Copyreading and Headline Writing (Symbols and Tips)

24. COPYREADING/COPYEDITING

25. TAKE A LOOK
More than just
marks and
words

26.  It is the art of arranging,
correcting, and selecting
the quality and type of
news
 It is also called
copyediting.
What is Copyreading?

27. What is a Copy?
 A copy is a material sent
to the typist to be typeset
 It may be a news story, a
feature article, an
editorial, or a literary
piece, etc.

28. What is a Copyreader?
 One who edits copies is
called a copyreader or
copyeditor
 The copyreader goes
over the story and makes
the necessary
corrections and revisions
in the copy to improve it

29. What to
copy read?
 Errors in fact
 Errors in Grammar
 Mechanics
 Errors in Structures
 Seditious/ Rebellious materials
 Opinionating/ Editorializing
statements
 Libelous and derogatory
statements
 Verbal deadwoods / Redundant
words / Wasteful words

30. Verbal deadwoods / Redundant words
2 0 1 7 S C H O O L S P R E S S C O N F E R E N C E
1. The board is currently having a conference
at the moment.
2. The store opens its doors at 8 AM in the morning.
3. Sen. Enrile wrote a biography of his life five
years ago.
4. The Malaylay Pottery Association holds an
annual seminar in the Sitio of Malaylay.
5. Tita Helen promised to give me a free gift when
she comes home in the month of December.

31. Wasteful Words
1. She was absent yesterday for the reason that she suffered
from influenza .
2. A larger proportion of the students voted for him.
3. The class is in the AVR at the present time.
4. Many of the Filipinos who have not attended school are not
aware of their rights.
5. She came ahead of the scheduled time to make sure that
everything was in order before the session.
because
Most / Majority
now
uneducated
early

32. Copyediting Symbols
Symbol Instruction Example

33. Copyediting Symbols
Symbol Instruction Example

34. Copyediting Symbols
Symbol Instruction Example

35. Copyediting Symbols
Symbol Instruction Example

36. Copyediting Symbols
Symbol Instruction Example

37. Sample Edited Copy

38. “YOU CANNOT
CORRECT UNLESS YOU
KNOW THAT THERE IS
SOMETHING WRONG.”

39. RULE OF THUMB: SELL THE SIZZLE, NOT THE
STEAK
HEADLINE WDITING
Writing the Headline

41.  Headlines are display
windows of
newspapers.
 A headline is the title
of the a news story
 It summarizes the
whole news story
The Headlines

42.  To tell in capsule
form what the story
is all about
• To make the page
look attractive
Functions of Headlines

43. Structure
of
Headlines
1. Flush left – both lines are
flushed to the left margin
2. Dropline / Step form – first line
flushed left while the second is
indented
Family planning
Seminar held
Local boy scouts
bleed for a cause

44. Structure
of
Headlines
3. Inverted pyramid
4. Hanging indention – flushed
line is followed by two indented
parallel lines
School launches
kalinisan
drive
Chief editor
bats for more
development news

45. Structure
of
Headlines
5. Crossline / barline – one-line
headline that runs across the
column

46. Rules in
Writing
Headlines
Make the headline as short as
possible. Ideally, maximum of five
words.

47. Make sure that the headline
answers as many Ws as
possible.
The headline should summarize
the story. It should not contain
anything which is not found in
the story.
Positive headlines are
preferable than the negative
ones.
Use the strongest word in the
first line as much a possible.
Rules in
Writing
Headlines

48. Rules in
Writing
Headlines
Put an action verb, expressed or
implied, in every headline
Do not begin with a verb,
preposition, article or
conjunction
Avoid the verb form to be
Use present tense verbs in
writing headlines describing past
events
Use future tense verbs to write
headlines about future events

49. Use numbers in headlines only if
they are important
Do not abbreviate days of the
week in headlines
Substitute a comma for the
conjunction and
Use single quote marks in place
of double quote marks in a
headline
Use the active voice
Use abbreviations only if they
are well-known
Rules in
Writing
Headlines

50. Rules in
Writing
Headlines
 Write numbers in figures.
 Omit articles like a, an, the and all
forms of the verb to be ( is, are, be )
unless needed to make the meaning
clear.
Reclaimed banks cause of recurrent floods
Clinton is new US president
Five cops – 5 cops
Seven million pesos – Php7-M
Ninety nine percent – 99%
Thirty participants – 30 participants

51. Counting the Headlines
1.All small letters except jilft and mw are counted as
1.
2. Small letters jilft are counted as ½.
3. Small letters m and w are counted as 1½.
4. All capital letters except MW are counted as 1½.
5. Capital letters M and W are counted as 2.
6. Capital letters J, I, L, F, T are counted as 1.

52. “I JUDGE
THE NEWS
BY ITS
HEADLINE.”
They say,“Don’t judge a
book by its cover”….

53. EXERCISES:
At least forty oficials & personel have contunud
to assumed varios posts on the bureau of
Costums (BOC) & receive salaries form the
agency expire in Dec. last year.
These was revealed in a 2-page memorandum
too Customs Commissoner john P. Sevilla buy
the Commision on audit (COA), wich questiond
the detail of oficials & employees of the other
agency to thhe BOC.

54. EXERCISES: