Dr. George Arnold, a former Marshall University professor and author of Media Writer's Handbook, stopped by our copy editing class on Tuesday and spoke to us about language skills.
Dr. Arnold has a wealth of grammar knowledge and he really knows how to have fun with it. He spoke to us about how he has the tendency to annoy people by constantly correcting their grammar which is something that I can relate to. It is something that I do very often and I am sure it aggravates my friends, but I am really doing it for their own good.
He not only talked to us about correct word usage and how important it is, he also showed us examples of how people commonly misuse our language. I really thought this was fun and interesting. He showed us a picture of a large sign at the entrance to a cemetery that had cemetery spelled "cemetary". You would think that someone who is in charge of a cemetery would know how to spell the word correctly.
Dr. Arnold said that he is always on the lookout for signs with incorrect spelling and grammar use. This is something that my girlfriend Daniella and I do very often. She is a print journalism major at Morehead State University, so she has the same amount of interest in language that I do. This was just another way that I could relate to Dr. Arnold.
Overall, I thought it was a very good experience having Dr. Arnold drop by and speak to us. He made looking at grammar fun and you can really tell that he enjoys what he does.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Confessions of a Grammarholic
After reading Dr. Arnold's "Confessions of a Grammarholic", I have realized that I can really relate to him. I am the type of person that corrects my friends grammar and points out when signs have incorrect spellings or grammar problems. It is interesting to read about someone who has a similar view on that sort of thing. It makes me realize that I am not the only grammar fanatic in the world.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tips for writing headlines
I find that the most difficult part of being an editor is writing the headlines. Headlines play such an important part in establishing a reader's interest in a story. They must be concise and really display the context of the article.
Below are my reactions, as well as links, to some Web sites that are helpful in deciding what words you should keep, which ones you should omit and explain how to setup a basic foundation for a headline.
Headline Tips and Headline Writing for the Web
Headline tips is a basic list of around 19 or 20 concise tips on making your headline writing better. The tips cover everything from accuracy to the use of punctuation.
Something I found interesting about these tips was that the first tip was "accuracy, accuracy, accuracy". The final tip was "be accurate and specific". This displays how important it is to not deceive the reader with your headline and you should also make sure that there are no facts in your headline that are not in your article. Another way to avoid deceiving your reader is to not insinuate or use double meanings in your headlines.
The fact that headlines are around 10 words at most; it can be difficult at times to really get across the context of the article and be as concise as possible.
While reading the Headline Writing for the Web, I noticed that the same basic principles applied to writing headlines for the Web that apply writing them for the print medium. The main difference that I noticed was the importance of writing a good headline. On the internet, search engines such as Google use the words in the headline for their search and good headline could produce more visits to your Web site. Also, you have to take into consideration that your headline will be used as the display name for links on other sites. This makes good headline writing skills extra important.
For Further Reading:
Microcontent
This article went over the same basic principles that the previous Headline Writing for the Web article did. It once again reminded us that headlines on the internet are often listed in search engines and on other Web sites. Most of the time when headlines are listed they can be out of context, but even when they are in the correct context they could be listed with other similar headlines and this potentially makes it difficult for the reader to pick out your headline from the rest.
The rest of the article went on to explain microcontent. These guidelines were much like the tips listed in the Headline Tips article. This writer once again stressed accuracy and the use of plain language to entice the reader to continue reading.
I thought the most interest part of the site were the tips for writing effective e-mail subject lines. Just like writing headlines, you want e-mail subject lines to entice the reader and get him or her to open the e-mail and read it. This definitely something that everyone should take some time to look at.
For Further Reading:
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Copy Editing and Calculations
Below is a worksheet that I had to fill out for my copy editing class. It is mostly based around how editors have to be able to check reporter's numbers. It is a very important skill to be able to check the numbers of your reporters. You readers will be looking at this and most of the time they will not check it for themselves, but will talk about the numbers to other people. The more people that know, the more likely someone else will check the numbers and if you are wrong then it could be a big problem. Any time that the newspaper is wrong it makes it lose credibility.
1. The most important factor in the relationship between media and consumers is credibility.
2. What do editors do? Editors are fact-checkers and perform grammar checks on articles that the reporters write.
3. Diagram the flow of copy from the reporter through the copy-desk chief.
Reporter --> City Editor --> Copy desk chief --> Copy Editor --> Copy desk chief
4. List the segments of the three-step editing process.
1-Read the article thoroughly. 2-Edit the article thoroughly. 3-Read the article again.
5. What are the three R's of copy editing?
Reader-centered, readable and right.
6. What is the difference between proof-reading and copy editing?
When you are proof-reading, you basically just read over the article and do little, if any, copy
editing. Copy editing is when you actually make the editing changes in grammar and
structure. You may do a very limited amount of re-writing in the copy editing process as well.
7. What is the difference between macro editing and micro editing?
Macro editing takes a look at the big picture of the article. You make sure it makes sense and
that it sound coherent overall. Micro editing is more concerned with the details of the
article. These things include grammar and punctuation.
8. Huntington City Council on Monday approved $435,000 for road repairs in the central city. The
city's 2008 budget for repairs was $410,000.
a. Did the budget for repairs increase or decrease? Increase
b. What was the percentage of increase or decrease? (25,000/410,000)=6%
c. Last year's budget was what percentage of this year's? (410,000/435,000)=94%
d. This year's budget is what percentage of last year's? 106%
9. Mayor Bart Jones announced more bad news. The city plans to spend $5.25 million on bridge
repairs, a cut of 35 percent from its $6.5 million budget.
10. These were the scores on a test in JMC 305: 100, 98, 95, 93, 93, 90, 88, 87, 87, 86, 85, 85, 84, 70.
What is the mean score? 88.64%
What is the median score? 88%
11. These were the scores on a test in JMC360: 100, 98, 95, 93, 93, 90, 88, 87, 87, 86, 85, 85, 84.
What is the mean score? 90.07%
What is the median score? 88%
12. What would the sales tax be on a purchase of $7.80 if the state charges a 6 percent sales tax?
7.80 x 0.06 = .468
This means that the sales tax would be $0.47.
1. The most important factor in the relationship between media and consumers is credibility.
2. What do editors do? Editors are fact-checkers and perform grammar checks on articles that the reporters write.
3. Diagram the flow of copy from the reporter through the copy-desk chief.
Reporter --> City Editor --> Copy desk chief --> Copy Editor --> Copy desk chief
4. List the segments of the three-step editing process.
1-Read the article thoroughly. 2-Edit the article thoroughly. 3-Read the article again.
5. What are the three R's of copy editing?
Reader-centered, readable and right.
6. What is the difference between proof-reading and copy editing?
When you are proof-reading, you basically just read over the article and do little, if any, copy
editing. Copy editing is when you actually make the editing changes in grammar and
structure. You may do a very limited amount of re-writing in the copy editing process as well.
7. What is the difference between macro editing and micro editing?
Macro editing takes a look at the big picture of the article. You make sure it makes sense and
that it sound coherent overall. Micro editing is more concerned with the details of the
article. These things include grammar and punctuation.
8. Huntington City Council on Monday approved $435,000 for road repairs in the central city. The
city's 2008 budget for repairs was $410,000.
a. Did the budget for repairs increase or decrease? Increase
b. What was the percentage of increase or decrease? (25,000/410,000)=6%
c. Last year's budget was what percentage of this year's? (410,000/435,000)=94%
d. This year's budget is what percentage of last year's? 106%
9. Mayor Bart Jones announced more bad news. The city plans to spend $5.25 million on bridge
repairs, a cut of 35 percent from its $6.5 million budget.
10. These were the scores on a test in JMC 305: 100, 98, 95, 93, 93, 90, 88, 87, 87, 86, 85, 85, 84, 70.
What is the mean score? 88.64%
What is the median score? 88%
11. These were the scores on a test in JMC360: 100, 98, 95, 93, 93, 90, 88, 87, 87, 86, 85, 85, 84.
What is the mean score? 90.07%
What is the median score? 88%
12. What would the sales tax be on a purchase of $7.80 if the state charges a 6 percent sales tax?
7.80 x 0.06 = .468
This means that the sales tax would be $0.47.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The future of journalism
As more people turn to the internet to get their news, it has become important for journalists to learn the skills needed to succeed in a technologically advanced workplace.
No longer do reporters and copy editors only need to know the ins and outs of writing, editing and producing a newspaper; they need to be able to put all of their articles and photos on the Web in a timely manner while still making it look professional.
According to a study conducted by by C. Max Magee, copy editors and online journalists are very similar these days. While there may be trouble in the newspaper industry, those of us that are well prepared have nothing to worry about.
