JOU 4202

Advanced Editing (Spring 2008)
Weimer Hall 2050
12:50 p.m. to 3:50 p.m.
(slight revamp still in progress)

 Ronald R. Rodgers
Assistant Professor    
Dept. of Journalism
University of Florida
3053 Weimer Hall
Phone:  352-392-8847
Fax:   352-846-2673
rrodgers@jou.ufl.edu
        
         










Readings for 4202

Dr. R's  Journalism Readings
Critical Thinking Checklist
Dr. R's Journalism Links
Examples of New Media Job Postings



Other Useful Stuff

Special Word Problems
Subjunctive Mood
Spelling
Cutting Stories
Compiling Stories
Mathiness
Figuring Percentage
Metric Conversion

How to Punctuate
 by Russell Baker

Roy Peter Clark’s Fifty
Writing Tools: Quick List

Cultural Literacy

"We Didn't Start the Fire"


For Week 2

Articles of Confederation

Missouri Compromise
Open Door policy
Bay of Pigs
Seward's Folly
Dred Scott case
"Great Awakening"
League of Nations
Gadsden Purchase

Land Grant Act
Louisiana Purchase

For Week 3


My Lai

Sen. Joseph McCarthy
French and Indian War
trustbusting
Prohibition
War of 1812
New Deal
Emancipation Proclamation
Ellis Island
wet feet, dry feet policy
Marshall Plan
isolationism

For Week 4

Christopher Wren

War Powers Act
junta
National Organization for
 Women

Selective Service System
4F
Stamp Act
constitutional monarchies
Brown v. Board of Education
secretary of state
electoral college
NAACP
Plessy v. Ferguson
Double V campaign
Rosewood Massacre


For Week 5

The Constitution
Bill of Rights
First Amendment
Second Amendment
Third Amendment
Fourth Amendment
Fifth Amendment
Sixth Amendment
Seventh Amendment
Eighth Amendment
Ninth Amendment
10th Amendment
ERA
19th Amendment
Federalists


For Week 6

Voting Rights Act of 1965

separation of church and state
system of checks and balances
Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
civil dis­obedience
writ of habeas corpus
writ of certiorari
Miranda v. Arizona
Dow Jones Composite Average
Federal Reserve Board

For Week 7

Roman Numerals:
I
V
X
L
C
D
M

For Week 8

Euclid

Thomas Malthus
Thomas Hobbes
gross national product
bankruptcy
FDIC
protectionism
mortgage
initial public offer­ing
proportional income tax
progressive income tax
regressive income tax
value added  income tax
flat tax

For Week 9

federal deficit

bull market
bear market
Keynesian economics
Milton Friedman
consumer price index
depression
recession
tariff
Federal Trade Commission
cost-of-living index
Social Security
Medicare
Medicaid


For Week 10

libertarian

liberal
conservative
Third Way
apartheid
Peloponnesian Wars
revolutions of 1848
the Axis
Niccolo Machiavelli
Russian Revolution of 1917
Third World
Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi
Charlemagne
Mao Zedong
National Security Letter


For Week 11

Free Markets & Milton Friedman
Opium War

detente
Joseph Stalin
NATO
Reign of Terror
Victorian Age
the Crusades
Boer War
Holocaust
Berlin Wall
Industrial Revolution
Sino-Japanese War


For Week 12

Magna Carta

Original Sin
Providence
Mecca

Koran
Torah
Tower of Babel
Bacchanalia
Yom Kippur
Siddhartha Gautama
Krishna
Muhammad
Martin Luther
Ramadan

For Week 13

in loco parentis
jihad
Anarchism
Aristocracy
Autocracy
Democracy
Direct democracy
Representative democracy
Despotism
Fascism
Absolute monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Oligarchy
Federalism
Republic



For Week 14

Wheat & Chaff
third rail
Achilles' heel
six of one, half dozen of the other
cultural literacy
DDT
Bretton Woods
Atlantic Charter
Marshall Plan
Classical Liberalism
Social / New Liberalism
Conservatism
Libertarianism
Socialism


Cultural Literacy - Geography
Story Ideas

Al's Morning Meeting Story
ideas that you can localize
and enterprise.

