Copyreading and Headline Writing

COPYREADING/COPYEDITING
2017 SCHOOL PRESS CONFERENCE
ALYSSA MARIE O.
DON

TAKE A LOOK
More than just
marks and
words

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

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.

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

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

Verbal deadwoods / Redundant words
2017 SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE
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.

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.
becau
se
Most /
Majority
no
w
uneducat
ed
earl
y

Edits errors on grammar
(spelling, tenses,
agreement, etc.)
Edits errors of fact
(accuracy check)
Edits verbose copy
Deletes opinion or slant
and libelous statements
Writes the headline
Responsibilities of a Copy Editor

 Type an end sign, “-30-” at the
end of each story
 Always use a pencil to edit
copy, never a pen
 Writers and editors use
standard copyreading marks
to make corrections
 Proofreaders and typesetters
use standard proofreading
symbols
Copy Preparation Guidelines

Copyediting Symbols
Symbol Instruction Example

Sample Edited Copy

“YOU CANNOT
CORRECT
UNLESS YOU
KNOW THAT
THERE IS
SOMETHING

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

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

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

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

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

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

Structure
of
Headlines
6. Boxed headline - for
emphasis or art
Full box
Half box
Quarter box
Community involvement
Science camp team
Campus papers catalysts
For national development
Local students, teachers
Bleed for a cause today

Structure
of
Headlines
7. Jump story headline – this may be
the same as the original headline or it
may just be a word or a phrase
followed by a series of dots
Local students …
( From page 2)

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

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

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

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

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

Unit Counting in Headlines
 Writing headlines is not so simple as it seems to
be. A headlines should fit the allotted space by a
system unit counts given to each letter, figure or
space.
 Unit counting in headline is done to
avoid a thin head, fat head or a
bleeding head.
 However, in computerized headline writing, there
is no need to count units.

Unit
Counting
in
Headlines
THIN HEAD
The space between the
letters of the words, or the
space after the words in a line
are so wide
School joins press tilts

Unit
Counting
in
Headlines
FAT HEAD
The letters or the words are
so crowded that there is no
space between them or the
space are so small that
several words read as one
Schooljoinspressti
lts

Unit
Counting
in
Headlines
B LEEDING HEAD
Some letters or words
extend inside the column
School joins
press tilts

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.

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

Copyreading and Headline Writing

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