Get a job as a tutor.

I’ve taken nearly every professional writing class on campus (I have one more to go,) but where I really learned the little rules of tech writing was at work. I work at my campus’ writing lab, and since January 2008, my job has required me to review up to 20 student papers daily and give personalized feedback on the biggest way that student can improve his or her paper. This job has required me to learn the parts of speech and rules of grammar, basic formatting for technical documents, various formatting styles (such as MLA, APA, and Chicago,) and basically be able to give meaningful advice on any type of document.

And  because of the experience you gain by teaching the principles of English writing so frequently, you become a master of them yourself. Producing quality documents starts to come fluently and naturally. You recognize the critical mistakes most people make when writing and avoid making them yourself. And you gain the critical ability to review an entire document in a matter of minutes, then identify the areas it needs to develop—a crucial talent for any editor to be.

If you want great experience in refining your editor’s eye, working with clients and giving them feedback, and seeing what mistakes other writers make so you avoid them yourself, find the writing lab on your college’s campus and apply for a job. If your campus doesn’t have a writing lab, find out about becoming a tutor or teaching assistant for an English class.