New skills such as learning programs like Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver have become priceless for journalists. We are not just reporters these days. There are many times when we are asked to write the article, take the pictures, edit the pictures and upload them to the newspaper's Web site. Journalists can no longer rely only on their skill as a reporter.
As someone who has always been interested in graphic design and video, this new style of journalism is very exciting for me. It makes me happy to know that all of these extra skills that I have taken the time to learn will benefit me in the future.
Further reading:
Online journalist looks a lot like a copy editor
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The art of editing
Below is a baseball article that I was required to edit for class. For the most part, I feel like I am a decent copy editor. The main thing that worried me about this assignment was the fact that it was a sports article. I have never written more than one sports story in my life and this was the very first one that I have edited. The fact that I am not a big sports fan had its effect on how I edited the article. I had to look up the correct way to list all of the statistics and check in on the name of the baseball coach and things of that nature. I guess the moral of the story is that I need more practice editing sports articles so that I can become more acquainted with that style.
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The Marshall University baseball team possesses something that can possibly help the program stay successful for years to come.
Thundering Herd head baseball coach Jeff Waggoner said what he believes to be the key to the team’s future success is simply freshmen talents.
“We have some good, young players that will continue to get better and better,” Waggoner said. “As a freshman, to get playing time is so valuable. We have a lot of young guys that are playing right now and that will help us be a great program for a long time.”
Last season Waggoner utilized the skills of Victor Gomez as the team’s designated hitter. As a freshman, Gomez recorded a .358 batting average, 34 runs, 77 hits, 11 home runs and had 47 RBIs in 215 plate appearances.
Because Gomez has continued to show significant improvement at the plate and has also been able to contribute defensively during his sophomore season, Waggoner has inserted another freshman into the designated hitter role Gomez previously occupied. That player has been Thor Meeks, a freshman slugger from Hurricane, WV.
So far this season Meeks has recorded a .248 batting average, 18 runs, 28 hits, 7 home runs and has 24 RBIs in 113 plate appearances. Meeks’ numbers have declined slightly over the past few games, but Waggoner said it’s fairly common among freshmen.
“Gomez went through the same thing last year where he went through some tough times and he fought through it,” Waggoner said. They’re both great players and great hitters. I look for great things out of both of them and I think their work ethic will get them there.”
Not only are the two comparable statistically, but their physical characteristics also bear an eerie resemblance. Both have dark hair and stand 6 feet 1 inch tall. Gomez weighs in at 230 pounds, while Meeks trails slightly at 226.
“Well, I’m a better hitter than (Meeks) is, he has more power,” Gomez said. “I can see how he reminds everyone of me last year because we pretty much had the same roll on the team. We have the same approach at the plate and we both try to do things to help the team win.”
Meeks said he welcomes the comparisons.
Gomez said it is always good when a freshman comes in and has a big impact.
“He’s been a solid part of the middle of the lineup and he’s been there all year,” Gomez said. “He’s been helping me and Nate (Lape) get good pitches to hit, and that’s an important thing. He has a lot of upsides and that’s what you look for in a freshman.”
The Herd will take on conference opponent Houston in a three-game series at Appalachian Power Park this weekend. First pitch is scheduled for Friday at 7p.m.
Jonas Swecker can be contacted at jswecker@marshall.edu.
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The Marshall University baseball team possesses something that can possibly help the program stay successful for years to come.
Thundering Herd head baseball coach Jeff Waggoner said what he believes to be the key to the team’s future success is simply freshmen talents.
“We have some good, young players that will continue to get better and better,” Waggoner said. “As a freshman, to get playing time is so valuable. We have a lot of young guys that are playing right now and that will help us be a great program for a long time.”
Last season Waggoner utilized the skills of Victor Gomez as the team’s designated hitter. As a freshman, Gomez recorded a .358 batting average, 34 runs, 77 hits, 11 home runs and had 47 RBIs in 215 plate appearances.
Because Gomez has continued to show significant improvement at the plate and has also been able to contribute defensively during his sophomore season, Waggoner has inserted another freshman into the designated hitter role Gomez previously occupied. That player has been Thor Meeks, a freshman slugger from Hurricane, WV.
So far this season Meeks has recorded a .248 batting average, 18 runs, 28 hits, 7 home runs and has 24 RBIs in 113 plate appearances. Meeks’ numbers have declined slightly over the past few games, but Waggoner said it’s fairly common among freshmen.
