INFT282I
Copy Editing
2 CREDITS
INSTRUCTOR: Karen Atwood
OFFICE: Canyon 122A
PHONE: 732-6308
EMAIL: katwood@csi.edu
TEXTBOOKS:
DEVELOPING PROOFREADING AND EDITING SKILLS, fifth edition, by Sue C. Camp
REQUIRED MATERIAL:
Zip disk or flash drive
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Students will develop skills in grammer and word usage, punctuation, spelling, style, fact checking,
use of reference books and consistency in format. Students will learn to recognize errors in styles,
formats, facts, grammar, layout, etc. Students will learn the importance of accuracy and consistency
and will complete many exercises and tests to demonstrate knowledge.. Prerequisite: ENGL101, or
consent of instructor.
SPECIFIC COURSE OBJECTIVES:
After completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Define proofreading and editing.
Describe four approaches to proofreading documents.
Identify misstrokes, repetitions, omissions, transposition, and spacing errors in written documents
Proofread names, addresses, telephone numbers, and other numbers.
Use appropriate revision symbols to correct errors.
Apply basic spelling rules to spell words correctly.
Identify and correct errors in using homonyms, false homonyms, and words that may be written as
one word or two words.
8. Use a dictionary, wordbook, reference manual, spell checker, and grammar checker to verify
spelling and to select the appropriate word.
9. Consult a thesaurus to find synonyms and antonyms for vague or overused words.
10. Use appropriate revision symbols to indicate corrections in misspelled or misused words.
11. Apply basic capitalization rules as you proofread.
12. Detect and correct capitalization errors that frequently occur in business writing.
13. Detect and correct capitalization errors in memo and letter formats.
14. Use appropriate revision symbols to indicate capitalization errors.
15. Apply rules for forming plurals and possessives and dividing words as you proofread.
16. Detect and correct errors in plurals, possessives, and word division.
17. Use appropriate revision symbols to correct errors in plurals, possessives, and word division.
18. Apply rules for using commas to separate and set of items.
19. Detect and correct errors in comma usage within sentences and within parts of a letter.
20. Use appropriate revision symbols to correct comma errors.
21. Locate, mark, and correct errors in periods, colons, exclamation points, and dashes.
22. Locate, mark, and correct errors in parenthesis, hyphens, and semicolons.
23. Locate, mark, and correct errors in question marks, quotation marks, and underscores.
24. Recognize and correct errors in subject-verb agreement.
25. Recognize and correct errors in pronoun-antecedent agreement
26. Recognize and correct errors in the use of nominative-case and objective-case pronouns.
27. Recognize and correct errors in the use of who and whom.
28. Recognize complete sentences.
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29. Find and correct sentence fragments.
30. Find and correct run-on sentences and comma splices.
31. Recognize and correct errors in parallel structure.
32. Recognize and correct dangling and misplaced modifiers.
33. Apply basic rules for number style.
34. Proofread to find errors in number style.
35. Use appropriate revision symbols to correct errors in number style.
36. Describe the standard and optional parts of memos and letters.
37. Recognize and explain the differences among five letter formats: block, modified-block,
modified-block with indented paragraphs, simplified, and personal-business style.
38. Use standard and open punctuation styles correctly in letters.
39. Use appropriate revision symbols to correct formatting errors.
40. Detect and correct formatting errors in memo reports.
41. Detect and correct formatting errors in both business and academic formal reports.
42. Detect and correct formatting errors in meeting minutes and manuscripts.
43. Detect errors in special number formats such as percentages, calculations, and measurements.
44. Proofread tables, spreadsheets, and datatbases to ensure accuracy.
45. Proofread specialized forms such as invoices and purchase orders to ensure accuracy.
46. Recognize and correct four types of inconsisitencies frequently found in business documents.
47. Proofread documents to ensure consistency.
48. Use appropriate revision symbols to correct inconsistencies.
49. Edit to use simple words and proper English.
50. Edit to eliminate trite language and minimize the use of passive voice.
51. Edit to avoid wordiness, redundancy, overused words, and too many phrases and clauses.
52. Use software tools to improve readability.
53. Edit to make sure all details are included.
54. Edit documents so that they reflect the you-attitude.
55. Edit documents to achieve a consistent point of view.
56. Edit documents to eliminate biased language and stereotypes.
57. Explain what voice-recognition technology is.
58. Descrive how voice-recognition technology is used to produce written documents.
59. Identify the types of errors not easily recognized by voice-recognition technology.
60. Proofread web sites for accuracy.
61. Proofread forms and documents for proper placement, consistency, and format.
62. Understand the importance of proofreading/copy editing.
63. Proofread from the screen.
POLICY AND PROCEDURES:
Plagiarism and Cheating
Students are expected to be honest in all aspects of their college education. All work is evaluated on
the assumption that the work presented is the student's own. Anything less is unacceptable.
Examples of dishonest practice include but are not limited to:
Cheating - The improper use of books, notes, other students' tests, or other aids during an
examination. It is the responsibility of the student to obtain approval for the use of such aids
prior to the time of the examination; otherwise, they will be considered improper. An
"examination" is defined as "any testing situation in which the score will be used for credit in
a course."
Plagiarism – Submission or presentation of a student assignment as one’s own in which
substantial portions are paraphrased without documentation or are identical to published or
unpublished material from another source (including another student’s work). An assignment
is defined as “any materials submitted or presented by a student for credit in a course.”
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Discovery of plagiarism can result in a failing grade for that assignment. If a student is caught a
second time that student will receive a failing grade for the class.
ATTENDANCE
All of this class is independent and online. Therefore, students will not be meeting in a class setting.
GRADING POLICY:
Please do all assignments and tests in pencil. A combination of quizzes, homework, projects and
tests will be used in the class. Homework, lab exercises and projects will be used as preparation for
testing. At CSI, in the case of a lecture course, it is assumed that there are two hours of homework
required for each hour of class time. Therefore, since this class does not include lecture, but requires
use of blackboard, students should plan on spending at least five-six hours on homework per week.
Students need to maintain the following average for each grade:
90% or better
80-89%
70-79%
60-69%
Below 60%
A
B
C
D
F
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES:
1. Students must enroll in the Blackboard INFT 282I section prior to the second class period.
2. Students must have a valid email address before the second class period. I will assume
that you are going to use the csi email. Sometimes CSI’s network will kick out student emails
if students use hotmail or something like that. Please use the CSI email address so your email
will always get to me. The only thing you must do is check your email WEEKLY to see if
you have received anything from me. I won’t track you down. You MUST CHECK
WEEKLY
3. Assignments are due on at the beginning of the assigned class day. I will NOT remind you
when assignments are due and they will NOT be accepted late.
4. Plagiarism is illegal. The student will be expected to complete his/her own work at all times
unless group projects are being done. Discovery of the contrary will result in a grade of FAIL.
5. Quizzes and tests CANNOT be made up unless emergency reasons have been agreed to by the
instructor.
6. Assignments are due on the due date. IF prior notice is given, makeup time may be arranged.
All arranged makeup assignments must be completed as approved by the instructor.
7. Students will be required to complete specifically assigned proofreading articles which are
worth 5 points each.
OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT:
1. Outcome: Students shall master the course content as defined by course objectives.
Assessment: Students shall complete weekly assignments, projects, and quizzes to reinforce
course concepts and applications. These will serve to validate the mastering of course objectives.
A pre and post test will be administered to all students to validate meeting of course objectives.
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2. Outcome: The instructor will be actively involved with the students to most effectively deliver
the course content.
Assessment: Assessment activities and evaluations will be incorporated to determine the degree to
which students are learning and which instructional resources are most effective for student
mastery. The student pre and post test will be used to demonstrate the effective delivery of course
content.
DISABILITIES:
Any student with a documented disability may be eligible for related accommodations. To determine
eligibility and secure services, students should contact the coordinator of Disability Services at their
first opportunity after registration for a class. Student Disability Services is located on the second
floor of the Taylor Building on the Twin Falls Campus.. 208-732-6250 (voice) or 208-734-9929
(TTY), or email aflannery@csi.edu.
EVALUATIONS
Student evaluations for this class will be available at the end of the class. This evaluation can be
completed at http://evaluation.csi.edu. Students can either email a copy of the verification that you
have filled out this evaluation, or print a copy of the verification and bring it to me. Students
completing this evaluation can receive 10 bonus points by filling out the evaluation and providing the
proof that you have done so. This verification page is displayed after the evaluation is completed and
states that you have completed the evaluation, it does not display any of your responses.
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