TEXT
Required: Bowles, Dorothy A. and Diane L. Borden. Creative Editing (Fifth Edition)
Recommended: The AP Stylebook
THE DESIGN
This course has two components: editing and design. Some newspaper editors have jobs that involve editing stories, writing headlines, and laying out pages; other editors do one or two of those jobs. I hope this course will introduce you to all of those skills and more. Your text notes: "Copy editors in the 21st century will be less likely than their 20th century counterparts to perform media-specific tasks or to think in narrowly defined media boxes. They will perform all the tasks discussed in this book -- copy editing, headline writing, layout and design, etc. -- and they will perform them in a variety of media forms." You'll find this course a mix of the traditional and the new. We'll pay ample attention to the principles of news story construction and to the basics of grammar, punctuation, style, and usage. We'll also explore the online research tools available to reporters and editors, edit content for web publication, and try our hands at designing web pages.
POLICIES
Attendance -- I consider the discussions we have in class and the work we do in class essential to the course. Consequently, your attendance is required. After three absences (excused or unexcused), your grade will be affected. Specifically, your grade will drop a notch for each additional class you miss. If you had an A, for example, but had missed four classes, your final grade would be lowered to an A-.
Deadlines -- Since meeting deadlines is important for all writers and editors, I will expect you to get your assignments in on time. You will be penalized if you don't.
Classroom Decorum -- We will work extensively on the computers in the Mac Lab. But we won't always be working on the computers. At times, I will be lecturing; at times, we will be having a class discussion. PLEASE do not use the keyboard or in any other way interact with your computers except when we are writing, researching, or looking at online publications.
SHOW AND TELL
You may earn a small amount of extra credit by showing to me and your fellow students a story you consider well- or poorly edited. You should briefly describe the subject of the piece you've brought in (copies for the class or the URL so we can follow along) and briefly analyze the editing from the several perspectives we'll discuss. In the second half of the semester, the subjects of your show and tells will be page layouts instead of stories. For each show and tell (you may do ONE each week), you will get a half point on your midterm or final exam.
NOTE-TAKING INCENTIVE
You may show me your notebooks before the midterm and the final exam for extra credit of one to three points on those two tests. I'll be particularly interested in seeing notes on classes although I wouldn't discourage anyone from doing review notes.
GRADES
We'll have weekly quizzes on the assigned reading, a midterm exam, and a final exam. Here is roughly how your grade will be determined: