First, some general principles:

• Editing is central to the process of writing for the mass media.
• Good writers consciously train themselves to edit their own copy.
• Editing takes maturity -- that is, a developed sense of what is good writing and how it sounds to the reader.
• It is often easier to edit someone else’s copy than to edit our own.
• Editors should put themselves, as much as possible, in the place of the reader and ask, “What will the reader expect from this piece of writing?”

The discipline of editing

Editing is more than just rereading copy so that you can fix the technical errors. That is the first step, certainly, but good editing goes far beyond that.

The major points of the lecture are:

• Editing and rewriting are central to the writing process.
• Neither is easy; they take discipline and work.
• One of the keys to good editing is to try to distance yourself from what you have written.
• You should have a specific purpose in mind when you edit -- first fixing your copy but then eliminating wordiness, checking facts, reading for flow, etc.
• Wordiness is one of the most prevalent weaknesses of writing.
• For your midterm, you will be asked to write an inverted pyramid news story.

More lecture notes, etc.

Readings

You should review the first six chapters of the text, Writing for the Mass Media, paying close attention to the rules of writing that we have practiced so far throughout the semester.


Reading room

Day of infamy. One of the most famous speeches in American history was delivered by President Franklin Roosevelt on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. Roosevelt was famous for editing his speeches -- and making them better. Take a look at what he did to the first draft of that speech.

Midterm preview. A special page has been created on this web site to help you prepare for the midterm exam. On it you will find what the exam will look like, an example for you to follow, and all of the writing assignments that will be included on the exam.