Word for Practical Editing
Who is this course suitable for?
This course offers a hands-on examination of Microsoft Word for editing and proofreading. It is ideal for anyone who can use Word for general word processing but would like to apply Word’s features to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of editing. It is not a course about basic word processing or about the basics of Word. It is assumed that you already know how to use the version of Word you edit with.
Course description
The course describes Word features for PC and Apple Mac operating systems (OS). It focuses on how to use Word to edit, not on how Word works. It helps you to use the power of Word to do routine, repetitive tasks and leave you to get on with the finer points of editing. It includes units on Word Styles and Templates, Find and Replace and wildcard searches, and macros.
The content is grouped to follow through a typical client project and includes consideration of useful techniques for working on different types of document.
Most units include study notes and screencasts for each OS, with an exercise to consolidate your learning. There are also several additional resource sheets covering different aspects of Word’s features. We're sorry that subtitles are not currently available for the screencasts.
The course will help to raise your confidence in your ability to use Word effectively and efficiently.
What you should know after the course
By the end of the course you will:
- understand the useful tools in Word to help you edit
- understand how to use Word to do a lot of the heavy lifting of editing
- know how to use Word so that routine tasks are carried out quickly and accurately
- know where to go to find more tools.
Availability, prices and upgrade points
| Online | |
|---|---|
| Price (members) | |
| Price (non-members) | |
| CIEP upgrade points | 3 |
| Book now |
Other price discounts are available. See the fees page.
Online courses take between 10 and 45 hours to complete, depending on the course, but you have access to the course materials for 6 months.
Please be aware that the CIEP has now moved all its online courses to a new learning platform. Courses begun on the old platform will only be available until 31 December 2023, so please make sure that you complete them before the cut-off date. Extensions cannot be transferred to the new platform.
Online course structure
| Time allowed for access: 6 months | CIEP upgrade points: 3 |
| Approximate study time needed to complete the course: 30–35 hours | |
This is a self-assessed course. You will be assigned a tutor who will be available for up to 1 hour of support (usually by email), but the tutor does not mark any of your work. When you have finished the course you can download and print a certificate that states that you have completed the course.
Syllabus
The course is divided into seven units:
- Unit 1 Which version?
- Unit 2 Starting a project
- Unit 3 Cleaning up a document
- Unit 4 Reading through and marking up
- Unit 5 Using styles and templates
- Unit 6 Finishing a project
- Unit 7 Archiving and CPD
Each unit (apart from Unit 1) includes study notes and a commentary on the exercises, with screencasts, examples and model answers where appropriate. There are seven exercises throughout the course, giving you plenty of practice at honing your skills.
Throughout the course we have been very conscious of not wanting to merely repeat reams of information about Word that is readily available elsewhere. We have tried to keep writing about ‘how Word works’ to a minimum and instead focus on ‘how to use Word to edit’. We have also devised a number of exercises to demonstrate how these techniques are used in a practical setting. We hope that this approach, together with the bringing together of some proprietary software that all aims to help editors, has resulted in a truly interesting and useful course on how to use Word as an editor.