Dead, done for and dangerous: teaching editing students what not to do

The most difficult aspect of teaching editing at a university tutorial is imparting to students a sensitivity to the appropriate relationship between the editor and author and, more particularly, between the editor and the author's work. Students are tempted to see themselves as critics or assessors of the author's work rather than assistants in the writing process. This paper discusses where teaching editing is difficult in a classroom, arguing that such difficulty is a symptom of both problems experienced in the editing profession and limitations of university teaching.