Description of Course

The lecture portion of this course will offer a major emphasis on the nuts and bolts of editing and writing -- spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage, style (in this case, AP) and math-for-journalists skills.

But ultimately, the onus is on you to acquire these skills outside of the lecture. If you believe you have some weak spots in these skills, then make a point of studying the sites listed below, many of which have programmed quizzes in different areas of grammar and punctuation that will offer you explanations. I note this because these are skills you need to succeed, but also because 40 percent of your overall grade for this course comes from the lecture, which emphasizes these skills.

• Newsroom 101: Exercises in Grammar, Usage and Associated Press Style
  
• If you look at no other, look at this one. (When it asks for your Newsroom 101  name, just hit "OK" twice and you are in.)
• Exercise Central for AP Style
• The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
• Modern English Grammar: A Hypertext Book
• A Spelling Test
• Purdue Writing Lab

But in addtion, in the 15 weeks ahead we will also focus on current affairs, which requires you to read the news.

Classroom Meetings

The lecture portion of this class meets twice a week. The grade you receive in this lecture will be combined -- in consultation with your lab instructor -- with your editing lab grade in figuring your final grade. Your course grade is 40 percent lecture and 60 percent lab.
.
Office Hours

I am available to you this semester – and beyond – to talk about this class, to talk about journalism and communications, to talk about your career, or to just talk. My office hours are on my schedule:

• Here is a Link to my schedule
• Or just stop by – my door is pretty much always open, and if I am in and I am free, we can talk.
  

Pre-requisites for JOU 4201

MMC 2100 – Writing for Mass Communication – and JOU 3101 – Reporting. If you have not taken and passed these classes with a C or better, then you are not supposed to be in this class.

• When Words Collide: A Media Writer's Guide to Grammar and Style by Lauren Kessler & Duncan McDonald -- Required
• The Associated Press Stylebook -- Required
  
•  The dictionary I use in grading is the same as the AP Stylebook cites as the second reference to the stylebook: Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4^th Edition. See AP's Note on Dictionaries
• Here is a link to an online version of the dictionary mentioned above. Use this dictionary for all work in your  lab  and  the  lecture. http://www.yourdictionary.com/about/Websters-New-World-College-Dictionary.html
• Other readings as assigned.Check the schedule for each week below.
  

• Log in to the e-Learning Support Services web site at http://lss.at.ufl.edu. If you use bookmarks in your browser, this is the page to bookmark. You must have a valid GatorLink ID (username and password) to log in to e-Learning. We will be using this at times in lecture.
  

• Also bookmark the following editing blog:  The Scriptorium
  
• Create a Twitter account and follow me = ronrodgers 
  
• You need to read this regularly. You will be responsible for any of the editing advice or warnings or directives or propaganda I load to this micro-blog.
  
• Read  the Gainesville Sun and the New York Times, and sign up for and read NewYorkTimes.com at http://www.nytimes.com/ 
• All of the tests will have current affairs questions on them.
• Read the New York Times Daily News Summaries: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/pop/index.html
• Take the New York TimesDaily News Quiz: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/quiz/index.html

• To drill deeper into the issues of journalism and to find editing aids of many kinds, check out & bookmark Dr. R's Journalism Links

• My particular favorite: Grammar for Journalists by E. L. Callihan (this appears to be out of print, but there also seems to be a lot of used ones available online)
  
• Working With Words: A Handbook for Media Writers and Editors by Brian S. Brooks
• Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O'Connor.
• Also: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th. Ed. (Sadly, there appears to be no paperback version of this text.)
• Below are some links to online book stores where you should be able to find a copy of any of the books used and cheap. 
• abebooks http://www.abebooks.com/
• half.com by ebay http://www.half.ebay.com/
• List of Bookstores on the Web http://www.scaruffi.com/fiction/booksell.html

Class attendance is required.  More than three absences may result in an incomplete for this course. For sure, after your first absence, every lecture you miss means your grade drops a level – A becomes B+ and B+ becomes B and so on. Arriving late or leaving early will be considered an absence. To receive credit for tests and quizzes, you must attend and be on time. No make-ups will be arranged for unexcused absences or tardiness.  In addtion, whether the absence is legitimate or not, there will be no classwork make-ups. Life is just too darn complicated as it is, and when I have 80-some students juggling deadlines - well, it is just too complicated. The key here is whether your absence is legitimate or not.

