Technical Editing is a course in editing and designing documents. Students learn to proofread, copy edit, and work as comprehensive editors in teams as authors, developmental editors, and co-workers. In other words, they learn to become editors in the fullest sense, following a document from inception to completion. The process of professional editing is viewed through a critical rhetorical perspective, i.e., students learn how textual elements work together to meet audience needs and to accomplish authors purposes. The course involves the development of communicative competence in written and oral discourse.
Students read about document production and editing issues from textbooks and professional articles.
They analyze and critique documents provided by the instructor, as well as gather documents on their own. Students analyze, interpret, and evaluate the effectiveness of written and visual elements in a series of increasingly challenging assignments both oral and written. In addition, the course is a practical, hands-on course that allows ample opportunity to develop good communication skills and editing techniques. The skills students develop in this course will help them become professional communicators and editors in a variety of business and technical applications.