The intended audience for this course is primarily technical editors who are new to the field and students who are considering entering the field. Seasoned technical editors who need a refresher or who never formally studied this topic may also benefit from this course. We are tech support for the writers-whoever they may be. And we are the users’ final advocates before they encounter the documentation. Attendees will examine conventional levels of editing, and introduce a simple tool that can help identify the scope of work in an editing cycle. Technical Editing Foundations begins 12 July and runs through 16 August at 10:00-11:00 AM EDT (GMT-4).
Attendees will learn:
- The “hard skills” and “soft skills” that technical editors should possess.
- To recognize bloated sentences and eliminate the fat.
- To identify passive voice and convert it to active voice.
- How to identify standard and departmental style guides.
- How to markup text using proofreader marks.
About the Instructor:
Li-At Rathbun has over 20 years of technical communication experience. For the last ten of those years, she’s worked primarily as the technical editor in a Docs department that ballooned from 15 writers to 26. She has continuously served in various STC leadership positions since her very first meeting. She’s currently the Technical Editing SIG co-manager, Santa Barbara chapter president, and Surveys Lead for the CAC (Community Affairs Committee).
Need to earn CEUs toward your CPTC currency? STC’s Technical Editing Foundations online course provides 6 CEUs toward the Certification program. This online course falls under these two categories within the 9 Core Skills Areas:
Written Communication
- Explain the guidelines for writing plain sentences and paragraphs.
- Explain when and how to use plain and persuasive styles.
- Explain rhetorical moves for writing content for introductions, body sections, and conclusions.
- Discuss the writing guidelines for social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and other electronic media.
Reviewing and Editing
- Describe the levels of editing and how they are applied to technical documents.
- Describe the different types of usability testing in the review process.
- Recall common proofreading practices.
