Copy Editing Class II

Y O U T E A C H
P U N C T U AT I O N !
S E L F - E D I T I N G
S T R AT E G I E S
I N - C L A S S T E S T
F U N W I T H I D I O M S

CLARIFICATIONS ON CP STYLE
1. The:
Don’t capitalize The when referring to newspapers
Do cap The in The Canadian Press, The Associated
Press
Do capitalize The in names of books, magazines,
movies, TV shows
2. Italics
CP Style leaves it up to individual publications to
decide whether to italicize the titles of books, movies,
plays, TV shows. We won’t use italics.

YOU TEACH PUNCTUATION
• Groups of three
• Each group is assigned a punctuation
mark
to explain to class
• Review the rules in CP Style book
• Write up a simple how-to, with each
person in the group contributing a
sentence that shows the punctuation
being used differently.
• Email the write-up to
jessjane@gmail.com

TORONTO STAR TRACKS INCREASE IN MISTAKES
 “The Star published 415 corrections in 2012 for mistakes
that made it into the newspaper and, for most, online too.
As well, we made a further 280 corrections to web-only
content.”
 “The 415 print corrections are an increase of just over 10
per cent from the 366 corrections published in 2011. Of
more concern to me is the continuing upward trend: Last
year, we logged a similar 10 per cent hike from the 328
corrections published in 2010.”
Kathy English, public editor, Dec. 28, 2012

MEDIA AND MISTAKES
Traditional work flow:
• Reporter submits finished story
• Section editor reads it for major issues
• Copy editor reads it for major issues, structure, fact
checking, grammatical issues, cuts story to fit
space in paper
• Photographer submits related photo
• Different copy editor proofs laid-out story and photo
cutline.

MEDIA AND MISTAKES
Current work flow:
• Partial story goes online when reporter has
enough facts.
• The full story may be edited once.
• SEO and keywords are priority
• Reporter continues working on story
throughout day.
• Tries to advance the story for next day’s paper.
• Editing online happens quickly, as story gets
updated.

MEDIA AND MISTAKES
“Gone are the days when (copy editors) primarily
detected errors and smoothed out prose for the next
day’s paper. Now they must also operate in an online
environment where search-engine optimization is a
key goal. That requires new skills and time-
consuming additional duties.”
- Andrew Alexander, Washington Post

SELF-EDITING STRATEGIES
Whenever possible, budget time to edit BEFORE
deadline.
CP style editing guideline:
• “Read a story three times: Once for content,
once to edit and once to clean up.”
• Put yourself in the reader’s shoes.

HOW WE READ
• We don’t read in a smooth progression; the eye
darts around

HOW WE READ
• The eye processes text section by
section
• We skip shorter words – often
pronouns or determiners (a, the,
that, this)
• We anticipate common phrasing
• We fixate on long, unusual words

STRATEGY 1: READ ALOUD
Hearing yourself say the words will help
identify awkward phrasing:
“Let your ear be your editor.” – Joey
Slinger
“Human Resources Minister Diane Finley announced
Monday that after six months of study and $3 million
in funding, the government has come up with new
educational and job training guidelines that she
predicts will make the Canadian labour force the
most skilled in the world.”

STRATEGY 2: PRINT IT OUT
It’s easier to catch mistakes in printed text than on
screen.
Research suggests:
• Proofreading on screen takes longer than on
paper.
• Familiarity with an issue might negatively affect
attention span.
• It’s easier to detect mistakes at the beginning of
the story than at the end.

STRATEGY 3: READ BACKWARDS
Start reading the last sentence of a story and work toward the
beginning.
David Shannon, director and CEO of the human rights
commission, apologized that the process leading up to
Thursday was long and frustrating for those who
experienced racism.
There are roughly 30 black firefighters in the Halifax regional
fire service, said Jermaine Mombourquette, president of
the Halifax Association of Black Firefighters.
He said one member of the association voted against the
restorative agreement.

STRATEGY 3: ENLARGE TEXT
Use the zoom function on your computer, or
enlarge font size to see text more clearly.
The quick brown fox jumped over the the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox
jumped over the the
lazy dog.

STRATEGY 4: CHANGE TEXT FORMAT
Try changing document format so that the text
configuration changes:
The quick brown fox jumped over the the
lazy dog.

STRATEGY 4: KILL DISTRACTIONS
When proofreading on screen, close all other
windows, turn off other updates. Don’t check
email, answer phone, etc.
If possible, take printout to another
room/environment and just read it.
Imagine you are reading someone else’s story in
the newspaper.

STRATEGY 5: READ LINE BY LINE
Use a ruler and go methodically through
each sentence, crossing out each one
you’ve checked.

STRATEGY 6: USE A CHECKLIST
• Identify personal weaknesses in terms of
spelling, grammar, word usage, etc. and
keep a checklist handy for final edits.
• Highlight facts that should be double-
checked: titles, people’s names, phone
numbers, addresses, website URLs, etc.

PUNCTUATION AND SPELLING EXERCISES
• Edit the list of sentences, adding in
apostrophes, colons, commas and
hyphens where necessary.
• Spelling exercise

IDIOMS AND EXPRESSIONS
“Begging the question” or “raising the question”
“Reeking havoc” or “wreaking havoc”
“For all intensive purposes” or “for all intents and
purposes”
“nerve-wracking” or “nerve-racking”

IDIOMS AND EXPRESSIONS
• “to rein in” or “to reign in”
• “Tow the line” or “toe the line”
• “Scapegoat” or “escape goat”
• “Wet your appetite” or “whet your appetite”
• “I couldn’t care less” or “I could care less”

Copy Editing Class II

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