Line Editing and Copy Editing
A line editor works with prose: style, voice, accuracy. A copy editor works with text: grammar, punctuation, formatting.
Line Editing
Trade essays. Read through your partner’s piece with a pen in hand. Look for moments where you feel that:
- The writer’s voice seems uncertain. This might have to do with phrasing, or emphasis, or you might just want to mark a stretch where you fazed out a bit as a reader, lost your engagement with what was being said.
- The argumentative or narrative flow of the piece is disrupted. Are there sentences or ¶s that don’t seem to connect well with the rest of the piece, or that go over what has been said before?
- You’re not sure where the writer’s information is coming from. Play fact-checker. Does the author offer evidence (from other texts or from her experiences) for what she has to say?
Copy Editing
Trade essays with someone else. Read this new piece, this time as a copy editor, marking anything that looks or sounds off to you—anything, that is, that the author might want to double-check. You do not have to correct mistakes or problems; you just need to note them. Look for:
- Paratext: Name, date, title, sections and subheads, running head with page numbers
- Spelling
- Punctuation
- Omitted or repeated words
If you’re unsure about something, ask me. When you get your piece back, read through it carefully and ask your editors if you don’t understand a problem they’ve noted.
Hermit Crab Essays
- Brenda Miller, The Shared Space Between Reader and Writer (2015)
- Kim Adrian, ed., The Shell Game (2018)
Fastwrite: Write a brief, “reused” rejection letter.
To Do
- Wed, 4/10, 10:00 am: Post your final version of Essay One to your individual folder on Google Drive.
- Thurs, 4/11, class: Read Chapter 6, Constructive Construction, of Goldberg’s Inside Story (pp. 157–91). Think about the Experiment in NonFiction Form you plan to write for X4.
- Mon, 4/15, 10:00 am: Post X4 to your individual folder on Google Drive.
English 306: Creative Nonfiction 