Some content requires more than just a quick copy-edit . . .
This course combines practical exercises with group discussion and will help you feel more confident about your ability to sort out texts that pose more than ‘standard’ problems.
You’ll work on your own, in pairs and as a group to analyse the problems of different types of text, look at a range of solutions and consider how best to apply these solutions while keeping your writers on board.
Between the 2 sessions you will be asked to look at a longer piece of writing and assess how you would set about editing or rewriting it.
The result? New skills and techniques – and increased confidence in your ability to apply them.
Please note that almost all the example texts are drawn from non-fiction or educational publishing; this course is unlikely to meet the needs of someone who works exclusively on fiction.
About the tutor(s)
After an early career in teaching, educational research and educational publishing, Andrew Steeds went freelance, setting up Simply Put, a company focused on making unnecessarily complicated documents clearer and more accessible, in terms of both how they are written and how they are designed. For Simply Put, he works on his own, with designers and with others to support clients to communicate more clearly and more efficiently with their readers.
Andrew has been running courses for the Publishing Training Centre (PTC) for 25 years. His main focus is on editorial activity, but he has an equal interest in the process of writing and the presentation skills of grammar and punctuation, and he runs courses in these areas, too. The PTC’s Essential Grammar, an e-learning resource which he wrote in 2017, has so far had just under 2,000 student enrolments on the course.
He divides his training time equally between in-company work and open courses.
Course format
- Virtual classroom
- 9.00am to 12.30pm
- 4 sessions plus breaks, comprising 2 half-day sessions on 2 days, 1 week apart
Date information for future sessions
January 2026
- Dates: 21 & 28 January 2026
- Times: Each session will run from 9.00am to 12.30pm
June 2026
- Dates: 4 & 11 June 2026
- Times: Each session will run from 9.00am to 12.30pm
November 2026
- Dates: 6 & 13 November 2026
- Times: Each session will run from 9.00am to 12.30pm
What you will need
To join the course, you will need access to a computer or laptop with a camera and microphone. You will need to activate a free Zoom account to join the course. This takes two minutes and does not require any payment. It is purely for administrative purposes.