Copyreading -editing or correcting error made by

the reporter.
Duties of a Copyreader
Content
d Errors in fact
e Opinion, unnecessary adjectives, editorializing statements in news
l
e Verbal deadwood, redundancy
t Technical terms, jargon in news
e
Those contrary to law and good taste

Form
d Errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, organization
e
l
e Errors in unity, coherence, emphasis
t
e
Errors in style
A good copyreader is
• Accurate
­ Checks, confirms, facts and figures, dates and time
­ Verifies names, sees totals tally
• A master of detail, of broad knowledge
• A master writer, a super reporter
­ Skillful in the use of words, sentences, paragraphs
­ Writes concisely
• Careful, patient, creative, and can distinguish sound inference from editorializing
• Meticulous
­ Willing to read long articles word for word
• In-the-know
­ One must know facts of the story
• High sense of grammar and wide vocabulary
• Critical eye
­ Can easily detect errors
• Tidy
­ Especially in making copyreader marks
• resourceful
­ For referencing of facts
• Knowledgeable on appropriate symbols
QUALITIES OF A GOOD COPYREADER
These qualities are not developed overnight; these are attained through constant
practice and learning from own mistakes. The talent in writing prospers when it is
nurtured.
Commonly-Used Symbols
Copyreader and journalist understand a special language, made ,mostly of
symbols, to represent certain actions on revising articles. Some of them are as
follows:
Used to insert punctuation
Caret or words

Underscore (triple) Used to capitalize certain

words/letters
Paragraph ¶ Used to form paragraphs

Circle Sept. 16-17, 2006 Used to spell abbreviated

words

Transpose bye good To interchange the position

of words/letters

Sharp #
Used to end the story
 Some Copyreading Examples
Letters and word changes
Those b oys – close up space
h
Pamp let – insert letter h
himself ” Punctuation Marks ”
Avail of – insert word
They call her Sibuyas Queen because….
(quotation mark)
Mr. Valdez said “goodbye” (comma)
Numbers and Abbreviation ,
I’ll see you in Sept. (spell out)
Doctor Jekyll (abbreviate)

Give me 2 bananas (spell out)

 Some Copyreading Examples
You Are the sUnshine of my life
…was not untrue (delete)
Judgement (delete letter within the word)
Developed our sskills
(delete letter before/after the word)
Meronbatayongmiryenda? (put space)

Other forms of type

Mayoyao, Philippines ( capitalize whole word)

Others
The quick brown dinosaur jumps over the lazy teacher. (indent
or paragraph)
The story is not over more (story unfinished)
stet
One girl came (ignore correction)
 Complex Simple

Headline Writing Monumental Big

Terminated Ended
Witness See
Purchase Buy
Utilize Use

The news is basically Majority

Reside
Most
Live
Procure Get
a story, and like a typical Proceed
Contribute
Go
Givr
story, news also have titles- Request
Endeavor
Ask
Try
Facilitate
Concerning
Help
About
Conflagration Fire
the Headline. Summon
Category
Call
Class Beverage
Acquaint
Drink
Tell
Prevaricate Lie
Incarcerate Jail Proceed Go
Headlines immediately Inaugurate
Facilitate
Start
Help
Proliferation
Subsequently
Spread
Later

suggest to the readers what Inundate

Criticize
Flood
Blast
Edifice
Currently
Building
Now
Cite Commence Begin
the news is all about, so
Enumerate
Conference Confab/gab
Investigate Grill
they may get interested with Welcome
Family
Hail
Kin

it. It also sets the mood of Connect

Silent
Link
Mum
Capture Nab
the reader towards the Reject Nix
Okay
Approve
news; to alarm, to pacify, or Customary
Demise
Usual
Death

to just inform the reader. Exceedingly

Expensive
Very
Dear
Police Cop
 A good Headline Checklist Some verbal Deadwoods
For the reason that-because
At the present time-now
A Headline does have a purpose, and Tendered is resignation-resigned
Affixed his signature-signed
for it to be effective, it has to fulfill that purpose. Told his listeners-said
To check whether a certain headline has United in holy matrimony-married
Used for fuel purpose- fueled
achieved such, the following must be looked into: Held a conference-met
A headline: In the immediate vicinity-near
•Answers many W’s as possible Was able to make his escape-escaped

•Should summarize the news story The words in italics should be omitted
•Should catch attention 1. Advance prediction
2. Fatal killing
•Should be grammatically correct 3. Definitely decided
•Is balanced, fair and in good taste 4. New recruits
5. Free gift
•Is active rather than passive 6. A period of two weeks
•Uses short familiar words 7. Past history
8. Final conclusion
•Uses only commonly accepted abbreviations 9. Dead body

Verbal Deadwoods and other Words to Avoid Some vague words

Verbal Deadwoods are words which unnecessarily repeat Mishap- tragedy (fire, explosion,
the same idea: drowning), or accident (collision, fall
from a building)
“repeat it all over again for the second time around” Rites- ceremony (wedding, mass)
Raps- legal action (suit for damages,
Vague words are those which only arouse more questions libel, criminal case)
in the part of the reader. Docs- documents (deed of sale,
certificate, treaty)
Area- community (neighborhood, village,
Tragedy- “What kind of tragedy? town, city)
 Steps: Writing the Headline
The proper headline can be written only after the entire news is finished. Here are the basic
steps in writing headlines:

Underline the keywords- what are the most important places, people and events in the story?
Write the summary of the news using the key words- create a couple of statements using those
underlined words. The sentences formed need not be perfect; just make it to a point that it will make
some sense.
Divide according to unit of thought- separate the whos, the whats and so on.
Substitute simple & effective synonyms- remember that your readers are not scientists. Keep your
words simple.

See if they follow the rules of construction- observe proper tense, subject-verb agreement, etc.
Other tips
Don’t use the articles A, An, The- this only waste space. The Headline would still make sense even
without them anyway.

Use numbers only if important- don’t include the figure if there’s only 1 peso involved.
Minimize punctuation- it is not a formal sentence, so perfect punctuation unnecessary.

Use short familiar words

Use only commonly used and accepted abbreviations- don’t use B.C. for Baguio City!
 • Lecture presentation
ROGER S. SEBASTIAN, master teacher 1
NVGCHS
Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya