Editing for Publication is a course designed to help you enter the world of editing as that world is experienced by editors of books, academic journals, and other non-journalistic periodicals. It begins with the question "What is an editor?" and moves through the editorial process from the call for papers to the review and selection process to the preparation of manuscripts for production. This course does not deal with the actual production process, which is a complex undertaking that would carry us through another whole semester.

As a means of engaging you all in the editing process, we will be responsible for the Writers' Network Quills and Pixels editing, beginning with a number of decisions regarding our deadline, our call for papers, and the release party/reading for last year's Quills & Pixels. As the semester progresses, each of us will be responsible for particular aspects of the process and for producing quality products for inclusion in the final publication. Each of us will also be responsible for keeping careful records of interaction with writers and their texts so the production staff can reconstruct our work in enough detail to make the issue as easy and as excellent as possible during production.

In addition to Quills and Pixels, we will study the editorial process in detail, generate case studies using materials from actual publications, and hear from editors (I hope!) who deal with a variety of publications in a variety of settings, academic and non academic. Each member of the class will be responsible for all activities pertaining to Quills and Pixels, including keeping a detailed journal, and for producing one detailed case study. I will provide materials for these case studies. In addition, graduate students will produce an annotated bibliography of at least 10 items pertinent to editing for publication. These items may include articles, books, web sites, interviews, and/or other sources of useful information. All materials for the course will be compiled into a carefully edited portfolio due at the end of the course with a cover letter assessing the importance and value of each part. Final grades for the course will be based on the effectiveness of each member's work on Quills and Pixels and on the quality of the work included in each portfolio. Each part of the course will count roughly the same, though it is possible to do such good work in one area that it will overshadow others and vice versa.

You will receive editorial credit in the front of Quills and Pixels as the members of previous classes have. This publication should go into your professional portfolio. As staff members, you may not submit essays for the issue. While staff have published in past issues, having as much as half the work in an issue coming from the people who edited the issue is very sketchy. The staff last year chose not to submit, and that made our work much, much easier and less political. So I have made this a policy.

Be aware that attendance is crucial to success in this course. If you are not here, you will not succeed because your absence means someone else will have to do your work that day. In editing, this is simply unacceptable because the editor has to do the work or it does not get done in time to meet the deadline. Not meeting the deadline means the publications does not get out the door, and that is a failure no editor can survive. So plan to be here every time with your current work in hand.

I acknowledge and support fully UALR's policies regarding students with documented disabilities and will accommodate those students in whatever way is necessary to help them succeed in this course. If you are a student with a documented disability, please talk with me as soon as possible so we can make the necessary arrangements.

Should we encounter bad weather this semester, we will not meet if the Little Rock School District cancels classes.

Work and Reading Schedule

Our work schedule will be determined largely by the number of submissions we receive and by the level of editing those submissions require. Depending upon the work needed to produce that collection, our focus could shift significantly. We will read selections from Sharpe and Gunther's Editing Fact and Fiction (available in the bookstore) and Gross's Editors on Editing (I'll provide a copy for the reserve section in the library), and other pieces as needed. I will also provide samples of editing from my own work as an editor, as well as the materials you will need to complete the case studies.