"Sam Dragga and Gwendolyn Gong offer a genuinely new textbook in their Editing: The Design of Rhetoric
by Baywood Publishing, a long-time supporter of high quality scholarly publications in technical communication.
...each chapter makes rhetorical theory practical, useful, and current for today's student--a powerful combination.
Dragga and Gong concentrate their efforts on producing a straightforward, practical, informative, and scholarly
textbook, and they have done their work well. This book is a remarkable addition which many of us have already
begun to use with great success in our classes, and we should all welcome its arrival."
--Frances S. Johnson, Old Dominion University, Journal of Advanced Composition
"Both the novice and the advanced editor can benefit from the procedures outlined in this book."
--Dr. Arthur W. Steller, Journal of Educational Public Relations
"Dragga and Gong make significant contributions to whatever lacuna of course design has existed, and provide
teachers with conceptually sound and thematically or systematically arranged instructional materials for course
instruction...the authors consistently suggest new and fresh ways of thinking about the editing process. . .best
suited to upper division or graduate level technical communication courses. It provides a number of fresh and innovative
approaches based on solid theoretical and research models. ...this text would help such courses be surely innovative
as well as comprehensive."
--Gerald M. Parsons, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Technical Communication Quarterly
"Especially useful for book and periodical editors who may already have a wealth of practical knowledge and
experience, and who perhaps yearn for a little complementary theoretical rigour, or for use in journalism courses."
--Peter-John Lewis, Media Information Australia
Baywood Publishing Company, Inc Web Site, May, 2000
Summary
This book is intended to familiarize readers with the theoretical basis and practical applications of the editing
process. This involves the examination of the rhetorical canons--invention, arrangement, style, delivery; and the
corresponding rhetorical objectives of editing--accuracy, clarity, propriety, and artistry. We envision a diverse
audience for this book. For aspiring editors, we offer an introduction to rhetorical principles as a vehicle for
developing a repertoire of theoretically sound and effective strategies. For professionals--directors of communications,
public relations specialists, experienced writers and editors of professional and technical publications--this
book will serve as a reference and guide reinforcing their intuitive understanding and appreciation of the art
of editing.
Editing : The Design of Rhetoric covers the traditional topics associated with editing (e.g., style guidelines,
editing symbols, typography). In addition, we introduce a variety of new ways of approaching both routine and special
editorial designs.
The key objectives of this book are
to show that editing is not merely a mechanical procedure, but a complex and creative process;
to demonstrate that the editor's job is to mediate the writer-reader relationship, and therefore requires a
sensitivity to both the writer's aims and the reader's needs;
to emphasize the importance of the rhetorical canons in the editing process by briefly explaining their historical
evolution and current implications;
to exemplify the application of rhetorical theory in the editing of three major categories of texts--technical,
news, and promotional publications;
to provide a series of heuristics for analyzing the verbal and visual characteristics of a text; and
to identify the process of editing as applicable to writers and readers in all disciplines and to the texts
of all disciplines.
Table of Contents
List of Tables and Illustrations
Preface
Chapter 1 Tthe Canons of Rhetoric
Chapter 2 Invention
Rhetorical Theory of Invention
Communicative Aim
Audience Analysis
Information Gathering
Editing for Accuracy
Practice
A Technical Publication
A News Publication
A Promotional Publication
Chapter 3 Arrangement
Rhetorical Theory of Arrangement
Verbal-Visual Orientation
Principals of Organization
Diagramming the Discourse
Coherence and Cohesion
Editing for Clarity
Practice
A Technical Publication
A News Publication
A Promotional Publication
Chapter 4 Style
Rhetorical Theory of Style
Verbal Style
Visual Style
Editing for Propriety
Practice
A Technical Publication
A News Publication
A Promotional Publication
Chapter 5 Delivery
Rhetorical Theory of Delivery
Visual Variables
Typography
Illustrations
Page Design
Production
Editing for Artistry
Practice
A Technical Publication
A News Publication
A Promotional Publication
Epilogue: Integrating the Cannons
Bibliography
Index
Contributors
