Post 15: Editor at work

I was able to edit a friends paper. She is a reporter for The Signpost and was assiged to cover an event. Unfortunately due to timeliness the article as not published, but I was able to edit the article with her. We met and discussed the importance of a headline, the inverted pyramid, the use of punctuation, AP style and citing sources.

She hasn't had any prior experience writing for a newspaper, but she has written for a magazine before. The style of writing is quite different the same way that writing an essay is different from writing a hard news article.

We talked about the style of writing in different formats. In order to talk to the reporter I too had to do my research in order to be informed and to inform her.

We were able to discuss different things in writing and she understood certain concepts a lot better. Though that specific article was not published her writing in the next article was a lot better.

Final Post Jessica

I have really come to appreciate the position that editors hold. It is not an easy job. It feels as though any mistake is your fault which is a lot of pressure to put on someone. It is also difficult if there isn't quite a problem, but you know the work could be better. In the chapter it reminds us that we are not the writer, we are meant to edit not rewrite. 

I helped a student with a final paper and there was so much that I wanted to change. Just the wording of things could have been rearranged to create  a much more clear paper. I did not want to do that though, because then it would be my paper, not his. 

This is a tough position to be in because you must be sensitive to the writer but it is also your job to edit for clarity and quality. I definitely appreciate the work that editors do, especially when they are caring towards their writers. I tried my best to do this with my fellow classmate, and all of the suggestions I gave were constructive and I pointed out the things that were done well. 

I wouldn't say he is going to get an A+ but I also won't see the finished product, as I gave him the updated copy and he may take some of my suggestions to revise it. The important thing is that it is his work, and it portrays his knowledge of the subject.

Week 15

I chose to critique my friends paper for her English class. She wanted feedback on the structure of her paper in particular, and anything else I found needed to be corrected.

A characteristic I have learned to appreciate in professors throughout my college experience is the ability to appreciate the content that comes from students. A student forms content, hopefully to the best of their ability, therefore it is their personal expression and ideas they are wanting to portray to a reader. The chapter discusses “The words on your screen were not generated by the computer; they were created by living, breathing people. Remembering the people has everything to do with how you approach the words” (MacNelly, 307). 

I had a professor this semester that refused to validate my personal opinions. When correcting my work, specifically my papers based on opinion of a sensitive topic, rather than critique my writing, she critiqued the content. She used to be an editor years back, but I lost a lot of respect for her. Editors have to remember that these words aren’t just words, but they truly are someone’s expression. Writers are vulnerable, which is also a concept this chapter validated. I appreciated this chapter included this concept, because it has rang true this semester. “You can become a good coach only when you’ve achieved faith in your ability to understand a piece of writing and make suggestions” (MacNelly, 308). Isn’t that the truth? If an editor goes into working on a project with little desire or interest to gain understanding or respect for the writer and their content, the job will not get done to it’s full potential. 

 As I critiqued my friend’s paper, I was sure to praise her on content. But I also feel it is critical to be honest with the writer. If something doesn’t flow, doesn’t translate well, or maybe isn’t necessary, bring those things up as a suggestion to the writer. They ultimately have the decision of how they want their paper to look, feel and say. So let them say it! However, the suggestions from a reader/editor can help identify things that the writer may have looked passed. In addition to suggesting, have a conversation with the writer. Letting them explain their work can create more understanding as well as give ideas for a better flow to the work that would portray their idea in a more clear way. 

Blog #15

I had the pleasure of editing a paper by a lady taking a research method class.  I will call her Brittany.  Brittany is very smart and I think she is going to school to be a journalist.  Her writing was amazing.  She writes very professionally and it was quite easy editing her work.  She puts enough verbiage that keeps the you interested in the story, but doesn’t write so professionally that feel as if you are reading stereo instructions.  I was surprised that she asked me to review her work, since she is so great at writing and I consider myself well beneath her on skills.  I found very little errors in her work.  The one thing I did do was look up many of the rules for AP style to make sure her or I was writing or thinking the right thing.  The only other mistake I found was some simple grammar errors that I am sure her brain skipped over.  

I am glad that I had the opportunity to work “with” Brittany on her writing project.  I hope my input helped her writing move to another level of greatness.  She is an amazing writer and knowing that she trusted me to look over her work was an honor.  I enjoyed that she also wanted to read my work and took that as her acknowledgment that she considers me a good writer too.  The reading stated that another important part of being a good editor is to not forget to get out and write.  Everything I have learned in this class is in one way or another; the key to becoming better is practice.

Keela Disterhaft- Week 15

For my assignment this week, I worked with my mom on a paper she wrote last year. It was a paper on Interpersonal Communication. I was impressed by how much I was able to communicate with her about the errors she made in her paper.

The first mistake I could identify was a subject/ verb agreement rule. My mom made a list of topics she learned and mixed up the verbs “is” and “are”. The verb she used was “is” and the subject of the sentence was “communications”. Prior to this class, I would have been able to identify that the word usage was incorrect but I wouldn’t be able to tell her why.

            Another common error I saw throughout her paper was the usage of commas. This is one of my weak points so I was a little hesitant to start marking the paper for incorrect use. There were areas of her paper where I felt that she desperately needed commas because there were non-essential phrases. Again, this was something I could explain to her instead of just saying, “just do it because I know it’s right.”

            This was a great assignment and I hope that I can continue to improve my editing skills as I progress in my career!

Week 13-14

Here are three web designs that I though were good examples of each. If the screenshots do not appear, I've included a link to each website. 

4.   consistent.

A good website needs to be consistent to retain customer lifetime value.  KSL.com is a great example of consistency in its design. It uses the same headings, same fonts, and same buttons.  Headings are always blue with underlining as seen in the screenshot below.  www.ksl.com

 

5.   Usability

Usability focuses on what the user is going to actually do and what the purpose of the sight is for. Amazon’s design is great because people get on to find a certain item to purchase or look at the deals.  The search bar and Cyber Monday deals are large and at the top of the page.   www.amazon.com

7. Hick’s law 

Hick’s law states that the less options a customer has, the less time to make decisions. On the following website, there is only a few tabs to click on. This will speed up the customer’s decision to click on a tab.  www.att.com

Week 15

I edited an analysis of a business student at Weber State University. 

 One of the greatest suggestions from the reading was to edit and not rewrite the story. I wish this suggestion would have sunk in before now. My problem when editing, is that I read other papers with my personality in mind. I focus on how I would have said it. While editing this paper I tried not to let pride step in the way of editing. I had to realize that my way of saying things is not always best. As I learned in my book report, style and personality are essential to good writing. One cannot reach the full potential of a good writer until style and personality are portrayed. I would be doing Ammon and other writers a disservice, in the very act of serving them, if I would to rewrite the paper rather than edit it. When I first looked at Ammon’s paper, I entertained the thought that his format and set up was different than what I did for my paper. I eliminated the thought as I realized that personality is essential to good writing.

There are two sides to the coin of personality when it comes to coaching writers. The first was explained above. The other side is to not eliminate my own personality as the editor or coach. The chapter suggests that I should be myself as a coach. When put in a position to critique the work of others, I tend to abuse that authority. I want to find something wrong with the paper just so I can find something wrong with the paper. This paper I tried not to over claim or abuse the privilege of editing.