PPA Courses

The Publishing & Printing Arts Curriculum

Make your love of books a life of books.


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The Publishing & Printing Arts (PPA) minor at PLU involves three core courses (12 credit hours): The Book in Society, The Art of the Book, and Publishing Procedures. Students take an additional 12 credit hours from offerings across the curriculum. The current PLU Catalog lists the specific Art, Business, Communication, and English courses that fulfill these requirements.
		The Book in Society (English 311/Coma 321) surveys the history of print culture and discusses such issues as censorship, bestsellers, and the future of the book in the digital age. The course asks such questions as what exactly is a “book”? Who produces it, who reads it, and why? We examine the ways in which books have been central to modern society—how they have informed, entertained, inspired, irritated, liberated, and challenged readers. We also look at the processes by which books are produced and distributed to readers, and how those processes shape both the ideas that are contained in books and the ways in which readers respond to them. The course culminates in presentations of independent research projects about some aspect of book culture (historical or contemporary). Students in recent classes have pursued such research topics as the history of Cliffs Notes and other study guides, Islamic traditions of book-making, the Harry Potter phenomenon, magazine design through the ages, women mystery writers, book preservation strategies, and the fiction of Chuck Palahniuk. This course is always offered in Fall semester. Top of Page
		The Art of the Book I (English 313/Art 331) is a studio art course in the historical, aesthetic, and creative dimensions of book design and typography, conducted in PLU's own Elliott Press. Students gain hands-on experience in the enduring handcrafts of letterpress printing, papermaking, marbling, and bookbinding. Advanced students often go on to write or edit, design, illustrate, print, and bind their own limited edition books in an independent study course, Art of the Book II. This course is offered both Fall and Spring semesters. Top of Page
		Publishing Procedures (English 312/Coma 322) is a workshop in the techniques that professionals in the publishing industry use to select, edit, design, and market texts. Students learn the specialized language and concerns of individuals working at each stage of the process and gain experience generating and responding to the kinds of documents and requests that keep the whole process moving. This course includes an intensive unit in copyediting accordinging to the guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style, and it culminates in an introduction to the special strategies and techniques involved in digital and on-line publishing. As a final project, students work in teams to develop and produce a desktop-published brochure and website for a publishing firm of their own creation. This course is always offered Spring semester.
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This site created and maintained by Solveig Robinson. Updated 9/8/06.