Note: University-approved absences must be documented (in advance, if for an approved university activity) according to official university policy. Obtaining written verification for an excused absence is your responsibility.

Grading

As noted, your course grade is 40 percent lecture and 60 percent lab. The lecture portion of your grade will be determined based on:

• Five  tests worth 100 points each. (You can drop the lowest score.) Tests are always comprehensive and  will come from anything discussed in class and the readings, which you need to not only read, but study. However, as noted, they will strongly emphasize the nuts-and-bolts.  Tentative test dates are listed under  Lecture Schedule & Assignments below.
• Your class participation, which will be determined by such things as your attendance and your preparation to answer questions regarding the issues of editing.

Grade Scale for the lecture portion of this course

Your final lecture grade is based on:

• 90%  The tests  and  any other  graded assignments.
• 10% Such things as your attendance,  your  participation, your classroom demeanor, your willingness to work with and collaborate with others, your participation in class discussions, and your contributions to the class in whatever form that may take.

Accommodations

Please let me know immediately if you have any kind of problem or disability that would hinder your work in this course. I will do my best to help you. Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office, which will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.

Campus Helping Resources

See links on front page.

Academic Conduct

Commit yourself to honesty and integrity if you haven’t already. If you engage in any form of academic misconduct, including, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, and aiding and abetting, the penalties could be severe You are required  to read Academic Honesty. I will work under the assumption that you have done so. In addition, go to  link to Honor Code on front page and read this.

Caveat

Sometimes a class such as this will deal with controversial topics, so be warned that words that may be considered offensive or even ideological may be spoken in the context of the subjects we are discussing. As a teacher, I have no political or social agenda, so do not try to answer in a way you believe might comport with what I want to hear or read. Feel free to advocate any position as long as you remain respectful of others' opinions, and always be able to defend your point of view.

Policy on Electronic Devices

I do not allow electronic transmission devices, such as beepers, cellular phones and computers of any size in my classes. You must have all such devices in the "off" mode and stored away when in class. When I do what looks like the gator chomp, I am saying close your cell phones and laptops.

Policy on Indifference

I do not allow indifference in my classes and instead require that you be engaged. How does indifference manifest itself? It includes:

• Chatting during class, which is rude
• Arriving late or leaving early, which is rude
• Doing homework or scrolling the ’net during class, which is rude
• Nodding off or sleeping, which is rude

If you cannot check your indifference at the door, then drop this class.  I and your fellow engaged students do not have time or the inclination to accommodate your behavior.*

* Such rudeness is also known as “social autism.” The disease of autism is often referred to as mental blindness. It interferes with the normal development of the brain and can affect a person's speech, sensory development and communication skills. This is an impairment for which a person is not responsible. On the other hand, social autism is social blindness and is not an impairment, but a choice.

Note: All of this below is of course tentative -- but it should give you a basic road map for the semester. You certainly should expect that things could change on occasion.

• Intro to this editing lecture.
  
• Note: Questions from the syllabus could show up on your first test.
  
• Begin reading  The New York Times and Gainesville Sun daily.
• Questions on current events will appear on your tests.
  
• FYI: Your first test, a Diagnostic Assessment Test, is scheduled for next week.

• We have a virtual guest lecturer for the Thursday, Jan. 8, class.
•  In other words, DON'T COME TO LECTURE. Instead, find a computer outside class and go through these two AP practice quizzes. Questions from these will appear on future tests.
  
• AP Style Practice from Doug Fisher: Journalism Instructor at University of South Carolina
• AP Style Practice Quizzes No. 1: http://breeze.sc.edu/apstyle1
• AP Style Practice Quizzes No. 2: http://breeze.sc.edu/apstyle2

• OK. Now to test and hone your skills, do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:
• AP Style Practice Quizzes
  

• Read
  
• The Importance of Punctuation
• WWW: Chapters 1-5
• Kinds of Sentences
  
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:
• Identifying the Parts of Speech
• Complete the Accuracy Worksheet in the e-Learning lecure folder, print it out, and bring to next lecture.
  

