Advanced Self-Editing

The subject aims to improve students’ ability to edit their written texts in order to produce grammatically accurate and stylistically appropriate texts for professional purposes. The subject begins with a review of the most frequent errors in the writing of students who speak English as a Second Language, including errors in morphology, syntax, cohesion, and punctuation, and then considers the impact that such errors may have on meaning. In the second half of the subject, students engage in linguistic analysis of a range of work-related texts (e.g., email communication, job application letters). The aim of this analysis is to identify the most salient grammatical and stylistic features that contribute to the clarity of the texts. Throughout the subject students will engage in identifying areas of concern in their writing (annotation), self and peer editing exercises, keeping logs of their progress, and using available online grammar resources.