Students

LING2293 – Creating and Editing Professional Genres

2022 – Session 2, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Maria Herke
maria.herke@mq.edu.au
Convenor
Adam Smith
adam.smith@mq.edu.au
Co-Convenor
Hanna Torsh
hanna.torsh@mq.edu.au
Lecturer and tutor
Dana Skopal
dana.skopal@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
40cp at 1000 level or above
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This is a unit for students of any discipline who are interested in creating texts that will be used for a professional purpose, especially writing for academic, professional and other functional purposes, or writing and editing texts that will reach a public audience. It aims to provide insights into the English language as a communicative system, and to foster a critical and informed attitude to language use in various kinds of written and multimodal texts, with clarity of communication as a central skill to be developed. The unit will also help students develop a critical eye for details of correctness and consistency, as well as an understanding of layout and structural issues across diverse media that affect the readability of a text. By developing an understanding of what makes for successful communication in the writing of others, writers can also learn to develop techniques for writing successfully themselves.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Select and apply a range of editing tools to edit for print and digital outputs
  • ULO2: Plan and manage detailed information in setting up a written discussion, including managing the topical focus through manipulation of sentence structure.
  • ULO3: Identify a coherent structure for a piece of writing for both editing and writing purposes.
  • ULO4: Identify and critically evaluate the needs of different audiences across a variety of media to adapt content appropriately

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Editing task 20% No Week 7
Cohesive and thematic communication 35% No Week 10
Online publication 45% No Week 13

Editing task

Assessment Type 1: Case study/analysis
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: Week 7
Weighting: 20%

 

Edit a short text and write a rationale (500 words) for the editing decisions made.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Select and apply a range of editing tools to edit for print and digital outputs
  • Plan and manage detailed information in setting up a written discussion, including managing the topical focus through manipulation of sentence structure.
  • Identify and critically evaluate the needs of different audiences across a variety of media to adapt content appropriately

Cohesive and thematic communication

Assessment Type 1: Qualitative analysis task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: Week 10
Weighting: 35%

 

Students will analyse and discuss a text in terms of its cohesive and thematic strategies (1250 words)

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Plan and manage detailed information in setting up a written discussion, including managing the topical focus through manipulation of sentence structure.
  • Identify a coherent structure for a piece of writing for both editing and writing purposes.

Online publication

Assessment Type 1: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 40 hours
Due: Week 13
Weighting: 45%

 

Students will source a range of material from a variety of media to create a coherent publication on a topic of their choosing. While no writing is required in this assessment, in designing their digital publication, students will need to apply the concepts of audience-appropriate communication covered in the unit.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Select and apply a range of editing tools to edit for print and digital outputs
  • Identify a coherent structure for a piece of writing for both editing and writing purposes.
  • Identify and critically evaluate the needs of different audiences across a variety of media to adapt content appropriately

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

The lectures in this unit will be delivered in hybrid mode ie some weeks will be online via a zoom link and other weeks will be face to face. All lectures delivered by Maria (MH) will be delivered online. Unless otherwise advised, all other lectures will be delivered face to face. See the schedule below to see which weeks are online.

All tutes will be online via zoom to create a more authentic editing experience.

Unit Schedule

LING2293 Lecture schedule

Week 1             Writer to reader (MH – online )

Week 2             Written and spoken language (HT- face to face)

Week 3             Genre and register (MH - online)

Week 4             Editing skills: structure and language (AS- face to face)

Week 5             Grammar for editors (AS- face to face)

Week 6             Cohesion in texts (MH - online)

Week 7             Thematic progression in texts (MH - online)

 

Semester break

Week 8             Readability and Plain language (AS – face to face)

Week 9             Multimodal communication (HT – face to face)

Week 10           Editing skills: medium, layout and legibility (AS – face to face))

Week 11           Argument and persuasion (HT – face to face)

Week 12           Discourse structures and website recontextualisation (DS - online)

Week 13           Assessment preparation

 

MH- Dr Maria Herke

AS - Dr Adam Smith

HT - Dr Hanna Torsch

DS- Dr Dana Skopal

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

 

Requesting an extension to assignment due date

On occasion, you may be in a situation when you aren't able to submit an assessment task on time. Extensions are only given in special circumstances, by completing a Special Consideration request. For more information on Special Consideration, see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/my-study-program/special-consideration

Late submission of assignments

If you haven't been approved for an extension and you submit your assessment task late, penalties are applied. You should consult your unit convenor if you are in this position. Late submissions will receive a 5% per day penalty. If you submit the assessment task 10 days or more beyond the due date, without an approved extension, you will be awarded a maximum of 50% of the overall assessment marks. Weekends and public holidays are included.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2022.02 of the Handbook