Helpful advice on how to edit reports etc.

1. Practical EditingPractical Editing
Print Journalism
Fall, 2009
John Couper

2. What is Editing?What is Editing?
“Writing is thinking in a form we can
distribute”
◦ Editing is re-thinking before we distribute
Editing: deciding and acting on what we
want the story to be
◦ Your goal should be perfection
◦ You should edit for the publication you want to
work for

3. You are Judged by your EditsYou are Judged by your Edits
Good editing says “professionalism”
You can work hard to write well
◦ Then spoil the effect with bad editing
Misspellings, tense changes, repeated
words…
◦ Distract readers from what you
This might be unfair, but it is reality

4. Main Editing TricksMain Editing Tricks
Let it rest
◦ Write early enough so your brain has time to
think “from a distance” about your work
 Assumptions
 Connections
 Implications and suggestions
Many problems come from being too close
◦

5. Editing Attitudes
Make your work as good as it can be,
◦ Not only as good as it has to be
 Respect readers with a little extra care
“Genius is taking great pains”
◦ Mark Twain
You read (or show) your work in 10 years
◦ Do something to be proud of
Accept that this takes time and give
yourself enough time
If you see yourself as a professional now,
it will show in your work

6. Say it out loudSay it out loud
Readers read your story as if speaking it
◦ So read the story aloud
◦ Even better, ask a friend to read it
This will identify
◦ problems of construction,
◦ word use,
◦ strange sounds,
◦ Etc.

7. Change Who You AreChange Who You Are
Imagine yourself as someone else
◦ When editing content (for reader), “become” a
reader
◦ When editing technicals (for editors), “become”
an old journalist
◦ When editing style (for colleagues), “become” a
professional writer

8. Change HatsChange Hats
Work for a time as creator
◦ Everything is interesting and fun
◦ Try turning off or covering your monitor
Then “change hats” to become editor
◦ Everything must be perfect
A good RoT is about 20 minutes of each
◦ But don’t stop writing because of the clock

9. Make Several “Passes”Make Several “Passes”
Many writers edit their work in one pass
◦ i.e., all aspects in one
◦ of our brains use different parts to edit
 Changing between those parts loses efficiency
It seems slower, but really saves time
So go through your work looking only for
one aspect

10. Work on your weak pointsWork on your weak points
Realize common mistakes
◦ Commas, tenses, phrases (“feel yourself”) etc.
Go through the body separately for each
Combine aspects in one pass that are rare
problems

11. Main Editing AspectsMain Editing Aspects
Look for ways to improve:
◦ Grammar,
◦ transitions,
◦ quotes,
◦ “journalese”,
◦ ideas,
◦ spelling,
◦ structure,
◦ usage,
◦ etc.

12. Another way to edit: “Levels”Another way to edit: “Levels”
Create a list of main editing needs
◦ Spelling, transitions, etc.
Focus on every aspect of…
◦ Overall idea flow of the whole story
◦ Paragraphs
◦ Sentences
◦ Transitions
◦ Words, clauses and phrases
◦ Headers, etc.

13. Edit This
 Partygoer tried to grab cop's gun
 By Sydney Ember, Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Additional details emerged Tuesday about a fight that turned violent at a
weekend party in Alumnae Hall, during which four people were arrested.
At one point during the conflict Saturday night, an individual “tried to grab
at a Brown officer’s gun in his holster,” Providence Police Department
Chief Dean Esserman told The Herald. Department of Public Safety officers
initially handled the incident before calling for backup from PPD.
The four people who were arrested are all Massachusetts residents and
are not Brown students, according to the Providence Journal. Two men,
19-year-old John Germainmartinez of Boston and 21-year-old Kenny Jean
of Bridgewater, Mass., were charged with resisting arrest and assaulting
an officer, according to the Journal.
Jide Disu and Mario Montes, both 21-year-olds from Randolph, Mass.,
were also arrested and were written up for disorderly conduct, the Journal
reported.

14.  “It’s very clear to me and to all of us how seriously Brown is
taking the event that happened this weekend,” Esserman said,
adding that it was “not unusual for Providence Police to be called
to backup Brown police.”
Esserman told The Herald that at an open staff meeting Tuesday
he said he was considering opposing future parties at Brown,
including one he said would be held on Friday. The chief said he
had spoken to Brown’s director of public safety and chief of
police, Mark Porter, and decided that PPD would not oppose that
party.
“Our initial reaction was to oppose it,” Esserman said. But he said
his discussion with Porter led him to believe the party would not
have “a similar, large, open crowd” as the party in Alumnae Hall
had. Saturday’s event, hosted by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority,
was open to students from all Rhode Island colleges and non-
students who notified the sorority ahead of time.

15.  Esserman said PPD would discuss future parties with DPS and consider
each one “case by case” to decide appropriate action.
“We have a very long working relationship with Brown University,”
Esserman said. “We were all very concerned.”
During the event, DPS officers also used pepper spray to break up a fight,
according to Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services
Margaret Klawunn, who sent a campus-wide e-mail Monday night about
the incident. Both the incident involving the gun and DPS’s use of pepper
spray are being reviewed internally by Porter and DPS, she said.
Klawunn said she estimates DPS uses pepper spray about once a year in
similar situations.
“There are a lot of things we’re reviewing about the event in terms of
what happened on our campus,” Klawunn said.
She said she did not see the incident “as an argument against arming
Brown police,” adding that “most of our events go very successfully and
without incident.”
 END

16. Journalism TermsJournalism Terms
An excellent site for explanations of U.S.
journalism terminology:
◦ http://www.highschooljournalism.org/Students
/Students.cfm?id=16