Jour 301 Copy Editing
Associate Professor Mike Spear
Office: 418 Ryland Hall
Hours: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Mondays and Wednesdays
Call for appointment
Tel: 289 8324 (o)
282 8008 (h)
mspear@richmond.edu
Class meets Tuesdays-Thursdays in Ryland 500, 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Course Objectives: Journalism 301 teaches the fundamentals of copy editing, principally as they apply to general- circulation newspapers. The course emphasizes accuracy, style and the fundamentals of English usage. You will edit news and feature copy (stories), write headlines and design newspaper pages. Emphasis is given to verification of facts, libel, ethics and to printing and newsroom technology. The Associated Press style will be used in all copy.
Texts:
1. "Copy Editors' Handbook for Newspapers"
by Anthony R. Fellow and Thomas N. Clanin, Morton Publishing Co.,
Englewood, Colo. 1998.
2. "A Pocket Style Manual" by Diana Hacker, St. Martin's
Press. N.Y. 1993.
3. A pocket dictionary, preferably "The American Heritage
Dictionary," Dell Publishing Co., Inc. New York.
4 The New York Times online, daily and Sunday. (http://www.nyTimes.com)
5. "The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual,"
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Inc., (latest edition).
6. On reserve at the Boatwright circulation desk, "Words
on Words" by John Bremner, Columbia University Press, New
York, 1980.
Grading: Classroom and homework exercises begin with a raw score of 100. Plus points may be earned for making improvements in the copy beyond those normally expected of a copy editor. They may be earned for a particularly effective job of simplifying a complex point, the strengthening of a local angle, improvements in the lead or in the story's organization. Their value varies, depending on the quality and extent of the improvements.
Remember: A copy editor's job is not to rewrite. It is to help the writer. Ideally, a copy editor in a newsroom would contact the writer about any significant changes that need to be made in copy. You are expected to work to the best of your ability. Don't expect plus points to be added for C-level work. Plus points will be added when the work is clearly superior.
An automatic F comes with misspelled names, misquotes or other major factual errors. Deductions may increase when new errors are edited into the copy. Points may be deducted also for other editing oversights, such as failing to tighten wordy or redundant copy or failing to convert a vague statement to a specific one when the specific information is available.
Responsibility: Grading in this course is based on the assumption that the copy editor is the last person able to catch any problems in copy before the newspaper goes to the readers. At the very least, spelling and grammatical errors must be eliminated by the copy editor and AP style must be consistent. Each time an error in spelling, grammar or anything else appears in the paper, the newspaper loses credibility in the eyes of the readers. The grading system, therefore, is designed to encourage careful and accurate editing. Note: When a source such as a name or a historical date can be looked up in a reference source, you must do this.
Course Grades: Course grades are based on performance in the classroom, on homework and on a series of quizzes on subjects, including style, grammar and usage. Editing requires skills that can be developed and improved only through practice. You will be required to do much editing in this course. To help you develop, I will evaluate your work closely. These time-consuming critiques are for your benefit, to help you learn and improve. If you ignore them, you will not do well in this course.
Final course grades will be distributed this way:
Classwork, quizzes -- 65 percent
Progress and attitude -- 5 percent
Midterm -- 10 percent
Final --20 percent
The progress and attitude portion of
your grade is based on a careful evaluation of your
work throughout the semester, considering your application of
principles, responsibility in meeting deadlines, attendance andparticipation,
among other factors.
Grade Values: Here are the grades and their values for this course:
A = 92-100
B = 82-88
C = 72-78
D = 62-68
F = 59 and
below
Pluses and Minuses:
A+= 98-100 D+=68-69
A-=90-91 D-=60-61
B+=88-89
B-=80-81
C+=78-79
C-=70-71
Note: The grading system applies to all classroom exercises,
tests and quizzes.
Some grading abbreviations:
Awk - Awkward Phrasing
pwc - Poor Word Choice
Gr - Grammatical Error
Pct - Punctuation Error
AP - Style Error
Sp - Spelling Error
Tense - Incorrect Verb Tense
Tr - Transition Problem
Cheating and Dishonesty: Personal integrity is an essential part of good journalism. Therefore, I expect all work done in this class to be your own. I'll have you sign a pledge for the entire semester at the start.
