Academic texts: register, authorial voice, verb tenses and developmental editing
Join PEG for our webinar series, where you will have the opportunity to upgrade your knowledge and skills as editors and proofreaders in a variety of ways: linguistic, stylistic, business, digital, technical, professional and more. Are you new to academic editing and needing to expand your range of skills or a more experienced editor of academic texts wanting to hone your skills in this genre?
Then why not hear it from those who specialise in improving both examinable and publishable texts! During this webinar on 21 June, our aim will be to share with you knowledge, hints and tips using real-life examples.
Focus: Your presenters – all of them with experience in improving academic texts behind them – will share with you their approaches to dealing with register, authorial voice and verb tenses as they apply specifically to this genre. They will also deal with the question of providing developmental editing to academic writers at a time when writing academic texts in one’s second language or if English is a foreign language has become increasingly challenging.
Date: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Time: 15:00 to 18:00
Place: Online (Zoom meeting)
Facilitator: Alexis Grewan, Cathy Robertson, John Linnegar
CPD hours: Attendees will receive a certificate confirming their attendance and their having earned 3 hours’ worth of core CPD; those who opt to listen to the audio recording of the webinar instead, without actually attending, will earn 30 minutes’ worth of discretionary CPD time.
A pre-webinar exercise will be issued to registrants on confirmation of their
registration.
About our facilitators
Alexis Grewan has worked as a freelance writing consultant, editor and proofreader for more than four years, and for about six years prior to that as an independent contractor. Her freelance work includes writing and proofreading medico-legal reports in the field of psychology, editing academic texts (for examination and for publication) and educational materials, and copywriting and proofreading content for online platforms. Prior to entering the world of wordsmiths, she ran a successful health-care practice as a self-employed reflexologist, delivered training in soft skills and worked as a community social worker.
Cathy Robertson has taught high school English as well as lectured English at a teachers’ training college. She also spent many years at a TVET college, first lecturing Communication and Public Relations and then retiring as Vice Principal: Innovation and Development (Skills Development). During this time, she also wrote textbooks for English and communication. After obtaining her Master’s degree in Critical Linguistics, she obtained a PhD in Curriculum Studies. She spent many years as an external moderator for Umalusi, the Department of Higher Education and Training’s quality assurance body, as well as writing two chapters of the national annual report on internal assessment practices. At PEG, Cathy has mentored seven members in academic editing and is also a member of the team of accreditation test setters and markers. Cathy is a research associate at Stellenbosch University and has delivered numerous papers, published chapters in academic books on metaphor and academic writing as well as academic articles. For the past several years, she has been the managing editor of an academic journal named JOVACET under the auspices of the University of the Western Cape.
Trained as a secondary school teacher, John Linnegar has been active in the publishing industry for more than 40 years, as writer, editor, proofreader, technical writer, industrial editor and publisher. He cut his editorial teeth as an editor of texts for one of South Africa’s foremost law publishers and played a leading role in formalising its House style for authors and editors. He has also edited and proofread numerous school and academic textbooks and articles, for both local and international publishers, and, latterly, academic theses.
In 2009 he published the best-selling Engleish, our Engleish: Common errors in South African English and how to resolve them (Pharos; rev ed 2013). In 2012, a standard text he co-authored with professors Wannie Carstens and Kris Van de Poel – Text editing: A handbook for students and practitioners (ASP Editions, Brussels) – was published, a text that has been well received internationally. He has also co-authored several PEG guides: on house style; the business of editing, and marketing freelance editorial services. His latest publication (with Ken McGillivray, 2019) is grammar, punctuation and all that jazz (MLA Publishing), which is aimed at any wordsmith whose use of English needs polishing through familarisation with the essentials of usage. Besides grammar, he specialises in developing house style guidelines and converting texts to Plain Language/English.
John is an Accredited Professional Text Editor (SATI), an ATE (English), a life member and a past chair of PEG, until 2022 an executive member of the Society of English-language Professionals in the Netherlands (SENSE), and a member of the Nordic Editors and Translators (NEaT) and the Canberra Society of Editors (CSE), Australia.
About the webinar
This webinar looks in detail at contributors to and the characteristics of the style of writing peculiar to academic texts: register, authorial voice and tenses. The presenters will also broach the issue of offering a developmental editing service to certain candidates in need or more than just having their text improved.
Cost
| Affiliation | Early-bird registration fee (by 15 June latest) |
Registration fee (from 16 until 19 June latest) |
|---|---|---|
| PEG members | R275 | R350 |
| LAMP members* | R475 | R550 |
| Non-affiliated members | R675 | R750 |
*LAMP members: Association of Southern African Indexers and Bibliographers (ASAIB), ProJourn, Southern African Freelancers’ Association (SAFREA), South African Science Journalists’ Association (SASJA) and the South African Translators’ Institute (SATI).
Please register by completing and emailing the registration form to Sharon Rose.
Deadline for registrations: 12:00 on 19 June
Cancellation policy
If members are unable to attend this webinar after having registered and paid for it, a full refund is possible if cancellations are received by Sharon Rose by no later than 12:00 on 19 June. Once the final number of attendees has been confirmed on the eve of the webinar, no refunds are possible.
In addition, should you be prevented from participating in full or in part on the day of the webinar owing to Eskom loadshedding, you will be entitled to take either the same webinar or another on the 2023 webinar programme. When this occurs, the onus will be on you to inform the webinar coordinator of your disqualification on this ground and to specify which alternative webinar you would like to transfer your registration to.
Remember, though, that as a would-be or part-participant on the day, you will in any event receive the audio recording of the entire event plus PDFs of the PPT slides.
Use the early-bird special: save money and secure your spot at this webinar by registering early!