• Design/Typography Etc. Lecture 
• Accuracy Lecture
  

• Test No. 1:
  
• Your first test, a Diagnostic Assessment Test, is scheduled for Thusday of this week. It is on e-Learning  and will be available from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. In other words, don't come to lecture. Instead, find a computer somewhere today and take this test. You have 60 minutes to complete it. It will consist of 100 multiple-choice questions on grammar, punctuation, spelling and AP style. These are all the kinds of things you should have accumulated in your skills sets over your previous required classes. Other than that, I  cannot say how you would study.  It  will give  both  you  and  me  an  understanding  about  where  your  skill  level  is and what you -- and I -- need to work on. 
  

• Read Most Commonly Occurring Errors
  
• WWW: On Agreement, Chapter 6
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:
• Subject-Verb Agreement Practice
  
• Read Parallel Structures and Parallel Essay
  

• Verbs Lecture
  
• Lay-Lie-Affect-Effect Lecture 

• Pronoun Case / Who-Whom Lecture

• WWW: Case, Chapter 7
• Read: Case: Subjective, Objective, Possessive
• Review these readings on lay and lie and do the practice quizzes. You may see some of these on tests:
  
• Learning Lay and Lie
• Review these readings on lay and lie and do the practice quizzes. You may see some of these on tests.These practice quizzes offer excellent explanations about the correct answers:
•  Subject-Verb Agreement Practice

• Agreement Lecture 1
• Agreement Lecture 2

• Modifiers Lecture
  

• WWW: Dead Constructions & Passvie Voice, pp. 57-65
• Read Passive Voice 1 and Passive Voice 2
• Read Kinds of Sentences
  

• Comma Lecture
  

• Possessives Lecture
  

• WWW: That/Which/Who and Restrictive/Nonrestrictive Constructions (know the difference between clauses and phrases) pp. 103-104
• Read: Using Commas
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:
• The Comma, an Introduction with Exercises

• That, Who, Which Lecture
  

• Test No. 2 on Thursday

• WWW: Punctuation, Chapter 8
  
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:
• Punctuation in General
  
• Hyphens Quiz
  

• Punctuation Lecture

• Misused Words & Homonyms Lecture
  

• WWW: Word Use, pp. 185-232
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:
• Confusable Words
• Word Usage
  

• Jeopeditry-Homonyms

• Extra Words: Concision = Precision Lecture - Feb. 24
• Class on Feb. 26 is cancelled
  

• WWW: Clarity, Conciseness, Chapter 10,
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:
• Choose the Right Expression  Exercises in common expressions and cliches.
• Who and Whom
  

"I'm not sure local papers need to cover Iraq, need to cover global events."

• Headline Lecture 1 (Headlines as Art)
  

• Headline Lecture 2 (Intro to Search Engine Optimization)
  

• WWW: Spelling, Chapter 9

• Bias Lecture

• Test No. 3

• WWW: Style, Chapter 11
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:.
  
• Exercises in Grammar, Usage and Associated Press Style
• Set 1
• Set 2

• Figuring Percentage
• Math for Journalists by Bob Baker
• Math for Journalists by Dr. Lewis
• Math Quizzes for Journalists
• Metric Conversion
• Polls & Surveys: What AP Says
• Pollster Reports Nightmare
• Stats Every Writer Should Know
• Visualizing Numbers & Stats

東 問 西答 
동문서답

• Numeracy for Journalists Lecture: March 24: Computation

• Numeracy for Journalists Lecture: March 26: Application

• WWW: Sense and Sensitivity, Chapter 12
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.You may see some of these on tests:.
  
• Exercises in Grammar, Usage and Associated Press Style
• Set 3
  
• Set 4
  

• Numeracy for Journalists Lecture: March 31: Polling 1

• Numeracy for Journalists Lecture: April 2: Polling 2

• Read Journalism Without Journalists
• Do a sampling of these practice quizzes, which offer excellent explanations about the correct answers.This is an excellent review for the final tests. The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund internship program requires applicants to take a test that includes 20 grammar items. Here (On the Newsroom 101 site) are the grammar questions from the DJNF tests since 1998 (used with their kind permission).
  

• Numeracy for Journalists Lecture: April 7: Chance

• Numeracy for Journalists Lecture: April 9: Logic

• Test No. 4
  

• Will There Be a Job for Me?
• Some useful sites:
  
• Dr. R's Job Board
• JournalismJobs.org
• J-Jobs
• ACES Job Board
  
• CubReporters.org
• CyberJournalist.net Job Board
  
• Hearst Fellowships
• Chips Quinn Scholars
• Dow Jones Newspaper Fund