Copycrafting: Editing for Journalism Today

by Kenneth Rosenauer

Overview

From newspapers to Twitter®, the media's ability to deliver news and interact with audiences is constantly changing. In Copycrafting, author Kenneth Rosenauer provides aspiring journalists and copyeditors with the essential tools for delivering content effectively and correctly, regardless of the media platform. More than just the basics of copyediting and AP style, this complete package provides a wealth of examples and exercises for practice. This allows students to actively learn the editing skills that they will need to flourish in the constantly evolving media landscape.

Features
* Excellent coverage of AP style with explanations and examples
* Tips on writing headlines, editing problem leads, editing images and designing pages
* Stories for students to edit
* An Appendix that contains a directory for students to consult as they complete the exercises
* A Solutions Manual with corrected versions of every exercise in the book, available to instructors on the Companion Website (www.oup.com/us/rosenauer)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199763658
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/15/2013
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	10.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kenneth Rosenauer is Professor of Journalism and English at Missouri Western State University. He is a former newspaper editor and reporter. He is coauthor with Vincent Filak of The Journalist's Handbook for Online Editing (2013) and author of Storycrafting: A Process Approach to Writing News (2004).

Table of Contents

PART 1. The Basics 1. The Role of the Copy Editor What Copy Editors Do Check Facts and Figures for Accuracy Check Style for Consistency With Associated Press and House Guidelines Review Stories for Potential Legal and Ethical Problems and Resolve Them Cut, Add, Replace or Rearrange Words, Sentences and Paragraphs Check for Focus, Readability and Organization Work Closely and Creatively With Reporters Write Effective and Appropriate Headlines Traits of Good Copy Editors Strong Grounding in Basic Skills Attention to Detail Love of the Written-or Spoken-Word Curiosity Creativity Familiarity With and Knowledge of Particular Media Newsroom Organization and Copy Flow 2. Editing Content Three C's: Clarity, Conciseness and Correctness Clarity Conciseness Correctness Leads The Body and Organization Questions to Consider Inverted Pyramid Other Story Formats Finishing Up 3. Copy Editing for Print and Online Characteristics of Print Stories Versus Online Stories Being Aware of Search Engine Optimization Editing Approaches to Print and Online ONLINE INSIGHTS: Using Google Trends Editing Hardcopy Versus On-Screen Copy Editing Marks 4. Legal, Ethical and Inclusive-Language Concerns for Copy Editors Distinguishing Between Law, Morals and Ethics Legal Concerns-Libel ONLINE INSIGHTS: Copyright Legal concerns-Privacy ONLINE INSIGHTS: SOPA, PIPA and Dealing With Piracy Ethical Concerns-Codes of Conduct Ethical Concerns-Diversity PART 2. AP Style 5. Abbreviations and Acronyms Academic Degrees Addresses Months Organizations State Names Text Messaging Titles Political Parties Others Exercises 6. Capitalization Addresses Agencies Buildings Compositions-Names of Books, Movies, Television Programs and Other Works Congress Constitution Department Directions and Regions Fields of Study Foods Heavenly Bodies Historical Periods and Events Indians Legislature Online References Plurals Political Parties Religious References Room Seasons Time Titles Other Entries of Interest Exercises 7. Numerals Exceptions to Less-Than-10 Rule Numbers Beginning Sentences Fractions Millions, Billions Ordinal and Cardinal Numbers ONLINE INSIGHTS: "Google it"Math and Conversions for Editors Percentages and Decimals Averages Distance, Time and Rate Area Measurements Exercises 8. Plurals For Most Words For Words Ending in -ch, -s, -sh, -ss, -x and -z For Words Ending in -is For Words Ending in -y For Words Ending in -o For Words Ending in -f For Words With Latin Endings For Compound Words For Proper Names Others Exercises 9. Commonly Misspelled and Misused Words Exercises 10. Titles The Golden Rule of Title