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Lecturenotes:Editingandrewriting

Instructors

Instructors>Lecturenotes:Editingandrewriting

Editingandrewritingaretwoofthehardestjobsfacingawriterparticularly
forourowncopy.Mostofusdontdoitverywell.
First,somegeneralprinciples:
Editingiscentraltotheprocessofwritingforthemassmedia.
Goodwritersconsciouslytrainthemselvestoedittheirowncopy.
Editingtakesmaturitythatis,adevelopedsenseofwhatisgoodwriting
andhowitsoundstothereader.
Itisofteneasiertoeditsomeoneelsescopythantoeditourown.
Editorsshouldputthemselves,asmuchaspossible,intheplaceofthe
readerandask,Whatwillthereaderexpectfromthispieceofwriting?

Thedisciplineofediting
Editingismorethanjustrereadingcopysothatyoucanfixthetechnicalerrors.
Thatisthefirststep,certainly,butgoodeditinggoesfarbeyondthat.Thegoalof
editingistomakethecopybetteratseveraldifferentlevels.Thatswhythe
processofeditingisthesameastheprocessofwriting.Aneditormustsolvea
complex,intricateproblemthathappenstobewithwordsinsteadofnumbers
andthereisnobookofanswers.

Technicalerrors
Mostofushavesomeabilitytofindtechnicalerrorsinourcopygrammar,
spelling,punctuationandstyle.Youshoulddoeverythingyoucantocorrectthose
errorsbecausedoingsomarksyouasaprofessional.
Youshoulduseaspellcheckerifitisavailabletoyouonyourcomputer.
(But,ofcourse...dontdependonaspellchecker.)
Youshouldreadyourcopycarefully,wordforword,sentencebysentence.
Sometimesithelpstoreadcopybackwards,sentencebysentence.The
reasoningforthisisthatitbreakstheflow,sothatyoupaymoreattention
tothewordsratherthantheideas.
Sometimesithelpstoputsomephysicaldistancebetweenyouandyour
copy.Ifyouhavetime,getupandleavetheroom.Putyourselfinanother
environmentandtrynottothinkaboutyourcopyforafewminutes.

Oneofthemostfamous
speechesinAmerican
historywasdeliveredby
Ifappropriate,asksomeoneelsetoreadyourcopysomeonewhowill
PresidentFranklin
giveyouanhonestopinionaboutit.Thatpersonwilloftenspottechnical
RooseveltonDec.8,1941,
errorsthatyoucantsee.And,ifyouarelucky,thatpersonwilltellyou
thedayafterPearlHarbor
whensomethingdoesntmakesense.
wasbombedbythe
Japanese.Rooseveltwas
Usage:thenextlevelofediting
famousforeditinghis
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speechesandmaking
thembetter.Clickonthe
graphicaboveandtakea
lookatwhathedidtothe
firstdraftofthatspeech.

Lecturenotes:Editingandrewriting

Whatyouwritecanbetechnicallyperfect.Itcanstillbebad.
Itcanbebadbecauseofthefollowingfactors:
usageDoyouusewordsforexactlywhattheymean?Doyouusethem
correctlyinthecontextyouarewriting?
Astudentofmineonceusedthephrase,...forallintensivepurposes.What
shemeanttosaywas..forallintentsandpurposes.
Dontbereticenttospeakwhenyouarereluctant.
Dontgofiringoffacanon.
And,aboveall,dontstandonyourprincipals.
clichsClichsareoverusedwordsandphrasesthatmaybeeasilyunderstood
butareasignoftiredwritingorlimitedabilitiesonthepartofthewriter.This
weeksexamplespagecontainsasportscolumnthatisweakenedbytoomany
clichs.
redundanciesUsingunnecessarywordstoexpressathoughtorfactisa
redundancy.
repetitionsThisoneistricky.Youwantyourwritingtobefresh,soyouusea
varietyofwords.Butsometimesyoucannotavoidusingthesamewordsinan
article.Andsometimes,youwanttorepeatyourselfforemphasis.
Thoroughlyconfused?
Okay.Heresasimplerule.Inwritingnewsstories,trytoavoidrepeatingaverb,
exceptforcommononessuchas"said"andlinkingverbs.Youshouldparticularly
trytoavoidusingthesameverbintwosuccessivesentences.Therepetitionagain
becomeobviousandirritating.
So,atthenextlevelofediting,youshouldbeconcernedwithhowyouusethe
language.

Wordiness:thecurseofanyage
Goodwritersmakesurethateverywordtheyusecontributessomethingtowhat
theyarewriting.
Whenyouareediting,youshouldtrytoreadthroughyourcopyatleastoncewith
thesolepurposeofcuttingdownonthenumberofwordsyouuse.Thatsnotto
sayyoushouldcutoutinformation.Youshouldsimplytrytocutdownonthe
numberofwordsthatyouuse.Youmightfindphraseslikethefollowing:
Shedonated$25,000ofherownmoneytothecause.
Thecompanymakeslabelsforawidevarietyofproductsfoundinretail
storesandoutlets.
Revenuereductionsforthestatewillamountto$500millionifthe
programsareeliminated.
PeopleinAsiancountrieshavebeeneatingjellyfishasadelicacyfor
hundredsofyears.
Carefuleditingcouldmaketheseinto:
Shegave$25,000tothecause.
Thecompanymakeslabelsforretailproducts.
Thestatecouldlose$500millioniftheprogramsareshutdown.
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Lecturenotes:Editingandrewriting

Asianshavelongconsideredjellyfishadelicacy.
Herewerearenotjusttalkingaboutfindingredundanciesandrepetitions.Weare
examiningthewaythatweexpressourinformationandideas.Insomeinstances,
wewereabletosubstituteshorterwordsforlongerones(gavefordonated,
forinstance).Sometimeswecanfindthebureaucraticphrasesrevenue
reductionsthatoftencloudmodernwriting.
Passivevoiceverbsarealwaysgoodtargetsforthiskindofediting,Everytime
yourunacrossapassivevoice,seeifyoucanturnitaroundandmakeitactive
andseeifthatdoesntsoundbetter.Sometimesitwontoften,itwill.(Formore
onthepassivevoice,checkouttheguidetoGrammar,Spelling,Punctuationand
Dictiononthiswebsite.)

SectionI|1:NewsandSociety|2:CultureofJournalism|3:BecomingaJournalist
SectionII|4:Newspapers|5:Magazines|6:TelevisionandRadio|7:NewsWebSites
SectionIII|8:Reporters|9:Reporting|10:Writingnewsandfeatures|11:Style|
12:Editors|13:Editingandheadlinewriting|14:VisualJournalists|
15:GraphicsJournalism|16:Photojournalism|17:PublicationDesign|
18:Broadcasters|19:WritingforBroadcast
SectionIV|20:BeginningsofJournalism|21:JournalismComesofAge|
22:NewRealities,NewJournalism|23:20thCenturyandBeyond
SectionV|24:LawandtheJournalist|25:EthicalPractices|26:PresentandFuture
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