1. Who is eligible for the Certificate?
Those eligible include graduate students who are currently enrolled in any master's or doctoral program on the FSU campus; writers from the community who are not currently enrolled but who have already earned a bachelor's or a graduate degree; and community writers who work full-time for the State of Florida and who are approved for the state fee-waiver program. The Certificate is also open to FSU college seniors who have earned 90 or more credit hours and who have compiled at least at 3.0 GPA - or who have earned 90 hours and have a 1000 on the GRE.
2. How do you apply for Admission to the Certificate?
Please review the Certificate in Publishing and Editing admission requirements and course categories below. If you meet any of these threshold eligibility requirements and would like to apply for the Program—or if you'd like to ask questions that are not answered in our program overview—simultaneously email these two faculty members:
nstuckey-french@ fsu.edu—Dr. Ned Stuckey-French is the Director of the Certificate in Publishing and Editing Program.
and:
rbickley@fsu.edu—Dr. Bruce Bickley is Certificate Liaison and handles administrative details when Dr. Stuckey-French is on other assignments. Note the following procedures, however, for each group of applicants.
o Once admitted by the Certificate Director or by the Certificate Liaison, graduate students currently enrolled in any master's or doctoral program on the FSU campus can simply sign up for Certificate courses as they would for any graduate course offerings.
o Writers from the community who are not currently enrolled but who have already earned a bachelor's or a graduate degree must first apply for admission as Special Graduate Students. Similarly, community writers who work full-time for the State of Florida and who are approved for the state fee-waiver program must also apply for Special Graduate Student admission. These participants must also open FSU email accounts before they can ask to enroll in Certificate coursework. For Special Graduate Student information and procedures:
- Email Sheila Bagley at sbagley@campus.fsu.edu (or call Sheila at 850-644-7551). Sheila now handles Special students for the Certificate. Special Students, including State of Florida fee-waiver participants, can enroll in Certificate courses only on a space-available basis at the end of Drop-Add.
The Certificate is also open to FSU college seniors who have earned 90 or more credit hours and who have compiled at least at 3.0 - or who have earned 90 hours and have a 1000 on the GRE. These seniors must first obtain a permission form to take graduate coursework from the Registrar's Current Records office. The instructor must sign next, followed by the Department of English (for approval, see Kate Coats-Hensleyin 460 Williams and at khensley2@fsu.edu). Seniors must then receive the permission of their own College's Academic Dean. The student and Dean must declare whether any of the 5000-level Certificate courses will count as undergraduate electives or stand alone as graduate courses. Either way, the 5000-level Certificate courses will count toward the 12-hour Graduate Certificate in Editing and Publishing.
3. What are the course requirements?
The Certificate in Publishing and Editing requires twelve (12) credits selected from two categories, a minimum of three (3) credits from the Academic rubric and six (6) from the Practical category. The core of the program consists of three Academic courses in the history and theory of publishing and a selection of Practical courses in various aspects of production, text preparation, and internships (see below for separate discussion).
o Ph. D. and M. A. Programs (literature, rhetoric and composition, and creative writing)
Matriculated graduate students in any track can enroll in courses in the editing curriculum in order to: a) help prepare for a career in publishing; b) develop an auxiliary, marketable skill; c) study the relations between publishing history and literature; and/or d) improve self-editing skills. Degree-seeking students can apply up to six (6) credits from the Academic rubric (below) toward their degree. These courses count for elective credit only. Students can also enroll in courses under the Practical heading. These Practical courses will appear on students' transcripts and count toward the Certificate in Publishing and Editing, but the hours do not apply toward a degree.
The FSU Certificate in Publishing and Editing is a professional
certification primarily for students intending to seek employment in some area of editing, writing, and/or publishing.
Matriculated graduate students can obtain a Certificate in Publishing and Editing by completing a minimum of three (3) credits in the Academic category and six (6) from the Practicum category, plus elective Certificate courses from either category to bring the total to twelve (12) hours.
Students not currently enrolled in any university degree program can also obtain a Certificate in Publishing and Editing by fulfilling the same requirements. Because the Certificate is designed on the model of an advanced degree, students without an appropriate undergraduate degree are required to secure the permission of the instructor for the particular academic class.
o Non-degree, Non-certificate (open enrollment)
Individuals in the Tallahassee community may enroll in editing courses in order to: a) develop new marketable professional skills; b) improve skills already needed for editorial and writing tasks at an existing job; c) enhance their general writing and editing ability; and/or d) learn how to publish a newsletter, magazine, or book. Such individuals could enroll in any of the editing courses available under the Practical rubric. These courses would not count as credits toward either the Certificate or a degree unless the student first earned admission either to the Certificate or degree program.