Help With Editing


The Blue Book of Grammar
r and Punctuation

Modern English Grammar:
A Hypertext Book

Newsroom 101: Exercises
in Grammar, Usage and
Associated Press Style

Exercise Central for AP Style

Common Errors in English

American Copy Editors
Society's (ACES) Online
Quizzes

ACES Discussion Board

A Spelling Test

Purdue Writing Lab

Comma Basics

Readings, Etc.
in Journalism


20 Under 40: Each year PRESSTIME selects 20 people under the age of 40 who represent the enthusiasm, talent, hard work and innovation that’s needed to carry the newspaper industry into the future.

Speed Flattens Shorts: A CJR article on writing briefs.

Acquiring Online Skills

It's a Confusing Moment
to be a Young Journalist

Dr. R's Journalism Links

Dr. R's Journalism readings

Zappa on Crossfire video

Film about newspaper
business video

What We Call the News video

The Pensonal Computer

Citizen Journalism:
From Pamphlet to Blog 
video

Web 2.0 The Machine
is Us/ing Us video

Understanding Web 2. video

THE CORPORATION
  Unsettling Accounts video


Using Google Reader video

Contempory journalists
discuss the political
reporting of Hunter S.
Thompson
video


Digital Innovations

Digital Edge Awards - 2007

2007 Online Journalism
Awards - Finalists

Detroit Free Press,
40 years of RESPECT

Discovery Channel,
Everest Beyond the Limit


Honolulu Advertiser,
Wonderful World

Los Angeles Times,
Altered Oceans

New York Times,
Frugal Traveler:
American Road Trip

Star Tribune A People Torn: Liberians in Minnesota

Washington Post, OnBeing


Bakersfield.com,
The Trial of the Vincent
Brothers

Florida Today,
Orphans and Angels

Roanoke.com, Off the Scale

Wisconsin State
Journal, Hip Hop 101


Blackhawk Down

Angels and Demons

A Story for Jake

13: Love. Identity. Secrets.
Loyalty. Sex. Betrayal. Power. Grades. Rivalry. Glory. Parents. Subterfuge. Divorce. God.
Guitars. Life at the Edge of Everything.

Little Relief on Ward 53

Chicagocrime.org

"I don't so much mind that newspapers are dying - it's watching them commit suicide
that pisses me off."

Course Goal & Descripshun

This course’s goal is to build on the foundation from your reporting, fact-finding and basic-editing classes to help you reach a higher level as you continue the lifelong process of becoming a careful, precise and collaborative editor who understands the many problems of doing journalism that face editors daily. This will involve exploring such things as:
  • Understanding the roles of editors.
  • Working with reporters and writers  from story idea through the completed work.
  • Blogging.
  • Slideshows
  • Digital organization of the flood of information available to you.
  • Working with other editors and journalistic artisans.
  • Expanding your vocabulary, both in general and the jargon of journalism.
  • Expanding your cultural literacy.
  • Expanding your Web-based knowledge, both for fact checking and keeping up to date on the discourse surrounding the problems of journalism.
  • A more intense revisiting of editing’s first-order – the nuts and bolts of grammar, punctuation, spelling, style, headline writing, and the visual aspects of news presentation.
  • Higher-order content-editing skills. That is, you will hone your ability to think critically and think things through. For example, in order for editors who have a good grasp of the nuts and bolts to become good editors who are highly sought after, they need to learn:
    • How to quickly grasp the bigger picture of any story.
    • How to spot the linkages between stories.
    • How to spot holes in a story such as whether the story supports the lead; issues of diversity and gender; lack of adequate sources; issues of fairness; missteps in issues of ethics, taste and sensitivity.
    • Spotting relevant story ideas from talking to others, your reading or simply living your life and keeping your eyes – and your mind – open to such ideas.
    • Thinking innovatively in discovering new ways to tell stories.
    • Organization – both of stories, visuals and yourself
    • For a fuller explanation, see Critical Thinking Checklist. You are required to use this list in your editing of yours or others' stories.
  • Making yourself employable and knowing where to look for a job you will love.

