1. PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS
2. CURRENT STUDENTS
3. FACULTY & STAFF
4. ALUMNI
5. COMMUNITY & FRIENDS

1. English Favorites
   1. Writing Center
   2. Speaking Center
   3. Communication across the Curriculum
   4. University Libraries
   5. UNCG Bookstore
   6. Financial Aid
   7. Registrar's Office
   8. Student Academic Services
   9. Disability Services
   10. School of Education
   11. International Programs Center
   12. Office of Sponsored Programs
   13. UNCGenie
   14. 6-TECH
   15. Blackboard
   16. E-Spartan
   17. UNCG Events Calendar

UNCG Home >English Home > Graduate Studies

M.A. Writing & Editing Track: An Overview

This is a 12-hour track in the Masters program. Three core courses (9 hours) are taught by Professor Robert Langenfeld. E-Mail him if you have questions.

ENGLISH 620 (CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHING)

English 620 is designed to familiarize you with issues relevant to the fundamentals of publishing, especially as they relate to the role of the editor. We combine the practical with reflections on what contemporary publishing is concerned with today, while keeping traditions in mind. By way of background, I present lectures on subjects pertinent to the topics listed below. Throughout the semester we practice editing skills (with two case studies from English Literature in Transition), discuss background readings (from e-reserves in the library), and utilize the course website to further explore topics and publish your essays. Videos from C-SPAN and two guest speakers will also be part of English 620. You conclude the semester by either creating a graphics project using Adobe's Photoshop and Illustrator. This course is required for those who wish to do advanced work in English 621 (Seminar in Publishing).

Texts:
• Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.
• Essays on Electronic File Jackson Library

ENGLISH 621 (SEMINAR IN PUBLISHING)

English 621 mixes the old and the new. Students team up to lead discussions on John Tebbel’s seminal history of American publishing, Between Covers: The Rise and Transformation of Book Publishing in America. To add context to Tebbel, we will read selected articles about the history of the book. Contemporary issues are part of our discussions as we talk about current articles from Publishers Weekly Online. Your book critiques of  biographies of twentieth-century editors and publishers lead us into discussions of Michael Korda's memoir and a collection of letters by Random House's Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer.

In the major assignment you team up with a fellow student to ready a "book" for press. You and your colleague will originate an idea for a book, select a press, write a proposal, and then design your book (ad copy, book jacket, prelims, opening pages of chapter one). This desktop publishing project will employ Adobe's InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. In addition to referring to our selected readings on book design, I will offer background on book proposals, copy writing, and design. At the end of the semester you will present your book to the "editorial board" (i.e., the class).

This seminar advances the study of subjects initially covered in the prerequisite course, English 620 (Contemporary Publishing) and prepares students for English 622 (Writing and Editing Internship).

Texts:
• Publishers Weekly Online
• John Tebbel. Between Covers: The Rise and Transformationof Book Publishing in America
• Essays on History of the Book (Jackson Library's Electronic Reserve)
• Titles for book critiques will be on 1-week reserve. (Reserve Room, Jackson Library)

To Purchase:
• Michael Korda. Another Life: A Memoir of People. New York: Random House, 1999.
• Dear Donald, Dear Bennett: The Wartime Correspondence of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. New York: Random House, 2002.

ENGLISH 622 (PUBLISHING INTERNSHIP)

English 622 is where students test what they've learned in English 620 and 621. Your interests lead the way in locating an appropriate internship. In the past, students have interned (15-20 hours per week during the semester) with printers, small presses or corporations with publishing units. They have also interned with Oxford University Press (Cary, NC), Wake Forest University Press, Algonquin Press, and Blair Press, among others.

Requirements:
• Two reflective essays
• Portfolio of work during the internship

Other Courses to Complete the 12 hours

English 604 (Electronic Discourse and User Information)

Theory and application of computer technology in the study of language, rhetoric and composition, and literature, including related ethical, social, and philosophical issues.

English 524 (Writing-Advanced: Analytical and Technical)

Problems of organization and express in books, articles, and reports. For those writing for publication, or whose work in business or government requires a great deal of writing.

Note: English 623 (Writing-Advanced: Non-Fiction) is open to all interested graduate students the English and Creative Writing Programs.

Also: A Course Approved with Permission of the Director of Graduate Studies

Page updated: 25-Jun-2008

Accessibility Policy