Date: Wednesday 24 September 2014
Time: 09:45-17:15 h
Location: Park Plaza Hotel, Utrecht
Cost: €170 for members; €190 for non-members. Costs include buffet lunch, coffee/tea, and drinks afterwards in the lobby.

Registration
Registration is now closed. To be placed on a cancellation list, please contact Curtis Barrett.

Attendance list (visible to members only)

PE points: If you would like to receive PE points for this workshop, please bring your Bureau Btv registration number to the workshop. If enough people indicate they wish to be eligible for PE points, we will apply for them. The programme supports 6 PE points.

If you have any further questions, please contact Maartje Gorte

The Elements of Professional Language Editing

Most language editors did not set out to become professional editors. Many started out in another area of expertise — science, law, theatre — or have a background in language, literature or possibly translation.

If this is you, how do you find out what editing is all about? How do you master what is needed to deliver high-quality editing? How do you communicate the value of your work? You’ve probably found dictionaries, grammar books and style guides aplenty. But books and training on editing are rare.

This full-day workshop will answer such questions as:

• What is editing?
• What should I watch out for as a professional editor?
• How far should I go when editing?
• Is it possible to go too far when editing?
• How can I handle obstacles to effective written communication?
• How can I show potential clients that I am more than a glorified spell checker?
• How can I educate clients and thereby add value to my work?

We’ll look at more than 30 elements of English editing, richly illustrated and summarized in the Editor’s Checklist.

We’ll also consider an important aspect of the professional editor’s work: communicating with clients.

• How do I describe what I do?
• How do I explain changes to clients?
• How do I show the added value of my work?

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience and extensive reading, Lee Ann Weeks has developed an intensive hands-on course to help you improve your editing skills. She’ll give an overview of the ins and outs of language editing, review the major stumbling blocks to effective written communication and show you how to remedy these problems in both complicated scientific text and simpler text. The day will be chock-full of illustrative material and hands-on revision exercises covering the text, paragraph and sentence levels of editing. You’ll also be given ample time to discuss your revisions and various editing rules of thumb with Lee Ann and each other.

If you’re just starting out, this workshop and the materials Lee Ann provides will give you a boost on your journey to becoming a professional language editor. If you have abundant editing experience, Lee Ann’s systematic and thorough approach will give you new tips, tricks and techniques to help you become a top editor.

About Lee Ann Weeks

Lee Ann Weeks is an American-born editor, translator and trainer with a background in psychology and linguistics. She is based in the Netherlands and has been a researcher in both the USA and Europe (the latter at the German Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics). She is specialised in the formulation of clear research reporting and dedicated to showing authors how to do this. To meet the professional development needs of English language editors, she recently published (together with Ann Bless) The Elements of English Editing: A Guideline to Clear Writing.