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 are on 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.
Required Texts and Supplies
  • Working With Words: A Handbook for Media Writers and Editors (WWW) (Required) by Brian S. Brooks. See if you can find a cheap version using one of the book seller sites below.
  • The Associated Press Stylebook (Required).
  • A flash drive (memory key) to store and back up your assignments in class and at home -- or some other form of portable storage.
  • Also bookmark the following class blog: The Blue Pencil
  • Read  the Gainesville Sun and the New York Times, and sign up for and read NewYorkTimes.com at http://www.nytimes.com/ 
  • Set up a Google Reader account and - at the least - put the RSS feeds for  the Times,  the Sun and the Gator on it. Here is  a video on Using Google Reader
    • We talk about the news in this course and if you are not reading news, what will you have to say?
  • To drill deeper into the issues of journalism and to find editing aids of many kinds, check out & bookmark Dr. R's Journalism Links

Attendance

Class attendance is required. More than three absences may result in an incomplete for this course. For sure, after your first absence, every lab you miss means your grade drops a level A becomes B+ and B+ becomes B and so on. Arriving 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. 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, as is arranging to complete any missed work.

Grading

Your final grade is based on:
  • 90% on your:
    • Editing exercises,  quizzes,  reading abstracts with case study write-ups, and various other editing exercises as assigned.
    • Media ride-along report -- including your slideshow and presentation.
    • Story package and editor's analyzes.
    • Innovative story presentation assignment done as part of a team.
    • Story ideas -- essentially the quality of them .
    • Personal blogging on the issues of journalism. -- again, essentially the quality of them.
  • 10% Such things as your attendance,  your  preparation, 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 - especially contributions to the class blog when asked to do so, and, most especially, the quality of your portfolio.
  • Note: While you will not be notified beforehand, not everything you do will receive a grade.

Grade Scale

A = 90-100    B+ = 87-89    B = 80-86    C+ = 77-79    C = 70-76
D+ = 67-69    D = 60-66    F = Below 60        

Editing Grading Rubric on Anything You Turn In

1. Misspelled words/names: Up to 50 points for each mistake. Open a dictionary or relevant reference.
2. Missing words and spaces: 10 points off for each missing word or space between words. Words and spaces go missing when you write or edit too fast and don’t double-check your work. If you write “I happy you’re here” or I amhappy you’re here,” you lose 10 points.
3. Repeated or extra words: 10 points each time; e.g. “This is a a tough grading standard.”
4. Punctuation errors: 10 points off for each error. If you need to review how to use periods, commas, semicolons, etc., study your grammar book, relevant Web sites and the guide at the back of your AP Stylebook.
5. Grammar error: 10 points off for grammar mistakes, such as subject-verb disagreement. Again, consult the same texts, sites or your peers.
6. Capitalization: 10 points off for each mistake in the basics of capitalization.
7. Numbers:
10 points off for each mistake in basic numbers style.
8. Stylebook: 10 points off for each mistake that violates the AP Stylebook– use it from Day 1.
9. Writing: 10 points lost for flabby writing, lack of concision, extreme awkwardness or bad sentence structure (e.g., run-on sentence, sentence fragment, nonparallel construction, clause-ridden writing). Begin to learn how to edit LINE BY LINE.
10. Factual errors: Up to 50 points for each mistake in fact. This is why reference books exist.
11. Beyond commas and conjunctions: Allowing a story to exceed legal guidelines (such as libeling a person); to step across ethical boundaries; to ignore matters of taste and/or sensibility; and/or to be insensitive to gender and diversity could mean 10 to 100 points off depending on to what degree I feel (note that this is subjective) you should be aware of these kinds of issues of writing and editing.

What You Can Expect During This Semester

Note: As much as possible, everything in the class will be done digitally. All written assignments – both in class and out of class – must be filed either on your L drive or on the class blog. The assignments will tell you which.

1. Editing Exercises:  Please feel free to consult with your fellow editors.

2. Quizzes: These will cover assigned vocabulary, cultural literacy items, and current affairs based on the  Sun or NYT and they may also include tests of your knowledge of grammar, punctuation, AP style and general editing, your knowledge of the readings assigned to the entire class, and your ability to think critically when posed with some problems of editing. Except for the vocabulary, the quiz is open book and you may use your AP Stylebook and a grammar book. But, you will only have a short time to complete these.

