Lead authors: Abbey Elder, Stefanie Buck, Jeff Gallant, Apurva Ashok, and Marco Seiferle-Valencia
Introduction
We are looking for volunteer copy editors to help with the final edits for our book, The OER Starter Kit for Program Managers.
The copy editor’s main role is to improve the readability of their assigned chapters by suggesting grammatical and stylistic edits (e.g. to fix wordiness, incorrect citations, awkward phrasing, repetition, or organizational weaknesses). This work requires close attention to detail. While we do not require copy editors to have prior experience with this work, our team welcomes those with experience copy editing to apply.
To express interest in serving as a copy editor for the book, please complete our Copy Editing Interest Form. Copy editors will be assigned to the text on a rolling basis, based on your availability and preferred editing window.
We appreciate your time! Copy editors will be credited in the book upon release. If you require a certificate or other proof of your participation in the project, we can provide this to you as well.
Questions about the process or the commitment involved? Comment below, or get in touch with the Project Lead, Abbey Elder, at aelder@iastate.edu for additional clarification.
Project Description
The OER Starter Kit for Program Managers pulls together information, advice, and resources for those managing OER initiatives in higher education. In addition to an overview of major job responsibilities an OER program manager might be expected to take on, the book also includes case studies from current program managers about their work. The audience will primarily consist of OER librarians, program managers, and other support staff who work with Open Education initiatives in the higher education space.
Individual chapters range between 1600-4000 words.
Copy editing timeline
Copy editing will be handled on a rolling basis. You will be asked to provide your preference for timing from the following four options upon completing the volunteer form:
- Group 1: October 1 - October 30
- Group 2: October 15 - November 15
- Group 3: November 1 - December 1
- [Full book review] Group 4: October 1 - November 25 (potentially longer)
Anticipated book publication date: January 2022
Copy editing process
The book has already gone through several rounds of subject matter editing and peer review to ensure the relevancy of content and usefulness of the book. Copy editors will be asked to focus on:
- clarity and overall readability of the text, from the perspective of a practitioner
- tone and inclusivity of the text
- general grammar, spelling, and punctuation
- text, headings, images, and charts/graphs
- in-text, footnote, and bibliographical citations
Our book will follow the guidelines of the Author-Date version in the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style with citations listed in the Author-Date format. Further instructions will be provided in the Style Guide.
Edits will be visible to the book’s co-editors who will make the suggested changes and return chapters to their respective authors for a final read-through.
This statement was adapted from the Call for Copy editors from the Open Pedagogy Approaches team, available under a CC BY license.
