Who Are You?

Please paste this brief survey as your first blog post for this class with answers to the questions below - and feel free to add anything else you think might be relevant.



Who Are You?


Name: What year?

E-Mail:

• Where are you from?
• Why did you come to the University of Florida?
• Major?
  
• Why are you taking this course (besides the fact it is required)?
  
• Outside interests, hobbies, avocations, things you love to do?
• Tell me one interesting thing about you – something that makes you unique.
• Are you the first person in your family to attend a university?
  
• On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being top-notch, how would you rate your knowledge of grammar, punctuation and AP style?
  
• On the same scale, how would you rate your skills with working with InDesign and PhotoShop and with online media in general?
• What online skills do you feel you are proficient at?
  
• Where do you get most of your news?
• What books are you reading and have read in the last three months?
• Career Goals? Be specific as possible. Elaborate a bit.
• What magazines, newspapers and news Web sites do you read regularly?
• What is your favorite Web site?
  
• Do you blog?
  
• Do you have any media/communication experience? If so, what?
  
• Are you pursuing a media related internship or job at this time?
  
• Do you have an updated resume in your files?

Editing PR Speak

From: http://theregoeseasyrider.com/post/65584666/tis-the-season-for-horribly-written-press-releases

'Tis the season for horribly written press releases

Twice a year I help one of the trade magazines I freelance for gear up for the NAMM Show, which means I spend a few hours a day for about a month editing PR Speak out of press releases for the latest guitars, drums and gadgets hitting the market from the biggest instrument manufacturers in the industry.

That means twice a year I’m reminded why most journalists condescendingly call publicists and press release writers J-School Dropouts behind their backs.

Here are a few examples of adjectives that appear in just about every release I’ve edited in the past week that all PR representatives should strike from their vocabularies when describing their company’s products:

• Noteworthy
• Incredibly
• Beautiful
• Stunning
• Gorgeous
• Cutting-edge
• Top-quality
• State-of-the-art
• Ingenious
• Unprecedented
• Best

Just the facts, please.

See, too this excerpt on writing press releases that insists they should be written in "news style" and "avoid the first person.

The French poodle rule

The French poodle rule is fairly straightforward.

French is a proper noun and therefore is capitalized.

But poodle is a common noun. There is no province called Poodle. Thus, poodle is lowercase in news style, no matter if the American Kennel Club insists it is up in their press releases and on their Web site.

Thus, as with so many things in writing and editing to style, we need to extrapolate to other instances of this in considering whether the first letter of a word is up or down. Sometimes, of course, that takes some research to determine if a name is derived from a proper noun.

Feel free to comment on this topic below.

Feel free to comment

No or Any

The New York Times reported the NCAA is looking into Tennessee's use of hostesses to attract top football players. The NCAA has met with four prospects and is expected to talk to two more this week.

This is passage from NYT story:

Marcus Lattimore, a running back who made an unofficial visit to Tennessee but said he would not enroll there, said multiple Tennessee hostesses attended a game at James F. Byrnes High School in Duncan, S.C., in September. He said they brought signs, including one that read, “Come to Tennessee.”

“I haven’t seen no other schools do that,” he said. “It’s crazy.”

This is passage from St. Pete Times story:

Lattimore said he was not interested in committing. But two teammates, defensive ends Brandon Willis and Corey Miller, have done so orally. Lattimore called the hostesses pretty and real cool.

"I haven't seen any other schools do that," Lattimore said. "It's crazy."

Questions for Midterm Review

Load as comment any questions you have for next week's Midterm.

Concurrent vs. Consecutive Sentences

See:

1. Concurrent vs. Consecutive
2. Concurrent Sentence
3. News Examples
   

Chapter 15

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 14

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 13

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 12

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 11

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 10

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 9

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 8

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 7

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 6

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 5

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 4

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 3

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 2:

XXXXX


On

1. Read

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX

Chapter 1: Introduction to Focused Editing

INTRODUCTION

Read: How to be a Journalism Student

On Close/Critical/Focused Editing

1. Read introduction to "Line by Line Editing" : The line-by-line editor looks at each sentence analytically, seeing its components and inner workings, using grammatical concepts as a set of tools for detecting and eliminating flaws. If you simply recognize that a sentence sounds bad, you can't necessarily pinpoint and correct what's wrong. Like the driver who know that the car won't start but has no idea what to look for under the dutifully raised hood, you can only fiddle with this and that in hit-or-miss fashion.
   
2. Read What is Critical Reading?
3. Read On Close Editing

Mastering Grammar for Journalists -

1. XX - See e-Learning for PowerPoint on XXX
   

Chapter X - Reporting/Checking/Researching the Facts

• Is fact-checking a journalistic function? Jon Stewart Video

Cops/Courts By the Book

Time Spent

Some reporters and editors have a problem with this construction and try to rewrite in various contortions, but it is pretty standard the way it is here.

Nazir was sentenced to the time he has spent in jail. OR Nazir was sentenced to time spent. See examples:

1. He stood a Bench trial, was found guilty and was sentenced to time spent in jail awaiting trial, plus probation and parole ...
   
2. Petrovic was sentenced to time spent in jail before trial, four-and-a-half-months, and payment of a $100 special assessment. The guilty verdict for the ...
   
3. A man who played a minor role in the scheme was sentenced to time spent in custody and deported last month.

On Line-By-Line Editing

The line-by-line editor looks at each sentence analytically, seeing its components and inner workings, using grammatical concepts as a set of tools for detecting and eliminating flaws. If you simply recognize that a sentence sounds bad, you can't necessarily pinpoint and correct what's wrong. Like the driver who knows that the car won't start but has no idea what to look for under the dutifully raised hood, you can only fiddle with this and that in hit-or-miss fashion.
From Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing (see = http://tinyurl.com/n3po8w )

On Close Editing

Close editing, as distinguished from scanning-for-typos, is an intensely intimate enterprise. (Just to head off any misunderstandings. Really close editing requires not only seeing what's there, but seeing what isn't there and should be, or what is but is in the wrong place. It requires putting aside "how I would have said it" to be able to come up with something like "how you, at your best, might have said it."

From a blog post Title Editing and Intimacy

And a comment to post:


There are real editors in our midst and they can often be found lurking behind readable papers. They are professional editors. These are the ones who can transform muddiness and vagueness into spring water and clarity. They advocate for the reader. They suggest, improve, renovate, elucidate, spiff-up, improve (say, wait, does that need editing?) your documents. They turn snoozable material into a cup of good coffee. Professional editors may not only improve your writing but add perspective and light to your thinking.

There are organizations of them. There are good editors and not-so-good editors. There are content editors, and author's editors, and subject-matter editors. You can sometimes find them coaching students at universities.

Sure, some editing skills can be taught but editing requires a tremendous focus and discipline. Unless you're doing it full time, and can keep your skills sharp, you might just want to find a professional. And, when you find a good one, pay them fairly and keep them close.