Good copy-editing

The eye of an eagle, the touch of a butterfly

By Kevin Cavanagh, Training Editor, The Hamilton Spectator

Week 1: Editing raw copy

To keep staff-written copy clear, error-free and legally safe, editors should be able to:

* Spot errors in spelling, grammar, and style.

* Make sure the story would be clear to your spouse or friend or mother. If a question occurs to you, make sure the story answers it before you send it on.

* Detect potential libel, or common legal danger areas.

Tips

* After reading a story, ask yourself: Is the focus clear? Are the lede and focus backed up in the story? Don't make this complicated, just make sure you can answer these basic questions.

* Sharpen the focus. Make sure the point is clear or clearly alluded to by the 5th graph, and certainly before story jumps to another page.

* As you edit, read out loud every sentence in which a change is made, to make sure it works and that a new structural problem wasn't created by the edit.

* Interpret jargon or journalese. Cut out needless words. Change long and complicated words to short and clear ones without endangering accuracy.

* Trim fat quotes to make them better. Kill or paraphrase long-winded quotes that let stories drift and readers wander. Quotes that are dull or laced with jargon do a story more harm than good.

* Legal flags: Even if you're not sure what it is, alert a senior editor if you sense a legal problem. A hundred false alarms are better than a bad one that got through.

* A good habit: Start each shift with a 5-minute review of your style guide.

One example of a copy editor's basic accuracy checklist:

* spelling

* numbers and math

* locations / geography

* names and titles

* attribution

* dates / time references

Week 2: Editing the wire

To effectively edit newswire copy, editors should be able to:

* Trim long stories or make briefs by carefully compressing text to retain key elements, rather than just cutting from the bottom. Late in a story there are often first mentions of key points.

* Eliminate repetition and unnecessary attribution.

* Do away with clutter and jargon.

* See and change non-Canadian or non-regional orientation.

 Tips

* To condense text and avoid lopping off second halves, be on the lookout for long quotes that can be reduced or paraphrased, weak quotes that can be dropped, or redundant passages and comments the story can simply do without.

* Except when deadline prohibits, read the full story before editing it for length. Stay in the habit of scanning the complete story on your first read-through. This drill sharpens your ability to speed-read large chunks of copy. When time is tight, that's an invaluable copy editing skill to have.

* Interpret jargon or journalese. Taking care not to endanger accuracy, change long and complicated words to short and clear ones. Wire copy, especially in sports and entertainment, can be prone to tired cliches. Replace them with straight talk.

* Cut clutter. Wire copy can be notorious for repeating passages of wordy official statements and releases. Without doing major rewrites, always be ready to clip needless words out of sentences. Clarify the story and help the reader.

* Remember where your readers live. Make the changes that ensure sure terms of reference - locations, directions, currency, land areas, words like "lorry" - make sense on the streets of your town.

Week 3: Headlines, cutlines, decks

The goal is to write clear and strong heads, decks, and cutlines that don't overlap. To get there, editors should:

* Know and coordinate the roles of those different elements.

* Be familiar with your own local guidelines for the various devices.

* Be able to write consistently clear headlines that are sometimes clever, always informative and enticing.

Tips

* Remember that heads, decks, captions and even pull-quotes should each bring new information to the package.

* Remember, headlines should strive for clarity and accuracy. Use strong, active words. Don't steal the lede or a story's punchline.

* Simple is best: Don't try to say too many things in a head.

* Help yourself: Jot down a short list of key words while editing the story. They'll act as prompts, and ignite ideas when you're writing the headline.

* Help yourself: One way to come up with catchy word plays for features is to start with the central subject word, then write down phrases or themes that use the same word (i.e., 'Skirting the issue' for a fashion spread, or 'Clear thinking on sunglasses', or a landscaping piece headlined 'Life in the bush leagues').

* Help yourself: Read your style guide on heads and cutlines.

Week 4: The proof is in the proofing

Our goal is clear: Help yourself detect typos and sloppy mistakes. We want to catch errors in edited copy as well as in elements - heads, captions -the desker wrote.

Editors must find ways to stay on top of:

* The first-degree killers: typos in heads, cutlines and ledes; or stories that don't end because their last lines got bumped off the page and into outer space. (This one drives readers nuts.)

* Names, for consistent spelling and for use of full name and title.

* Numbers, for being accurate and making sense.

* Calendars and event listings.

Tips

* Help yourself: Use a personal checklist to ensure key components - captions, folios, heads, ledes, page numbers in jumps or skyboxes- get an itemized examination before being sent on. Make this list part of your proofing routine.

* Check the spelling of every name in every cutline. Make sure it is consistent with the spelling in the story.

* Check with the reporter if you sense that ages or salaries or budget figures or tender bids seem unlikely. Always better to ask than to assume wrongly.

* Look to see that percentages don't add up to more than 100. Did the dollar drop by three per cent, or by three percentage points? Know the difference.

* Double-check every amount in a headline. Make sure a typo didn't turn millions into billions, or a missing zero doesn't turn $750,000 into $75,000.

* Make sure a late change didn't nudge the end of a story off the page. Check this after every editing change, and quickly one last time before sending the work back to the slot. (Refer to earlier note: this drives readers nuts.)

* Events listings and calendars are an act of faith, but as a bare minimum, check them for duplicate listings, events that will have already occurred by publication, faulty date ("Monday May 12" when Monday is the 11th), or listings with no location or contact number.

* Check folio lines for correct date and page number.

* Use spell check only as your final step. This way it remains a helpful backup, not a dangerous replacement for good editing.