Watch Your Words: A Writing and Editing Handbook for the Multimedia Age

by Marda Dunsky

Overview

Journalists — even those working simultaneously in print, on air and on the Web — trade in words. Using language well across platforms is a vital skill; the cleaner and clearer the text, the more effective the result. Watch Your Words, now in its fourth edition, is a brief and accessible handbook for mastering baseline knowledge of punctuation, grammar, usage and Associated Press style.

This new edition features a new quality-control guide to writing and editing. The guide covers accuracy and fact-checking; brevity and tightening; clarity; use of quotes and attribution; and basic editing principles. The new edition also incorporates current AP style and continues to offer language-skills self-tests with answer keys, as well as sections on spelling and copy-editing symbols. It is an excellent resource for use in both the classroom and the newsroom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442253438
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/24/2015
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	108
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Marda Dunsky, an editor, educator and editorial consultant, teaches at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.

Table of Contents

Getting Text Right

Punctuation
Rules and Guidelines
Conjunction Junction: Comma Rules for and, but and or
Nonessential vs. Essential: That vs. Which
Punctuation Self-Test

Grammar
Basic Terms and Concepts
Grammar Terms and Concepts Exercise
Mapping Who vs. Whom
Making the Right Choice
Practice Sentences: Who vs. Whom
Other Rules and Guidelines
Grammar Self-Tests

Usage
Rules and Guidelines
Usage Self-Test

RECAP: Comprehensive Self-Test

AP Stylebook Study Guide
AP Style Self-Tests

Spelling
Homonyms and Other Sound-Alikes Exercise
Spelltraps

Copy-Editing Symbols
Copy-Editing Symbols Self-Test
Basic Symbolism
Quality-Control Guide to Writing and Editing

Supplementary Self-Tests
Punctuation/AP Style Test
Grammar/AP Style Test
Usage/AP Style Test
Final Language-Skills Test

Answer Key
Punctuation Self-Test
Grammar Terms and Concepts Exercise
Grammar Self-Test I
Grammar Self-Test II
Usage Self-Test
RECAP: Comprehensive Self-Test7
AP Style Self-Test I
AP Style Self-Test II
AP Style Self-Test III
Homonyms and Other Sound-Alikes
Copy-Editing Symbols Self-Test
Punctuation/AP Style Test
Grammar/AP Style Test
Usage/AP Style Test
Final Language-Skills Test
Exercise: Fact-Checking
Exercise: Tightening
Exercise: Clarity
Exercise: Quotes and Attribution

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

The brevity, layout and ease of use make Watch Your Words an ideal reference guide. It presents important information in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner that will help students solve their issues quickly.

Brad Schultz

Watch Your Words is a practical review of grammar, punctuation and language usage for both students and working journalists. It's a handy resource no matter what you're writing. I look forward to recommending this essential guide to my students.

Sandy Ellis

Watch Your Words is an affordably priced reference that succinctly covers the basics without a lot of extraneous nonsense. The self-tests and exercises are particularly useful.

William E. Huntzicker

Watch Your Words is an affordably priced reference that succinctly covers the basics without a lot of extraneous nonsense. The self-tests and exercises are particularly useful.

William Huntzicker

A versatile, valuable teaching tool that concentrates a large number of language lessons in a small number of pages. The self-tests are especially helpful as they allow students to work at their own pace to improve their skills.

Miles Maguire

A concise, focused and useful text that potentially replaces a shelf full of grammar books not aimed at journalists.

Rosanne V. Pagano

I’ve used this handbook for the past several years because it simply gets the job done in preparing students for the changing media industry. Watch Your Words explains the finer points of grammar in a clear and concise manner, equipping journalists with the essential tools to produce carefully written and edited content.

Michael A. Deas

Watch Your Words offers complete, concise, and cogent explanations and examples of grammar and punctuation as well as Associated Press style rules; both instructors and students will value it as a resource. It should be recommended, if not required, reading for students in English, speech, mass communications, and other communications classes.

Marijane Wernsman