Attendance: You must be punctual , and you cut class at your peril. If you miss a class editing exercise, you get not an F, but a zero. There is a difference. (F usually is only 59.) Make-ups will not be given. This course is packed with information and is fast moving. If you miss a class, you will have a big editing gap to make up. If you are forced to miss class, get an official excuse and I'll help you make up what you have missed. (Give me notice if you know you must miss class.)
Important: At the end of the semester, if you have perfect attendance, I will drop your lowest two grades during the critical last five weeks of he couse. If you miss one class, I will drop your lowest grade. That's it. When you miss class you are expected to find out what the assignment is and complete it when it is due. I don't accept late assignments. If you miss three classes during the semester, you will lose a letter grade for the course. If you miss five classes, you will lose two letter grades.
To help you develop as a professional journalist,
I will evaluate your work according to professional standards,
regardless of your experience, appearance or
personality. Grading is based on performance. Criteria include
accuracy, clarity, thoroughness, language usage, news judgment,
balance and fairness, story organization, conciseness and simplicity,
proper use of AP style and absence of bias
and libel.
AP Stylebook Study Guide:
Sections covering A through D should be mastered by Jan. 23. Look especially at abbreviations and acronyms; academic degrees/ departments/titles; accused; A.D.; addresses; adopt, approve, enact; adverse/Al Fatah; averse/adverse; adviser; affect/effect; ages; aid/aide; Alaska; allege; allude/refer; altar/alter; all right; amok; among/between; annual; anticipate; /expect; apostrophes; apposition; Arabic numerals; arbitrate/mediate; arctic; army; arrest; assassin, killer, murderer; as if; assault/battery; attorney/lawyer; attorney general/attorneys general; author; awhile/ a while; bad/badly; because/since; bail; biannual/biennial; bloc/block; blond/blonde; burglary, larceny, robbery, theft; capitalizations; Capitol; chairman/chairwoman; chief justice; Chinese names; collective nouns; collide/collision; the colon; comma; complement/compliment; composition titles; compared to/compared with; compose/comprise/constitute; continual/continuous; couple/couple of; courtesy titles; court-martial; dangling modifiers; the dash; datelines; demolish/destroy; dilemma; dimensions; directions; discrete/discreet; diseases; disinterested/uninterested; and duel.
Sections covering E through J should be mastered by Jan. 30. Pay close attention to each other/one another; earth; ecology; either...or/neither...nor; ellipses; e-mail; emigrate/immigrate; ensure/insure; entitled; espresso; essential clauses-phrases/non-essential clauses-phrases; euro; ex.; extra; execute; false titles; Fannie Mae; farther/further; faze/phase; feather bedding/featherbedding; felony/misdemeanor; fewer/less; figuratively /literally; first lady; fiscal/monetary; flack/flak; flair/flare; flaunt/flout; flier/flyer; flounder/founder; following; forcible rape; forego/forgo; fractions; fulsome; gamut/gantlet/gauntlet; gibe/jibe; gourmand/gourmet; governmental bodies; grade/grader; grisly/grizzly; guerrilla/gorilla; habeas corpus; hang/hanged/hung; highway designations; historic/historical; holidays; hopefully; hyphen; imply/infer; in/into; indiscreet/indiscrete; input; injuries; irregardless; junior/senior; judgment; jury
Sections covering K through O should be mastered by Feb. 6. Look closely at ketchup; kidnap; Kmart; knot; Korean names; Ku Klux Klan; lady; late; latitude/longitude; lay/lie; lectern/podium/pulpit/rostrum;/legislative titles; legislature; like/as; livid; magazine names; machine gun; Medal of Honor; middle initials; miles per gallon/miles per hour; milquetoast; millions/billions; minus sign; mishap; months; mph; mujahedeen; mullah; names; nautical mile; naval/navel; nicknames; none; numerals; obscenities/profanities, vulgarities; oral/verbal/written; organizations/institutions; and over.
