Deciding what is wrong with a piece of content can be the hardest part of editing.
This session gives you a system for quickly identifying where copy needs to be improved so that you can speedily put it right. It is suitable for anyone who is frequently called upon to edit or rewrite copy, including deputy editors, features editors and other section editors.
One day in-company training course covering:
- Identifying bad writing
- How to effectively assess copy
- Key questions to ask
- Creating a checklist for copy
- How to analyse copy with structure - is the structure right for the material and the platform?
- Does the copy draw the reader along?
- Is it logical?
- Is the angle right?
- Facts and accuracy
- Working through the copy: intros - do they hook the reader?
- How can they be improved?
- Working through the copy: body - quotes, transitions, box outs
- Language - grammar, punctuation, sentence length
- Putting it all together
- Spotting the problem, coming up with a workable strategy for the time frame, carrying it out
- Pulling the reader in - making page furniture work
- What makes a good headline?
- Options to use
Actions and follow-up
This course provides you with practical skills that you can apply immediately to your own copy. We send you away with a list of “To dos” to focus on after your training, so you can put into practice what you have learned; and we follow-up with you afterwards to see how you are getting on. We are always available if you have any queries at all, so you just need to let us know.
Really useful to learn an actual structure to the editing process - it's always seemed so subjective before.
Production editor, Immediate Media