Course Offerings
o Academic Component
Course #1 = ENC 5216-01: Introduction to Publishing and Editing. Course #2 = ENG 5933: Topics in or Theories of Publishing.
Course #3 = ENG 6939, HUM 6939: Seminar in Publishing. English or Humanities seminar whose topic is publishing or the history or
development of the book (with the approval of the Certificate Director).
o Practical Component (S/U credit only and hence not applicable to degree programs)
Course #4 = ENC 5217: Electronic Publishing, Editing, and Design. Introductory or intermediate instruction in Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Quark XPress, InDesign, Acrobat, and other
applicable programs. Short courses from the Center for Professional Development or other approved short courses can be applied to this requirement at the university's conversion formula of eight (8) contact hours for one-half (1/2) credit. Practical experience is also eligible for completion equivalence.
Course # 5 = ENC 5217: Topics in Editing: Line Editing. Three (3)
credits. S/U only. Repeatable when course emphasis is different. Designed for academic, corporate, agency, and free-lance writers. Thorough review of style-editing, grammar, punctuation, and proofreading. Line-editing practice in small groups, followed by individualized mentoring sessions-both in class and on-line-focused on the students' own writing projects. Course #6 = ENG 5998 or ENG 5906: Editing Practicum. One to three (1-3) credits. S/U only. Student collaborates with professor in an on-going editorial project. See "Research in Progress" link on the home page for examples of current editorial projects.
Course #7 = ENC 5945: Internship in Editing. One to three (1-3) credits per term, repeatable up to six (6) credits.
Select students, who have worked as editors, writers, or designers in the publishing industry, for a state agency, with a non-profit, or in some other capacity, may be eligible to claim experiential credit worth up to three credit hours of practical coursework. To do so they will need to submit a binder of materials (potentially an electronic binder) documenting that work. Before doing so they should consult with either Dr. Stuckey-French or Dr. Bickley.
Ph. D. and M. A. Programs (literature and creative writing)
o For degree credit
Maximum six (6) credits from courses #1, #2, or #3 (elective credit except for # 3).
o For non-degree credit
Unlimited credits from courses #4, #5, #6, and #7 (credits may count toward certificate).
Certificate Program
o Scholarly Component
o Practical Component
Minimum six (6) credits from courses #4, #5, #6, and #7. Non-degree, Non-certificate (open enrollment)
o Unlimited credits from #4, #5, #6, and #7.
4. How long will it take to complete the certificate program and when will the courses necessary be offered?
The student can normally earn the certificate in one year. ENC 5216 (Introduction to Editing and Publishing) and ENC 5217 (Electronic Publishing, Editing, and Design) are offered at least once each year - usually, one in the fall, the other in the spring. ENC 5217 (Topics in Editing: Line Editing) is normally offered fall, spring, and the first six-week term each summer (Summer B term). Note that students can only take Line Editing once, for three hours credit. Students are encouraged to look for internships (ENC 5945) with a sponsoring site. Professors may also be available to supervise practicums. Seminars in publishing (ENG 6939, HUM 6939) are offered intermittently.
5. What happens administratively when I complete the 12 Certificate hours? Send the Chairperson of the Publishing and Editing Committee an e-mail listing the courses you have completed, the term you finished each course, your grade in each course, and a list of any experiential credits you have been granted by the program. The Committee Chairperson will send the Department of English Chair and the Graduation section of the Registrar an e-mail certifying your completion. You will then receive a printed Certificate from the Department and Certificate completion on your permanent transcript.
6. What is an Editing Practicum with a faculty member?
The student should do approximately 7 hours of faculty-supervised work per week per credit hour for the 13 weeks of the semester - or 14 hours a week during a compressed six-week summer term. Students can enroll in an Editing Practicum for 1 to 3 credit hours. Practicum activities include:
o researching or indexing a book
o corresponding with contributors to an anthology
o doing developmental editing or line editing
o copy editing and/or proofreading
o obtaining permissions
o developing a marketing plan
o submitting queries
o updating web pages or maintain a blog
o obtaining images, illustrations, charts, and other materials
