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Copyreading -editing or correcting error made bythe reporter.

Duties of a

Copyreader

Contentdele

te

Errors in fact

Those contrary to law and good taste

Opinion, unnecessary adjectives, editorializing statements in news

Verbal deadwood, redundancy

Technical terms, jargon in news

Form

delete

Errors in grammar,spelling, punctuation, usage, organization

Errors in style

Errors in unity, coherence, emphasis

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A good copyreader is Accurate

- Checks, confirms, facts and figures, dates and time

- Verifies names, sees totals tally

A master of detail, of broad knowledge

A master writer, a super reporter- Skillful in the use of words, sentences, paragraphs

- Writes concisely

Careful, patient, creative, and can distinguish sound inference from editorializing

Meticulous- Willing to read long articles word for word

In-the-know- One must know facts of the story

High sense of grammar and wide vocabulary Critical eye

- Can easily detect errors

Tidy- Especially in making copyreader marks

resourceful- For referencing of facts

Knowledgeable on appropriate symbols

QUALITIES OF A GOOD COPYREADER

These qualities are not developed overnight; these are attained through constant

practice and learning from own mistakes. The talent in writing prospers when it is

nurtured.

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Commonly-UsedSymbolsCopyreader and journalist understand a special language, made ,mostly of symbols,to represent certain actions on revising articles. Some of them are as follows:

CaretUsed to insert punctuation

or words

Underscore (triple) Used to capitalize certainwords/letters

Paragraph Used to form paragraphsCircle

Sept. 16-17, 2006 Used to spell abbreviatedwords

Transpose bye good To interchange the positionof words/letters

Sharp # Used to end the story

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Some Copyreading Examples

Letters and word changes

Those b oys close up space

Pamp let insert letter hh

Avail of insert word

himself Punctuation Marks

They call her Sibuyas Queen because.

(quotation mark)

Mr. Valdez said goodbye (comma)

,Numbers and Abbreviation

Ill see you in Sept. (spell out)

Doctor Jekyll (abbreviate)

Give me 2 bananas (spell out)

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Some Copyreading Examples

was not untrue (delete)

Judgement (delete letter within the word)

Developed our sskills

(delete letter before/after the word)

Meronbatayongmiryenda? (put space)

Other forms of type

Mayoyao, Philippines ( capitalize whole word)

OthersThe quick brown dinosaur jumps over the lazy teacher. (indent orparagraph)

The story is not over more (story unfinished)

On

e girl came (ignore correction)

stet

You Are the sUnshine of my life

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Headline Writing

The news is basicallya story, and like a typical

story, news also have titles-

the Headline.

Headlines immediately

suggest to the readers what

the news is all about, so

they may get interested withit. It also sets the mood of

the reader towards the

news; to alarm, to pacify, or

to just inform the reader.

Complex

Monumental

Terminated

Witness

Purchase

Utilize

Majority

ResideProcure

Proceed

Contribute

Request

Endeavor

Summon

Category

Prevaricate

IncarcerateInaugurate

Facilitate

Inundate

Criticize

Enumerate

Conference

Investigate

Welcome

FamilyConnect

Silent

Capture

Reject

Approve

Customary

Demise

Exceedingly

Expensive

Police

Simple

Big

Ended

See

Buy

Use

Most

LiveGet

Go

Givr

Ask

Try

Call

Class

Lie

JailStart

Help

Flood

Blast

Cite

Confab/gab

Grill

Hail

KinLink

Mum

Nab

Nix

Okay

Usual

Death

Very

Dear

Cop

Facilitate

Concerning

Conflagration

Beverage

Acquaint

ProceedProliferation

Subsequently

Edifice

Currently

Commence

Help

About

Fire

Drink

Tell

GoSpread

Later

Building

Now

Begin

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A good Headline ChecklistA Headline does have a purpose, and

for it to be effective, it has to fulfill that purpose.

To check whether a certain headline has

achieved such, the following must be looked into:A headline:

Answers many Ws as possible

Should summarize the news story

Should catch attention

Should be grammatically correct

Is balanced, fair and in good tasteIs active rather than passive

Uses short familiar words

Uses only commonly accepted abbreviations

Verbal Deadwoods and other Words to Avoid

Verbal Deadwoods are words which unnecessarily repeatthe same idea:

Vague words are those which only arouse more questions

in the part of the reader.

repeat it all over again for the second time around

Tragedy- What kind of tragedy?

Some verbal Deadwoods

For the reason that-because

At the present time-now

Tendered is resignation-resigned

Affixed his signature-signed

Told his listeners-said

United in holy matrimony-married

Used for fuel purpose- fueledHeld a conference-met

In the immediate vicinity-near

Was able to make his escape-escaped

The words in italics should be omitted

1. Advance prediction

2. Fatal killing

3. Definitely decided

4. New recruits5. Free gift

6. A period of two weeks

7. Past history

8. Final conclusion

9. Dead body

Some vague words

Mishap- tragedy (fire, explosion,drowning), or accident (collision, fall

from a building)

Rites- ceremony (wedding, mass)

Raps- legal action (suit for damages,

libel, criminal case)

Docs- documents (deed of sale,

certificate, treaty)

Area- community (neighborhood, village,

town, city)

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Steps: Writing the HeadlineThe proper headline can be written only after the entire news is finished. Here are the basic

steps in writing headlines:

Underline the keywords- what are the most important places, people and events in the story?

Write the summary of the news using the key words- create a couple of statements using those

underlined words. The sentences formed need not be perfect; just make it to a point that it will make

some sense.

Divide according to unit of thought- separate the whos, the whats and so on.

Substitute simple & effective synonyms- remember that your readers are not scientists. Keep your

words simple.

See if they follow the rules of construction- observe proper tense, subject-verb agreement, etc.

Other tips

Dont use the articles A, An, The- this only waste space. The Headline would still make sense even

without them anyway.

Use numbers only if important- dont include the figure if theres only 1 peso involved.

Minimize punctuation- it is not a formal sentence, so perfect punctuation unnecessary.

Use short familiar words

Use only commonly used and accepted abbreviations- dont use B.C. for Baguio City!

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Lecture presentation

ROGER S. SEBASTIAN, master teacher 1

NVGCHSBayombong, Nueva Vizcaya