Sections covering P through T should be mastered by Feb. 13. Here you should look especially at parentheses; pardon/parole/probation; part time/part-time; party affiliation; pedal/peddle; penitentiarypeople/persons; percent; percentages; personifications; Peter Principle; Ph.D/Ph.Ds; Philippines; pica; plead/pleaded/pleading; plurals; p.m./a.m.; political parties and philosophies; polls and surveys; pore/pour; port/starboard; possessives; presently; pretense/pretext; presently; principal/principle; prior to; prison/jail; professor; prove/proved/proving; quotation marks; quotations in the news; ratio; ravage/ravish; rack/wrack; rebut/refute; reign/rein; revolver; rifle/riffle; scurrilous; semiannual; the semicolon; shall/will; should/would; sizes; slang; sneaked; spokesman/spokeswoman; sic; space shuttle; sports utility vehicle; state names; straight-laced/strait-laced; subjunctive mood; Taliban; teenager; temperatures; that/which/who/whom; time element; time of day; times; titles; toward; troop/troupe; and trustee/trusty.
Sections covering U through Z should be
mastered by Feb. 20. Look closely at
ukulele; under way; unique; United Kingdom; United Nations; upstate;
upward; Vaseline; versus; vice; Virginia; vote tabulation; weapons;
weather terms; weights; weird/weirdo; whiskey; who's/whose; widow/widower;
-wise; women; Xerox; X-ray; years; yellow journalism;and Zionism.
Proposed Schedule:
Week 1: Course introduction: Preface and Chapter 1: Working the
Desk. Editing symbols, vocabulary assessment, natural word order
with attribution, attribution placement, titles and names.
Week 2: Chapter 7: Headline Writing. Headline schedule, Bremner test, sequence of tenses, affect/ effect.
Week 3: Chapter 2: News Judgment. collective nouns, noun-pronoun agreement, cutting needless words.
Week 4: Chapter 3: Editing for Grammar. Superlatives, changing quotes, misquotations, stereotyping by race, sex and age.
Week 5: Editing for Grammar continued. Active/passive, anxious/eager, buses/busses, teenage, possessives, me/myself, danglers, who/whom, clutter, misused terms, adopted/passed, amount/number, avenge/revenge, aggravate/irritate, collision, compared to/compared with, concert/recital, continuous/ continual, hardy/hearty, sustenance/subsistence, circumlocutions, charged...with/accused...of, reason...is (not "because"), cliches.
Week 6: Chapter 4: Precision and Accuracy. Foreign names, medical terms, volition, trade names, death terms, math, weather terms, disaster terms, synonym sickness.
Week 7: Precision and Accuracy continued.
MIDTERM, Feb. 25
(Spring Break begins after classes Feb. 28. Classes resume March
10.)
Week 8: Chapter 5: Editing for Style. Localizing news.
Week 9: Chapter 6: Libel and Ethics. Libelous statements, libel defenses, privacy, privacy defenses, plagiarism, copyright infringement, terminology, misused terms, legal jargon.
Week 10: Libel and Ethics continued. Court terms: habeas corpus, writ of mandamus, change of venue.
Week 11: Chapter 9: Photos.
Week 12: Chapter 11: Designing pages.
Weeks 13-14: Review.
Last day of classes is April 18.
Useful web sites:
THE SLOT: THE SPOT FOR COPY EDITORS:
http://www.theslot.com/
CJR'S LANGUAGE CORNER:
http://www.cjr.org/resources/lc/
AMERICAN COPY EDITORS SOCIETY:
http://www.copydesk.org/index.shtml
WEBSTER'S UNABRIDGED:
http://work.ucsd.edu:5141/cgi-bin/http_webster
ONLINE ENGLISH GRAMMAR:
http://www.edunet.com/english/grammar/index.cfm
GUIDE TO GRAMMAR AND STYLE
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/
THE CLICHE FINDER
http://www.westegg.com/cliche/
SEARCH ENGINES
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/is/library/searcheng.html
BASIC STATISTICS
http://nilesonline.com/stats/
COMMON ENGLISH ERRORS:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
GOOD SITE:
http://www.robertniles.com/
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