My Identity as an Editor
As I had already worked at the writing center for a semester by the time I wrote this, I thought I would have had a solid understanding of what it meant to edit texts. As it turns out, this course pushed me to understanding grammar as rhetorical, every choice in the organization of a text should be intentional and should be justifiable. Through courses like Rhetorical Grammar and Professional Editing, I learned to slow down with a text and take a microscope to each phrase. I improved my ability to empathize with an audience and gained a toolkit of editing proficiencies that I will carry with me throughout any writing task.
Doing the Thing: Practical Editing
The professors at UCF taught me that the best way to learn something is to go out and try doing the thing. Through the guidance of a professor, I learned the conventions of what is expected from editors who are working in a real world environment. I became familiar with the genre conventions of transmittal letters, and I was able to see the importance of understanding style guides in an editors toolkit.