emergency Procedures MEDICAL EMERGENCY

EMERGENCY ACTION

1. Call 911 and report incident. 2. Do not move the patient unless safety dictates. 3. Have someone direct emergency personnel to patient. 4. If trained: Use pressure to stop bleeding. 5. Provide basic life support as needed.

FIRE

EMERGENCY ACTION

1. Pull alarm (located by EXIT doors). 2. Leave the building. 3. Call 911 from a safe distance, and give the following information: • Location of the fire within the building. • A description of the fire and how it started (if known)

BUILDING EVACUATION 1. All building evacuations will occur when an alarm sounds and/or upon notification by security/safety

personnel. DO NOT ACTIVATE ALARM IN THE EVENT OF A BOMB THREAT. 2. If necessary or if directed to do so by a designated emergency official, activate the building alarm. 3. When the building evacuation alarm is activated during an emergency, leave by the nearest marked exit and

alert others to do the same. 4. Assist the disabled in exiting the building! Remember that the elevators are reserved for persons who are

disabled. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS IN CASE OF FIRE. DO NOT PANIC. 5. Once outside, proceed to a clear area that is at least 500 feet away from the building. Keep streets, fire lanes,

hydrant areas and walkways clear for emergency vehicles and personnel. The assembly point is the sidewalk in front of the college on New York Avenue.

6. DO NOT RETURN to the evacuated building unless told to do so by College official or emergency responders.

IF YOU HAVE A DISABILITY AND ARE UNABLE TO EVACUATE: Stay calm, and take steps to protect yourself. If there is a working telephone, call 911 and tell the emergency dispatcher where you are or where you will be moving. If you must move,

1. Move to an exterior enclosed stairwell. 2. Request persons exiting by way of the stairway to notify the Fire Department of your location. 3. As soon as practical, move onto the stairway and await emergency personnel. 4. Prepare for emergencies by learning the locations of exit corridors and enclosed stairwells. Inform professors,

and/or classmates of best methods of assistance during an emergency.

HAZARDOUS MATERIAL SPILL/RELEASE

EMERGENCY ACTION

1. Call 911 and report incident. 2. Secure the area. 3. Assist the injured. 4. Evacuate if necessary.

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TORNADO

EMERGENCY ACTION

1. Avoid automobiles and open areas. 2. Move to a basement or corridor. 3. Stay away from windows. 4. Do not call 911 unless you require emergency assistance.

SHELTER IN PLACE

EMERGENCY ACTION

1. Stay inside a building. 2. Seek inside shelter if outside. 3. Seal off openings to your room if possible. 4. Remain in place until you are told that it is safe to leave.

BOMB THREATS

EMERGENCY ACTION

1. Call 911 and report incident. 2. If a suspicious object is observed (e.g. a bag or package left unattended): • Don’t touch it! • Evacuate the area.

TERRORISM AND ACTIVE SHOOTER SITUATIONS

1. Call 911 and report intruder.

RUN, HIDE OR FIGHT TIPS: 1. Prepare – frequent training drills to prepare the most effectively. 2. Run and take others with you – learn to stay in groups if possible. 3. Leave the cellphone. 4. Can’t run? Hide – lock the door and lock or block the door to prevent the shooter from coming inside the

room. 5. Silence your cellphone -- use landline phone line. 6. Why the landline? It allows emergency responders to know your physical location. 7. Fight – learn to “fight for your life” by utilizing everything you can use as a weapon. 8. Forget about getting shot – fight! You want to buy time to distract the shooter to allow time for emergency

responders to arrive. 9. Aim high – attack the shooter in the upper half of the body: the face, hands, shoulder, neck. 10. Fight as a group – the more people come together, the better the chance to take down the shooter. 11. Whatever you do, do something – “react immediately” is the better option to reduce traumatic incidents.