What is Copy reading?

The art of arranging, correcting,

and selecting the quality and
type of news.
It is also called copy editing.
 What is Copy reading?

The material to be edited can be

a news story, a feature article,
an editorial, sports story or a
literary piece.
One who edits a copy is called a
copy reader.
His work is to go over the story
and makes necessary
corrections and revisions in the
copy to improve it.
 What should be copy read?
•Errors in facts
•Errors in grammar
•Mechanics
•Errors in Structures
•Libelous materials
•Editorializing statements
 What should be copy read?

•Rebellious materials
•Verbal deadwoods
•Redundant words
 Examples of redundant words
• The agency closes its door at 9AM
in the morning.
• My son will send me a free gift
on my birthday.
• Gov. Santos wrote a biography
of his life months ago.
 Guidelines for copy editing
•Use standard copyreading/proof
reading symbols
•Always use a pencil when editing,
never a pen
•Type an end sign “30” or #
at the end of the story
Copy reading symbols
Copy reading symbols
Copy reading symbols
Copy reading symbols
 Everyone commits
mistakes, that is why
pencils have erasers.
 HEADLINE WRITING
• Headlines are windows
of newspapers
•It is the title of the news story
•It summarizes the whole news
story
 FUNCTIONS OF HEADLINES

• To tell the story in capsule

To attract readers
To add variety of type
To identify personality of the
newspaper
To grade the news
 Tips in Headline Writing
Read the story for general
understanding
Clues to the headline are usually in the
lead
What happened?
Who did what?
How did it happen?
 Tips in Headline Writing
Use the present tense if the verb is in the active
voice
House panel Oks hybrid Con-con
Omit the helping verb if the verb is in the passive
voice
Drug pushers nabbed
Use the infinitive for future event
Agricultural firms to help farmers
 Tips in Headline Writing
Don’t use names unless the person is well known
Use specific terms instead of generalities

DECK
Number of lines in headline
Agricultural firms to help farmers (one deck)
Virology agency to better equip (two decks)
Philippines vs emerging diseases
 Kinds of headlines
•Both lines are flushed to the left margin
Senate health committee to look
into cholera outbreak

Drop line/step form – first line is flushed left while

the second one is indented

Senate health committee to look

into cholera outbreak

Inverted pyramid School launches

YES-O
drive
 Kinds of headlines

•Hanging indention-
flushed line is followed by two indented parallel lines
Senior editor
bats for more
progress report

Cross line/barline-

one line headline that runs across the column

Ex-PNP Chief, nanumpa sa DOH

 Kinds of headlines

Box headline
Senate health committee to look
into cholera outbreak

Half box headline

Senate health committee to look into

cholera outbreak
 Rules in writing headlines
● Make the headline as short as possible.
Ideally, maximum of six words.
● Make sure that it answers as many Ws as possible
● The headline should summarize the story.
● It should not contain that cannot be found in the story.
● Positive headlines are preferable
than the negative ones.
 Rules in writing headlines
● Use the strongest word in the first line
as much as possible.
● Do not begin a headline with a verb,
preposition , conjunction or article
● Avoid the verb to be
● Use present tense in the headline
• describing the past events
● Use future tense in the headlines to
describe future events.
 Rules in writing headlines
•Use numbers in headlines only when necessary
•Do not abbreviate days of the weeks
in headlines
•Substitute comma for the headline instead
of conjunction and
•Use single quotation in headline
•Use the active voice
•Use abbreviations only for known personalities
 Rules in writing headlines
● Write numbers in figures

Thirty students - 30 students

Twenty million pesos -20M

● Omit articles( a, an, the) and all forms of be(is, are,

was, were, am, etc.
 Unit counting in headlines
● Unit counting is important to avoid fat head, thin
head or bleeding head
● All small letters except jilft and mw are counted as
1.
● Small letters jilft are counted as ½.
● Small letters m and w are counted as 1 ½
● All capital letters are counted as 1 ½ except for MW
● Capital letters M and W are counted as 2
● Capital letters JILFT are counted as 1.
 Printer’s Direction

Serves as guide to the printing press

LPG prices down this month

26 unit counts Font size/ font Type of headline cross

headline family 48 B Arial line/barline
 Some types of fonts used in
headline writing

Helvetica, Times New Roman, Calibri,

Constantia, Arial, Garamond, Gothic,
Book Antigua, etc.
 “Success is achieved
and maintained to those
who try and keep trying.”
Thank you for listening!

Ms. ZENAIDA G. ARCENA

Retired Head Teacher in English