3. Your Personal Blog: Go to http://wordpress.com/ and set up a blog in which you will write about any issue surrounding the world of journalism -- especially as it relates to editing in all its forms. Send me your blog address and I will add link to the class blog. This is where you will file your weekly reading abstracts (in addition to your L drive). But I am looking for more discussion about journalism than just the abstracts. In fact, by the end of the semester there should be a least a dozen non-abstract entries on your blog. Here is the rubric I will use to grade these. My evaluation of the quality of this blog will be part of your final grade. Here is a good example of a journalism blog: http://thelearningjournalist.blogspot.com/

4. Reading Abstracts: (File to L Drive and to your personal blog) For each class' readings, you will be required to write an abstract outlining all the readings. It should be at least one page single spaced, but don't go on for 10 pages because these are abstracts that (1) show me you read the readings and (2) that you have thought about what you read. Most of these readings are fairly short, so don’t be intimidated by the list of readings. .
  • I have spent some considerable time assembling these readings, and it is my hope that they will work together to prompt a conversation relevant to the problems and issues of editing and journalism in general. NOTE: I checked all the links before the semester began and they were working. Let me know immediately if you find a bad link. Don’t wait until class to say you could not access the reading.
  • My goal here is to have you learn about the many issues and problems of journalism awaiting you, but also to think critically and go beyond simple description and analysis of your readings and  extrapolate from these readings to the issues of journalism in general. For examples of two abstracts from the past that I much admired, see Example No.1 and Example No. 2.
5. Case Studies Write-Ups: (File to L Drive and to your personal blog) You will often be asked to write up a reaction to case studies discussed in class. This will be written up and filed on the same file as your reading abstracts.

6. A Weekly Story Idea: (File to L Drive and Blue Pencil) Each week you will file a fully fleshed-out story idea as comment to The Blue Pencil and also load a version at the bottom of your abstract and case study document. Be prepared to explain in class what this story would mean to your readers and how it is related to the bigger picture. Again, this is the place to think critically. Each idea must be well-developed, to include such things as ideas about sourcing, graphics, photos, length, etc. Also, talk about how this story might be done in a non-print mode online. 7. Stories and Editor Analyzes (File to L drive).
  • Note: During the semester, you will work with other members of the class in a team. They will both be your editors and your reporters for a  flawlessly edited enterprise story package of at least as many stories as there are members of your team. See Elements of Writing & Editing. You will do so in consultation with your editors. You will also act as editor to your fellow class members as they report and write their stories. The same grade on the  entire package of stories will go to all members of the team.
  • The first week you will be divided into reporter-editor teams of three to four people.
  • Your team will  come up with an idea for an enterprise package of stories that would run together in print. This needs to be a fully fleshed-out idea and will need my approval. The stories will require photos and / or graphics. This  will  be filed to the L drive of one of your team members in a folder slugged Story Package. You need to tell me early in the semester who the corresponding author is.
  • BUT in addition, I would like you to assemble this package into an innovative story presentation that will go online. For this, use the Plaza Web site of one of your team members. For examples, look in the left column below for links to Digital Innovations.
  • See Assignments below for the due dates on this. Note: First draft -- and by that I mean an essentially completed story of at least five pages double spaced -- is due Week 8. The second draft that assimilates my editing, suggestions and comments is due with your portfolio.
  • Then, on the final day, your team will submit the completed story package – flawlessly edited – . Each story filed to one team member's L Drive should list the names of sources and their contact information.
    • Load these and photos to designated L Drive.
    • Also load a document with the link to your online assignment.We should be able to access your online version in class as part of the presentation.
  • Each of you must also file your analysis of the editing process to your L drive, thus ensuring privacy.
  • Be prepared for  class presentations and discussions about the stories on the last day of class. Also be prepared to discuss your analysis of the editing process.
  • Here is how I will weigh your grade on these: Grading Rubric
Parameters of Analysis of Editing Process
  1. This analysis will discuss your experience of working with the other reporters from Day 1 and the selection of a story idea through submission of the final draft.
  2. This analysis will also discuss your experience of working with your editors from Day 1 and the selection of a story idea through submission of the final draft.
    • Keep in mind these are filed to your individual L Drive, and so, I will be the only person able to read them. So be honest.
  3. You will describe the dynamics of working with the reporters and editors.
  4. You will describe the issues and problems that arose in writing the story and how your editors dealt with them.
  5. You will describe what you learned from the process.
8. Media Ride-Along Report with a media outlet outside of Gainesville (unless you can show this creates an undue hardship).

