COMM 313, Editorial Processes

Instructor: Ross Collins, North Dakota State University, Fargo

Class resources

Begin with the video! You know editing is important. But is it dramatic?

Lecture synopses.

PowerPoint Presentations:

• Introduction: "the Desk'll catch it."
• Editor's constraints: Influences on editors from within and from without.

Want to test your editing skills with a real-world quiz? Complete one of the the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Editing internship program tests, self-scoring, to see how you'd do!

Copy editing:

• Sneaky word list.
• Proofreader's marks (PDF file).
• The best of AP style.
• Grammar highlights.
• Word clutter and clichés.
• Leads, quotes, concise writing.
• The big picture: what is a fact?
• Editing for the web.

Headlines and headings:

• Sample Headline Schedule ("hed sked").
• Online count guide.
• Headline count guide tutorial.

Midterm exam review (regular term).

Design and makeup:

• A beginner's guide to InDesign.
• Working with digital images in Photoshop.
• Sample copy control sheet.
• Dummy sheet (PDF file).

10 Common Typographic pitfalls
Includes keystroke combinations for quote, dash, and other substitutions.

Summer session final exam review.

Regular session final exam review.

"A Few Rules."

How they used to look: famous mass media, 1674-1974.

Exercises:

AP Style exercise.

Grammar exercise one.

Grammar exercise two.

Word clutter exercise.

Clichés exercise.

Leads exercise.

Trite exercise.

Sum-up exercise.

Final copy editing exercise.

Headline exercise one.

Headline exercise two.

Headline exercise three.

Writing cutlines exercise.

Copy control exercise one.

Copy control exercise two.

InDesign exercise: Tom Peters.

InDesign exercise: travel tab.

InDesign exercise: fishing newsletter.

InDesign exercise: hobbies newsletter.

InDesign exercise: student broadsheet.

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