Styling Manuscript Elements
Understanding, mastering, and styling journal manuscript elements to perfection
Who can take this course?
- Copyeditors working on scientific journals
- Freelance copyeditors learning to copyedit academic journals
- Anyone seriously considering a career in academic copyediting
Course overview
Basic details
- 32 video lessons (totaling over 13 hours), accessible 24 × 7 for a period of 4 months
- Approximate study time required: 7–8 weeks to complete the lessons and the practice material
- Explains the basic characteristics of any design element and the main things a copyeditor has to take care of
- Outlines the main tasks of the copyeditor in document styling and a practical method of ensuring quality
- Provides the theoretical background as well as the practical aspects of handling over 25 manuscript elements
- Downloads include
- samples for a visual understanding of the various concepts explained in the course
- sample files with the various elements identified
- files for practice
- copyeditor's checklist template for a journal article
Addresses your needs
- Every one of you—those entering the copyediting profession, freelance as well as full-time editors—can learn from the convenience of your homes
- Self-paced study (any time, weekdays, weekends, with breaks whenever you want)
- Mobile access to course lessons via a dedicated app
- Replay lessons any number of times till the concepts become clear to you
- Interaction with participants and instructor in the form of comments within the course; email support also available
- World-class training at affordable pricing, part-payments also possible
- Provides visual examples of most concepts
- This course has The Art of Copyediting guarantee
Course instructor
- Venkataraman Anantharaman, PhD, is the Founder of The Art of Copyediting
- Has 25 years of editorial experience (22 years in-house), first as a copyeditor and later a manager and director of editorial programs
- Spent almost his entire career training people and evolving his own methods of teaching copyediting over the years
- Was the only Asian speaker at Editing Goes Global, the first international conference for editors, convened by Editors’ Association of Canada (now Editors Canada), Toronto, June 2015
- Is writing a book tentatively titled Principles of Copyediting (currently about 312,500 words)
- Concepts and examples presented in the The Art of Copyediting courses are simply those culled from his book
Why this may be important for you!
- Gives you detailed theoretical and practical aspects of handling over 25 manuscript elements
- Establishes the base for you to understand principles of document styling
- Prescribes methods for ensuring quality and consistency in document styling
- Will make you feel confident about handling journal elements, whatever be the preferred style
Benefits of taking this course
- At the end of the course, you will a clear idea as to what you have to do with every element in a journal manuscript
- You will be able to master document styling—handle any journal, any style, with clarity and confidence
- You will learn some practical aspects of element identification and document styling that may otherwise take years to grasp and comprehend
- You will understand the fascinating variety of complexities that can be associated with an article title page—and why such things must form the basic steps in learning copyediting
The Art of Copyediting guarantee
This course comes with The Art of Copyediting guarantee of satisfaction
- The value of content that you will receive and its practical use in earning will far outweigh the amount you pay for the course
- Brings together the cumulative effect of 25 years of learning and training by the instructor
- The course is completely self-contained; you do not need access to any specific style manual, although you can relate whatever you learn to any manual you may have access to
- You will learn within 8 weeks and bypass the many years of struggle and conscious reading of various books and style manuals to pick up what is presented here
- The course (built from scenarios encountered by copyeditors over 15 years) will answer almost any practical problem you may encounter—or at least empower you with sufficient information to help you solve newer problems
Course Outline
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Preliminaries
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Typography, typesetting, main tasks of copyeditor in document styling, quality assurance
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Document types, publication types, journal section heads
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Journal elements-1
- Article title
- Part-titles, two-part titles, and subtitles
- Possible footnotes to an article title
- Author names: general information, publishing conventions, and style preferences
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Journal elements-2
- Grant information
- What is an affiliation and common errors in affiliations
- Order of components in affiliations
- General guidelines for styling affiliations
- Mechanics of linking author names and affiliations
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Journal elements-3
- Corresponding author
- Disclosures and disclaimers
- Author-related footnotes
- Manuscript acceptance information
- Title-page footnotes: balancing principles and style preferences
- Running heads
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Journal elements-4
- Abstracts: essence, types, independence, guidelines for editing
- Miniabstract
- Keywords
- Nomenclature
- List of abbreviations
- Understanding section heads, practical guidelines for styling
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Journal elements-5
- Callouts: their importance, sequence, implications of renumbering
- Lists: types, typography, case and punctuation, headings in lists
- Handling extracts, introductory quotes, and dialogs
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Journal elements-6
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Notes (footnotes, endnotes)
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Note added in proof
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Appendices: general and exceptional placements, numbering of appendices
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Acknowledgments
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Supplementary material
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Layouts that can vary
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Giving instructions to the typesetter
Course highlights
- Explains document types and publication types and the relationship between the two
- Underlines the need for constant awareness (during copyediting) of the document type, publication type, and journal section to which an article belongs
- Explains the various points to be taken care of in the title
- Discusses subtle points relating to two-part titles, part-titles, and subtitles
- Discusses threadbare the unexplained but most logical order for title-page (TP) footnotes (see next bullet)
