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Much like leadership, the intentions behind my revisions changes from piece to piece. While AP Style and grammar guidelines stay the same, I understand that different stories require a different tone. The same goes for when I am tweaking a page design or editing a photo. Everything must be intentional, and as an editor my number one priority is making sure intentions are clear and impact is made.
The majority of the editing I do takes place in the classroom, sitting next to the reporter whose piece I am revising. Especially when I am editing for tone and clarity, I want to make sure the edits are being made through conversation rather than digital comments. While this is not always possible, I believe that this face to face collaboration allows for edits to be made and learning to take place on both ends. While this prevents miscommunication while editing, it makes it difficult to tangibly communicate my editing work beyond sharing the original organizers, rough drafts, and published stories.
EDITING WITH A NEW JOURNALIST
When working with intro-students this year, we worked with our advisor to create a step by step system for intro students to learn through experience.
Student A: This article was the first story Marissa Delgado ever wrote. Her article was about a tennis player at our school who had committed to play tennis at the University of Illinois, just one year after a nearly career ending back injury.
Step 1: We started by teaching them journalistic ethics, interview skills and AP style guidelines. We do this through presentations, quizzes, and class games at the start of each semester.
Step 2: After we have a pitch meeting and have them navigate an organizer using the information we have given them. They can ask questions throughout the process, but we expect them to rely on the resources provided.
Student A: MD Organizer (Pre-Revision)
Step 3: The Editors worked one-on-one with students throughout the revision process.
For Marissa's story, I worked with her over the course of three days as we went through every quote and every sentence. We knew we wanted the story to be more of a narrative and act more as a sequential retelling of Isyanov's tennis career. You will see how we not only made grammar edits, but the story underwent substantial structural changes with the addition of more quotes.
Student A: MD Editing/Rough Draft (Mid-Revision)
Step 4: The story is published on This is York/York-hi after undergoing final changes.
EDITING WITH ADVANCED STUDENTS
Editing a story that a fellow editor or advanced student writes is more so to ensure brevity, tone, and check for minor mistakes.
Student B: This article was written by Copy Editor Natalie Tuleja for our Semester 1 Magazine. The article intended to inform students about the switch from an SAT graduation requirement to the ACT graduation requirement in Illinois.
Step 1: Go through the rough draft and locate areas for AP Style revision
Student B: NT Rough Draft (Pre-Revision)
Step 2: Edit for tone, clarity, and make story-specific changes.
While Marissa's story had more of a narrative structure, Natalie was opting for a more informational tone. We were able to achieve this by making cuts to the story and including more outside research. While minor AP Style edits were made, we were mostly editing for conciseness. This is seen in the Final product.
Step 3: The story is published on This is York/York-Hi and after undergoing final changes.
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