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Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies, Unit Catalogue 2011/12


PL50582: Editing & revision

Click here for further information Credits: 12
Click here for further information Level: Masters UG & PG (FHEQ level 7)
Click here for further information Period: Academic Year
Click here for further information Assessment: CW 60%, EX 40%
Click here for further information Supplementary Assessment: Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Click here for further information Requisites:
Click here for further information Description: Aims:
This unit is designed to equip students with the full range of skills and techniques in editing and revision that are required to embark on a career as a professional linguist in this specialised field. The aim is to maximise each student's potential so that as many as possible of the group achieve the standard necessary for professional work.

Learning Outcomes:
After completing the unit, students will have assimilated all the principles and techniques of this area of professional work. They will therefore be able to tackle a wide range of editing and revising assignments with confidence and success.
In this respect, they will have developed an expertise that enables them to work independently to produce entirely accurate and coherent finished texts in English that represent an improvement of the original versions.
Students will also have gained a comprehensive understanding of the role of the editor/reviser in the process of generating a document for a particular client or end-user. They will thus be able to deal competently with all stages of this process, from liaising with the original author through to publication.

Skills:
The main intellectual skill developed in this unit is the ability to make the kind of linguistic judgements that will produce a satisfactory end product for the client. By applying this in practice, students are able to build up the skills required for professional work.
Editing and revising are exercises in communication that involve transferable key skills such as written expression, self-direction and an awareness of one's own performance.
These skills are developed gradually through classwork, practice and constructive feedback, and can be deployed when performance is assessed through realistic editing and revision assignments.

Content:

* Students will first be introduced to the concept of language benchmarking, and encouraged to develop their own hierarchies of reference materials. The practical processes involved in the generation of multilingual documents will be explained and discussed.
* After an introduction to the basic skills and techniques involved in this exercise, they will move on to more complex and sophisticated materials. These will be genuine documents, for the most part provided by the language services of international organisations.
* Particular emphasis will be placed on the editing of English texts produced by non-native speakers, and on working with texts that will subsequently be translated into other languages.
* In the latter stages of the syllabus, students will consider issues of content/substance as well as language, of the kind they are likely to encounter in professional work.
* In particular, students will work through scenarios in which they have to collaborate with the original author to ensure that the text produced accurately reflects that person�s intentions.
Click here for further informationProgramme availability:

PL50582 is Compulsory on the following programmes:

Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (French) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (French & German) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (French & Italian) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (French & Russian) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (French & Spanish) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (German) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (German & Spanish) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (Italian & Spanish) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (Russian & German) (Full-time)
  • THPL-AFM10 : MA Translation and Professional Language Skills (Spanish) (Full-time)

NB. Programmes and units are subject to change at any time, in accordance with normal University procedures.