- Outlines 21 types of information that can be set as TP footnotes (with live examples for each)
- 9 possible categories of footnotes to the article title
- Affiliations set as footnotes
- 6 types of author-related footnotes
- Correspondence information
- 4 elements that can be set as TP footnotes (Acknowledgments, Abbreviations, Manuscript acceptance information, DOI)
- Explains how many of these elements may be set differently in accordance with style
- Outlines variations in naming conventions across the globe and the approach used in academic publishing for information storage and retrieval
- Defines affiliation in journal work and provides examples of commonly noted errors in affiliations
- Examines the components of affiliations and possible complexities in arranging the components
- Provides practical guidelines for handling author affiliations
- Explains the mechanics of the linking of author names and affiliations (which in turn give rise to various style preferences, many of which are indicated visually as part of downloads)
- Discusses specifics relating to handling of the corresponding author footnote
- Explains the relationship between type of research, author affiliation, and disclosures/disclaimers as well as scenarios where a disclosure may not be necessary
- Outlines six possible categories of author-related footnotes
- Explains the content and purpose of running heads, common running heads, and well as principles of creating short titles from complex ones
- Discusses types of abstracts, typesetting considerations, and practical guidelines for handling abstracts
- Explains the purpose and use of keywords in academic publications
- Discusses handling a nomenclature list and a list of abbreviations—and the subtle differences between them
- Provides practical guidelines for handling section heads as well as possible differences between logical subheads and typographic subheads
- Discusses callouts in detail (importance, things to consider while providing callouts, implications of renumbering display elements in relation to callouts, and page makeup in the absence of callouts)
- Discusses types of lists, list typography, and case and punctuation in lists with and without headings as well as for list items that are a continuation of the introductory line
- Explains principles of handling extracts, with and without attribution, and differentiating them with introductory quotes, and extending the principle to handle dialogs
- Discusses citation of appendices, logical reasons for their general and exceptional placements (positioning), as well as numbering of display elements in appendices
Testimonials
Some comments received on The Art of Copyediting courses
"I recommend this excellent course (Styling Journal Manuscript Elements to Perfection) for multiple reasons. For one, it not only builds a strong theoretical foundation but also teaches one how to apply those principles in real time. The lectures are unhurried, the explanations thorough. Dr Venkat goes over each concept in detail and links it to a real-life scenario, which makes it easier for one to grasp and retain the concept. In addition, he urges one not be to intimidated by complex styling tasks but to handle them using logic (and common sense). This is especially helpful in getting a grip on tricky elements such as abstracts, affiliations and title-page footnotes."
Neetu Ralhan
Freelance Nonfiction Editor
"I can see that you have put enormous time and thought into the training, and everything that you covered in the sample content you shared with me mirrors exactly the type of training we have been doing for editors internally for the past few years. I can see immense value for individuals trying to learn the fundamentals of the trade and for corporates that don't have the capacity to train copyeditors quickly enough after they join."
Jason Pearce
Previously Head of Prepress & Systems, Oxford University Press, London; now President, Strategic Technology, Newgen KnowledgeWorks, Chennai, India
"I find that the writing/editing course offered by Dr Venkataraman Anantharaman . . . bridges a major gap one has to cross ("learning before the job") before venturing on our "learning on the job." This compact and in depth course has two major advantages: It not only helps the learners acquire—and refine—their editing skills, but they're also exposed to the psychology of the writer and the writing process. In terms of editing, the learners are supplied constantly—throughout—with examples and concepts that they may not have understood or even observed earlier, and with immaculate precision and detail. The course clears some "editing myths" through a practical "rule of meaning" approach. So, be ready to understand some important concepts through the "stay hungry, stay foolish" approach. . . There's so much more. . . If you're learning from a Master, you're always much ahead of the others. Dr. Venkat's methodology of "proving that a sentence is wrong before attempting to edit it" is worth knowing simply because of its great practical value for any editor."
Anand Singh
Freelance STM editor
"I attended Dr Venkat’s Basic Course on Writing/Editing (June 2017–January 2018). I have to say the experience was illuminating and humbling: the former because it brought to light errors that are common but usually unrecognized, and the latter because it made me realize that though I am a native English speaker, there were flaws in my grammar. Fortunately, Dr Venkat helped to iron these out. . . Dr Venkat’s delivery in interesting and his passion for the language comes through in each session. He answers questions with precision, clarity and patience. I highly recommend this course as a refresher for all those who have been away from the formal study of English for some time, including those who, like myself, consider themselves pros at the language!"
Neena Thomas
Haryana
"The classes were so well organized into points and each one discussed in detail; using many examples to elucidate each point made it much easier to comprehend the differences between different scenarios; and connecting a rule to other relevant rules was very effective in helping to grasp certain concepts much better than before. . . I enjoyed each session as sentence structure became clearer. Although I should not play favorites, I loved the session on introductory phrases; the ones on the colon, semicolon, and dashes come next. Of course, I would feel guilty if I do not mention the one on prepositions or the explanation about appositives. But then, each session had something new to be learned."
Chandra Karthik
Freelance STEM copyeditor
Purchase the course
Pay by any method or choose a no-cost 3-month EMI option
Styling Manuscript Elements-1
â‚ą5,650
Choose your own mode of payment
Access to 32 video lessons totaling over 13 hours
Access to course videos: 24 Ă— 7, for 4 months
Mobile access to courses via a dedicated app
Interaction with course participants and instructor via comments; also email support
A wealth of downloads that serve as reference documents, practice material, and working aids