The University Press of North Georgia is proud to be a teaching press and is committed to providing NGCSU college students with real-life instructions and internship experience in a variety of different arenas of publishing. One of the ways this is accomplished is through the “Intro to Publishing” class offered by the English Department and taught by Dr. Bonnie Robinson, UPNG Director.
The students will cover three different types of editing: developmental editing, copyediting, and and proofreading. This week, the students are focusing on copyediting. Copyediting involves things such as: editing for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mechanics of style; creating a style sheet to follow for matters of hyphenation, font, capitalization, and spelling that may differ according to region; checking for internal consistency in regard to facts; and checking or altering the system of citations. This process is tedious, as the students in “Intro to Publishing” are discovering this week. About the exercise, Sofia Bork writes:
Our class is required to turn in two copyediting exercises for a grade. The process of copyediting is essential to the publishing market as a whole, because mistakes in any field, especially that of the publishing world can be costly. Copyeditors have a serious job in the publishing field, because they see a plethora of manuscripts on a daily basis.
The way I will use my copyediting skills is obvious in the publishing field, because I want to eventually work as an editor for a large publishing company. To achieve this goal, I will have to start on an entry-level position as a copyeditor or a proofreader. It is important for me to learn how to copyedit perfectly, so that I can stand out to my employers and move up the corporate ladder. Also, if an editor sees that a copyeditor is particularly thorough with their work, then their work is highly valued and their opinions on a manuscript garner more weight.
What skills are required to make you stand out in your field? How do they compare to copyediting?