This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Publishing Perspectives and Techniques

Code: 100062 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Humanities OT 3
Humanities OT 4
English and Spanish Studies OT 3
English and Spanish Studies OT 4
Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 3
Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 4

Contact

Name:
Rebeca Martín López
Email:
rebeca.martin@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

Since the student has demonstrated, through the completion of the credits corresponding to the basic training courses, that they have acquired the basic competencies, they must be able to express themselves correctly both orally and in writing.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The main objectives of this course are twofold.

The first is for students to become familiar with all the processes carried out by a publishing house to acquire, edit, and market a book.

The second focuses specifically on the editorial techniques used to work with texts, applying lexical, morphosyntactic, textual, rhetorical, and linguistic variation knowledge in the revision and editing of texts intended for publication.


Competences

    Humanities
  • Designing, producing, disseminating and commercializing a cultural product.
  • Identifying the historical processes of contemporary culture.
  • Interpreting social and cultural diversity.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Comparing the Spanish and the European editorial markets.
  2. Critically assessing experiences, materials and proposals.
  3. Examining the models of cultural policies produced throughout history.
  4. Formulating initiatives of cultural production in the fields of publishing, heritage, etc.
  5. Indicating political, artistic, literary, social and other movements that had an impact in an historic event.
  6. Summarising characteristics of a written text according to its communicative purposes.

Content

I. THE PUBLISHING WORLD

  1. What is a publishing house? Publishing in Spain: structure of a publishing company; types of publishing houses; reading landscape in Spain.

  2. The book: commissioned books, unsolicited manuscripts, literary prizes; reader reports, contracts; imprints and series; best-sellers; fiction and non-fiction; agents and book fairs.

  3. Editorial process: editorial board; copyright and publishing rights; contracts.

  4. Book production: editing; translation; stylistic editing; copyediting; graphic design; cover, paper, printing.

  5. Commercialization: sales, distribution, awards, press, fixed price, discounts.

  6. New technologies.

II. EDITORIAL TECHNIQUES

  1. Tools for text editing: dictionaries, language manuals, online tools.

  2. Text review: spelling, morphosyntactic, and lexical corrections.

  3. Editorial aspects of text editing

    • The editing process: manuscripts, proofs (proofreading marks).

    • Typographic marks and copyediting conventions.

    • Auxiliary punctuation marks: hyphens, parentheses, dashes, asterisks, etc.

    • Use of uppercase and lowercase letters.

    • Use of quotation marks, italics, small caps, and boldface.

    • Abbreviations, acronyms, symbols, and initialisms.

    • Proper names: personal names, place names, etc.

    • Numerical expressions.

  4. Ethics in written communication: citations, bibliographies.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
controls and practical exercises in the classroom 30 1.2 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Type: Supervised      
editorial work 20 0.8 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Type: Autonomous      
Preparation of classroom exercises 50 2 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6

  • ·          Theoretical explanations: presentation and commentary on lingüístico, stylistic and orthotypographic problemas.
  • ·          Directed work: practical exercises aimed en consolidar las teoreticas explanaciones y para desarrollar las prácticas y habilidades planeadas. Las actividades se deben corregir y comentar en la clase.
  • ·          Supervisado trabajo: individualización de una edición basada en el texto, en el que se revisa.
  • ·          Autonomous work: preparación de direccionadas y supervisadas actividades y también de final examen.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Autonomous work 30% 20 0.8 3, 4, 5
Practical exercises: editing 20% 10 0.4 2, 6
Practical exercises: marketing editorial 20% 10 0.4 1, 6
Reading report 30% 10 0.4 2, 1, 3, 4, 6


Continuous assessment:

1. Practical exercises in the classroom: text editing: 20% 2.

2. Practical exercises in the classroom: promotion and editorial marketing: 20% 3.

3. Individual work: 30%.

4. Reading report: 20%.

 

In order to pass the course, all the activities must be completed and handed in by the deadline. The minimum mark required to pass each of the practicals and to be considered in the average must be equal to or higher than 4 points.

The student will receive a grade of ‘Not evaluable’ if he/she has not handed in more than 30% of the evaluation activities.

Re-evaluation will only be possible for students who have completed at least 60% of the approved assessment activities. In no case the final work may be repeated during the re-evaluation. The same recovery system as for continuous assessment will be applied.

In the event that the student commits any type of irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation act, this will be graded 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may result from it. In the event that several irregularities are verified in the assessment acts of the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0. In this subject the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not allowed in any of its phases. Any work that includes fragments generated with AI will be considered a lack of academic honesty and will result in the activity being assessed with a 0 and cannot be recovered, or higher penalties in serious cases.

If the tests cannot be taken in person, their format will be adapted (without altering their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB's virtual tools. Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussions of exercises via Teams, etc. The lecturer will ensure that students have access to these resources or will offer alternative ones.

 


Bibliography

Badia, Jordi, Núria Brugarolas, R. Torné i X. Fargas, El llibre de la llengua catalana, Castellnou, Barcelona, 2004.

Mestres, Josep Maria, Joan Costa, Ricard Fité i Mireia Oliva, Manual d'estil. La redacció i l'edició de textos, Eumo, Vic-Barcelona, 2009. 

Fundación del Español Urgente, Manual de español urgente, Cátedra, Madrid, 2008 o https://www.fundeu.es

Gaskell, Philip, Nueva introducción a la bibliografía material, Trea, Gijón, 1998.

Martínez de Sousa, José, Manual de estilo de la lengua española, 3o ed. corregida y ampliada, Trea, Gijón, 2007.

—, Ortografía y ortotipografía del español actual, Trea, Gijón, 2004.

Pujol i Solà, Josep M., Ortotipografia. Manual de l'autor, l'autoeditor y el dissenyador, Barcelona, Columna, 2003.


Software

No.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed