Plain English for Editors (e-learning)
Plain English for Editors is ideal for any editor who would like to achieve a broad understanding of what plain English is for, the core guidelines, techniques and tools, and how to use them in a balanced and nuanced way.
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About the course
Plain English for Editors explains what plain English is, gives you the skills to use plain-English editing guidelines with thought and care, and helps you to think through how to market your plain-English services. The course gets you thinking about what can make a text unclear; sets out the six core guidelines for plain-English editing; and gives you the opportunity to practise your new skills.
What the course will teach you
Learn how to use guidelines on plain-English editing with thought and care, deal with challenges and market your services to potential clients.
By the time you’ve completed this training, you’ll understand:
- what plain English is
- what can make a text unclear and why
- some background about the plain-English movement
- the six core guidelines for plain-English editing
- how tools in Word and other software can help to speed up some plain-English editing tasks and increase accuracy
- the practicalities of providing plain-English editing services
Course contents
Unit 1: What can make a text unclear?
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If plain English is the answer, what’s the question?
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Background and resources
Unit 2: Guidelines and techniques
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Keeping sentences to a manageable length
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Editing for conciseness and directness
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Checking grammar and punctuation but putting clarity first
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Using words that readers know
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Checking that the language is inclusive
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Making sure that the material is organised and laid out clearly
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Further plain-English considerations and guidelines round-up
Unit 3: Test your plain-English editing skills
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A longer text on which to practise the skills learned in Units 1 and 2
Unit 4: Tools for plain-English editing
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Tools in Microsoft Word
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PerfectIt
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Other programs designed to help people write clearly
Unit 5: Services and challenges
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Providing plain-English services
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Challenges and myths
What skills and tools do you need?
This course follows British English spelling, grammar and punctuation conventions in the main. You’ll also need:
- basic copyediting knowledge
- fluency in English
- a knowledge of English grammar
- familiarity with the functions of word processing programs – this course assumes use of MS Word (Office 365).
Prices, timescales and upgrade points
- Member: £170 + VAT
- Non-member: £280 + VAT
- Access to course: 6 months
- Approximate study time to complete: 30–35 hours
- CIEP upgrade points: 4
Key course features
Structured training
Structured units cover a range of topics relevant to your chosen course.
Self-paced learning
With our e-learning courses, learn when you want at a pace that’s convenient for you.
Training portal
Access your course via our user-friendly online training portal. All e-learning courses are accessible through the portal for six months from the date of enrolment.
Extra help
Additional tutor support is available on our self-assessed courses for a small fee.
Self-assessed exercises
Hone your skills with self-assessed exercises and quizzes, and mark your own work against model answers.
Certificate
It was a great help to have all the core advice arranged into six 'guidelines' in one unit of the course, so I could absorb all of this before moving on to the main exercise and the units about software tools and providing services.
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