• Prepare for a career in editing
• Enhance your professional writing and editing skills
• Earn a recognized credential

• Complete the 6 required courses plus 15 hours of optional courses (119 hours)
• Can be completed within 3 semesters up to a maximum of 3 years

Professional Editing students are required to sign up for an online subscription to Chicago Manual of Style. Subscribe online.

Refer to your Confirmation of Registration for specific course information.

Required Courses

Editing Fundamentals
Discover the fundamentals of professional editing and the skills and standards common to all editors. Learn why editing matters and how editing skills can be developed and refined. Be introduced to different kinds of editing (copyediting, style editing and structural editing).

Grammar and Punctuation Essentials
Brush up on basic writing skills. Review parts of speech, grammar and common grammatical mistakes. Explore sentence parts including words, phrases and clauses. Understand punctuation and common punctuation mistakes such as capitalization, abbreviations and numbers. Discuss commonly misused and misspelled words. 

Recommended:  Complete this course before beginning Editing Fundamentals.

Required textbook:  Ruvinsky , M. (2014). Practical Grammar: A Canadian Writer's Resource (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press Canada.

Copy Editing and Proofreading     
Learn copy editing to ensure that documents are accurate, clear, correct, consistent and complete. Fix usage, grammatical, punctuation and mechanical errors, and maintain a consistent editorial style. Study the proofreading process and learn how to mark copy for correction.
Recommended: Complete Editing Fundamentals before beginning this course.
Required Textbooks and Resources:
The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications (3rd ed.). The Denver Publishing Institute. A. Einsohn

Proofreading: Meeting Professional Editorial Standards.  Editors Association of Canada.  Purchase available through  Editors' Association of Canada. 

Textbooks may be purchased independently or through the BookStore.

Comprehensive Editing: Style, Structure and Design
Understand how style, organization and visual design work together. Make decisions by considering documents from the reader’s perspective. Using practical examples from print and online documents, tackle comprehensive editing challenges.
Recommended: Complete Editing Fundamentals before beginning this course.
Required Textbooks and Resources: Editors' Association of Canada. (2010). Structural Editing: Meeting Professional Editorial Standards Toronto: Editors Association of Canada/Association canadienne des réviseurs. Purchase through Editors' Association of Canada.

Williams, J. M., & Colomb, G. (2016). Style: lessons in clarity and grace (12th ed.). Boston: Pearson   

Writing and Editing for Digital Media
The rapid growth and evolution of digital media has presented tremendous opportunities and new challenges for writers and editors. Be introduced to principles, strategies and techniques for writing and editing relevant, compelling content for various digital media platforms.

Editing Portfolio
Once you have completed all the other courses in this certificate, create a portfolio of work samples that demonstrate your ability to carry out copyediting, proofreading and comprehensive editing with proficiency and ease. Bring to class a range of documents that you want to include in your portfolio.
Required Textbook: Editors' Association of Canada . (2010). Stylistic Editing: Meeting Professional Editorial Standards, Part 3. Toronto: Editors Association of Canada/Association canadienne des réviseurs. Purchase through Editors' Association of Canada or at the BookStore.

Optional Courses

Choose a minimum of 15 hours

Foundations of Technical Communication
Explore the discipline of technical writing and enhance your writing techniques to meet the demands of today’s marketplace. Study the concepts involved in technical writing, including audience analysis, document organization, and grammar and writing skills to create clear, concise, correct and cohesive communications. Apply these through practical exercises.
Recommended co-requisite: Advanced Microsoft Word for Writers and Editors

Advanced Microsoft Word for Writers and Editors
Develop intermediate skills to create professional looking documents. Learn how to use features and templates to create and format documents with more complex layouts, including styles, tables, pictures and objects, columns, numbering, headers and footers, tables of contents and templates.
Recommended co-requisite: Foundations of Technical Communication
Strongly recommended: Microsoft Word Levels 1 and 2 (available here)

Document Layout and Design
Discover how the principles of page layout, typography and design can help you produce effective and readable technical documents. Put these principles into practice by designing technical documents using MS Word.
Prerequisites: Foundations of Technical Communication and Advanced Microsoft Word for Writers and Editors

Required textbook: Williams, R. (2014). Non-designers design book: Design and typographic principles for the visual novice (4th ed.). Berkeley: Peachpit Press.

Margaret Chandler BA, MEd

Margaret is a teacher, author, and editor.  She teaches business writing, grammar and style, and editing courses at Mount Royal University and the University of Calgary and delivers customized workshops to many other clients.  She also provides writing and editing services through her company, Green Fuse Inc.

Margaret enjoys sharing her passion for the English language and helping people become better writers. Students appreciate the strategies and resources that she provides to make the writing process more efficient and pleasant.  She's also excited about her recently published book Good Writing Is Good Business:  Your go-to guide to confident, stylish and correct writing, which is a practical and comprehensive resource for all writers.

Michelle Lomberg

Michelle is a freelance editor and writer with over 25 years' experience.  Her portfolio includes substantive editing, copy editing, and proofreading of K-12 and higher-education resources, trade books and marketing materials, and she is the author of 19 educational books for young readers.  She has worked for clients across Canada. 

Michelle holds a bachelor's degree with first-class honours in English and a master's degree in environmental design.  In addition, she is certified by the Editors' Association of Canada in structural and stylistic editing.  She has been teaching in the Professional Editing Certificate program since 2015.