Capitalization Abbreviating Titles Government Officials Past and Future Titles Long Titles Doctor Legislative Titles Party Affiliation Religious Titles Royal Titles and Titles of Nobility Composition Titles-Names of Books, Movies and Other Works Television Program Titles Exercises 11. AP Potpourri Potpourr Inclusive Language ONLINE INSIGHTS — Online Terms for Editors Exercises 12. Style Mastery Exercises PART 3. Punctuation and Usage 13. Commas Compound Sentences Elements in a Series Other Series Introductory Elements Interrupting Elements Attribution Large Numbers Beyond the Rules Exercises 14. Semicolons and Colons Semicolons-Independent Clauses (Complete Sentences) Joined Without Coordinating Conjunctions Semicolons-Elements in Series That Have Commas Colons-Introduction of Lists Colons-Separations for Explanations, Rules or Examples From Preceding Independent Clauses (Full Sentences)Other Uses Exercises 15. Apostrophes Possessives Contractions Single Letters Figures Double Possessives Omitted Letters or Figures Descriptive Phrases Plural Words Special Expressions Exercises 16. Quotation Marks, Question Marks and Exclamation Points Quotation Marks-With Other Punctuation Quotation Marks-For Direct Quotations Quotation Marks-With Composition Titles Quotation Marks-With Nicknames, Irony and Unfamiliar Terms Question Marks Exclamation Points Exercises 17. Hyphens, Dashes, Ellipses And Parentheses Hyphens-Compound Modifiers Hyphens-Prefixes Hyphens-Suffixes Hyphens-Ratios and Odds Hyphens-Fractions Hyphens-Scores and Vote Tabulations Hyphens-Other Dashes-Abrupt Change Dashes-Series Within a Phrase Dashes-Other Ellipses Parentheses Exercises 18. Irregular Verbs To Lay or To Lie To Raise or To Rise To Set or To Sit/Irregular Verb List Exercises 19. Problem Pronouns That and Which Who/Whom and Whoever/Whomever Who's and Whose There, Their and They're/Exercises 20. Prepositions Unnecessary Prepositions Wordy Prepositions Idiomatic Use of Prepositions Exercises 21. Agreement Subject-Verb Agreement Pronoun Agreement Exercises 22. Wordiness i There Is/There Are and It Is Sentences Form of the Verb To Be as the Main Verb Nominalization Redundancies Circumlocutions Empty Phrases and Words Clichés Euphemisms ONLINE INSIGHTS: Editing Blog Posts Passive Voice Exercises 23. Punctuation and Usage Mastery Exercises PART 4. Leads, Headlines, Images, Design and the Full Story 24. Leads No-News Leads Buried Leads Too Long Leads Passive Leads Definition Leads Direct Quotation Leads Question Leads Cliché Leads Weak Beginnings The When/Attribution There Is/There Are Exercises 25. Headlines The Tradition of Headline Writing First Step Traditional Headline Rules Traditional Headline Types Headline Do's Headline Don'ts Headline Tips Accurate, Interesting, Appropriate and Effective Headlines Examples of Winning Headlines Some Additional Headline Advice Column Measures ONLINE INSIGHTS Web Page Headline Tips Using Microsoft Word to Write Headlines Exercises 26. Images Working With Photographers and Graphic Artists Selecting Images Photographs Graphics Understanding Composition Rule of Thirds Balance Contrast Lines Perspective Format ONLINE INSIGHTS: Free Online Photo Editing Tools Preparing Images Cropping Sizing ONLINE INSIGHTS: Preparing Photos for the Web Adjusting Sharpening Writing Captions Exercises 27. Design Design Principles Balance Proximity Alignment Repetition Contrast Dominance Unity Typography Font Choices Display and Body Type Type Guidelines Images Photographs Graphics Designing Print Pages Designing Online Pages ONLINE INSIGHTS: Web Page Editing Tips Exercise 28. The Full Story Exercises PART 5. Appendix Appendix Heartland Directory Online Editing Resources Irregular Verb List Common Clichés List

Editorial Reviews

"Copycrafting provides the most relevant AP style issues and shapes them into an easily digestible package for students. The practical elements of this book, in terms of its content and exercises, make it a great choice for a journalism-editing class."—Nicole Kraft, The Ohio State University

"Copycrafting offers a sound foundation in editing basics with excellent, updated exercises that provide students with solid practice opportunities."—Carolyn Lepre, Marist College

From the Publisher