Due Monday of Week 14. Be prepared to present your findings in class in that week.
(File to L Drive and to your personal blog)You will submit on Monday of Week 14 an analysis of your visit to a daily newspaper, a magazine, or online news media site. I am leaving this wide-open depending on your career interests. Example No. 1 & Example No. 2.
  • Start now with setting this up. That is, decide on a media venue, find out whom you should ask for permission, write them an e-mail written like a formal business letter, and then follow up with phone calls to set up a time. Be sure to give my name and contact info. It might help.
  • Depending on your interests, you can spend the majority of your time on the main copy desk or on the city, sports, business, features or design desks.
What you need to bring back

 (In fact, make this your checklist so you collect all the needed info, and then write up your report using this No. 1 through No. 13 as an outline.) How well you complete this is how I will grade your effort.:

1. Diary of a Shift: I want you to spend an entire shift at this venue. Make that clear early on that that is what you want to do. Your analysis should read like a diary of the shift spent at the venue describing what the editors do during a shift from start time to deadline.
2. Hierarchy Chart: Include a chart delineating the hierarchy of the news organization. Here is an  example of one. 
3. Profile of an Editor: Also, find time to interview one editor and profile her or him.
  • We want to know such things as their background, education, how long they have been an editor, what drew them to editing, what they do on a typical day, their suggestions for how a young editor can find a job and be successful. What else?
4. Copy of Ethical Policy: You should also obtain a copy of the newspaper’s ethical policy and include that with your analysis.
5. Views of Ethical Policy: And related to that policy, include the views of more than one editor about how closely the paper adheres to the policy.
6. Policies: Also, specifically find out their policy on:
  • using anonymous sources,
  • identifying juveniles suspected of crimes,
  • identifying victims of crime, especially rape and molestation victims
  • fact checking.
7. Outside Influence on News Content: Ask around to see if anyone has any stories about outside influence on what is published in their venue. In other words, are there any sacred cows?
8. Training: Find out what your venue does in the way of ongoing training of journalists. What kind of classes do they offer their employees?
9. Editing Protocols: Protocols provide guidelines for when and how copy editors can change stories. Many newspapers have something of this sort to help streamline the editing process. Check to see if your media venue has such an animal in written form and bring back a copy  in digital form. Or do they have unwritten rules that everyone is supposed to know? Find out and give some background on when they were established and why. Be a curious reporter. Here are two examples of protocols that were part of a report on protocols written by former Ohio University student Nick Juliano: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhrxdnf3_5gm6dpj
10. Pay: Find out what editors are paid and whether they belong to a union.
11. Find Out About Convergence (Fusion):
I want you to determine how your media venue is adapting to the world of online media. What have they done, what are they doing, and what do they plan to do? How is online changing editing and the entire face of the newsroom. Include links to anything they offer online. Specifically, how is the online segment of the publication viewed? Is it co-equal or subordinate to the print version? Ask around to get more than one point of view. Do they have an editor for innovation (or something similar)?
12. Career Advice 1: Ask the people you talk to about any advice they have for budding young journalists looking to start their careers.
13. Career Advice 2: Ask specifically what they are looking for in a resume when they review it. What is important info and what kinds of things do they often see that seem like a waste of space.
14. Finally, take along a digital camera and put together a slideshow of your visit to this media venue as part of your class presentation.

I would also like you to have someone at your media venue complete a  survey. Please download the the survey onto a word document, fill out your name and e-mail address and send to your host on attachment. Once completed, send to  me on attachment.

Media Ride-Along Reports are due Monday of Week 14. Be prepared to present your findings in class in that week.

9. FINAL PORTFOLIO - Due by end  of last class.
  • You will submit a well-organized digital portfolio with all of the written work done in digital format (with your grades and my comments). You will create a  Final Portfolio folder in your L drive.
  • This will include:
  1. A copy of an updated Resume and a template Cover Letter that would accompany an application for a position at a media outlet.
  2. Your editing exercises, quizzes, story ideas, and reading abstracts with case study write-ups. Leave in any notations I may have made.  
  3. Your Media Ride-Along Report -- including your slideshow.