“Gomez went through the same thing last year where he went through some tough times and he fought through it,” Waggoner said. They’re both great players and great hitters. I look for great things out of both of them and I think their work ethic will get them there.”
Not only are the two comparable statistically, but their physical characteristics also bear an eerie resemblance. Both have dark hair and stand 6 feet 1 inch tall. Gomez weighs in at 230 pounds, while Meeks trails slightly at 226.
“Well, I’m a better hitter than (Meeks) is, he has more power,” Gomez said. “I can see how he reminds everyone of me last year because we pretty much had the same roll on the team. We have the same approach at the plate and we both try to do things to help the team win.”
Meeks said he welcomes the comparisons.
Gomez said it is always good when a freshman comes in and has a big impact.
“He’s been a solid part of the middle of the lineup and he’s been there all year,” Gomez said. “He’s been helping me and Nate (Lape) get good pitches to hit, and that’s an important thing. He has a lot of upsides and that’s what you look for in a freshman.”
The Herd will take on conference opponent Houston in a three-game series at Appalachian Power Park this weekend. First pitch is scheduled for Friday at 7p.m.
Jonas Swecker can be contacted at jswecker@marshall.edu.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Practice makes better
Copy editing is nothing new to me. My first real experience with editing someone else's work came during the 2009 spring semester in my Advanced Editing & Design class. During every class period, Professor Andrick would have us look over at least one manuscript from the JMC301 class. At first I was slightly hesitant to mark up someone else's hard work, but that went by the wayside rather quickly. After the first few weeks I was making the 301 student's copy bleed with red ink and my hesitation was gone forever. By the end of the semester I really had to watch myself to keep from completely rewriting the copy.
Following the spring semester I began work as the Managing Editor of Marshall University's daily student newspaper, The Parthenon. Once I starting working in this position I was editing five or six articles every Wednesday. This was a major factor in developing my copy editing skills. The repetition of editing papers was what really got me familiar with AP style and proper grammar. I have found that most people hate busy work, but I think that the repetition is really what has helped me get better.
Following the spring semester I began work as the Managing Editor of Marshall University's daily student newspaper, The Parthenon. Once I starting working in this position I was editing five or six articles every Wednesday. This was a major factor in developing my copy editing skills. The repetition of editing papers was what really got me familiar with AP style and proper grammar. I have found that most people hate busy work, but I think that the repetition is really what has helped me get better.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Marshall relies on freshman players
The future of Marshall University football could likely fall into the hands of two freshman players. A.J. Graham, Mr. Florida Player of the Year, is a high-profile recruit who chose to attend Marshall over Clemson, Illinois and Kansas State. Graham, who is referred to as a dual-threat quarterback, is likely to redshirt this season, but is looking forward to working with a new group of receivers. Two of which are also true freshmen.
Another Marshall football freshman that is receiving attention is linebacker Quanthony Fletcher. Unlike Graham, the 6-foot-1, 245-pound Fletcher, is looking to leave the redshirt behind and receive playing time in the 2009 season. According to The Herald-Dispatch, Fletcher said things were going good so far and he is ready to step up and play his part in the event the coach needs him.
Marshall starts their football season on Sept. 5 against Southern Illinois at home. Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m.
Image courtesy of College Sports Nation
For further reading:
Freshman linebacker looking for playing time in first year
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x1562580290/Freshman-linebacker-looking-for-playing-time-in-first-year
Graham settling in at Marshall
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x1886685342/Graham-settling-in-at-Marshall
The nuclear rights of Iran
The United States and its allies have embarked on a war of words with Iran over the country's disputed nuclear program. There is a belief among countries such as the United States, Germany, Britain and France that Iran could be using nuclear technology to create weapons. Iranian officials say that they are only using the technology to generate electricity. This claim has not stopped other countries from speaking out against the prospect of an Iranian atomic bomb. Israel, a country that could possibly own the only atomic arsenal in the Middle East, has also shown concern regarding the consequences of a possible Iranian bomb. A fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran will be considered if they do not accept nuclear program negotiations. These potential sanctions are not likely to curtail Iran's nuclear progress due to the fact that they have continually disregarded the threat of sanctions. According to The Washington Post, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi has responded by saying that Iran will seriously defend its nuclear rights.
For further reading:
