Chapters 14 and 15

Chapter 14: Revising Your Drafts

This chapter was all about how to revise a draft. I really liked how it emphasized the work aspect of revision. When writing a school paper, you usually just keep revising it until you have it just about perfect. However, when you're on the job, you usually have a limited time frame to complete revisions, so you have to choose which revisions would bring the greatest improvement in the the least amount of time.

This chapter also introduced how to revise something yourself, and how to both review someone else's draft and what to do when someone else reviews your draft. I have often used many of the suggestions on self-review. When you put your work down for a while and then come back to it later, you can catch things you missed while fully engrossed in the paper. Reading a draft out loud can also help you catch things your mind smoothed over while reading. When you are acting as a reviewer, you should always have good explanations for changes you suggest. On the other side, you should be open to listening to these explanations for your own draft.

Chapter 15: Testing Drafts for Usability and Persuasiveness

This chapter was about testing to see if the draft you've written gets the response from readers that you intended. I've never done this before on any school projects, but I can definitely see where it would come into play when on the job. If you are writing instructions for how to install something, you want to see if it works. By setting up a test, you can have readers that either are your target markets, or readers that resemble your target markets as close as possible read through you work. Then, through observations, you can determine which areas are working well, and which areas need improvement.

In Response to Amela's Post

I agree with how much bias would affect a journalist. They may feel fine ethically to report a story that does not match the ethics of their viewers. Or they may report on a story and spin it in a way that they believe is the best way to present it, but that may completely miss the other side of the story. In journalism, it is very important to have a group of people to bounce ideas off of in order to determine if you are taking one side, instead of reporting the news. A group meeting like the one that Jesse Day described at Koin could help to meet this need. However, if everyone in the group agrees, then sometimes someone needs to play devil's advocate in order to ensure they are covering every side of the issue at hand.

Journalism and Ethics

Wow, I never realized how much journalism was wrapped up in ethics!! Do I print this? Do I not? Will this be reporting the news correctly, or breaking an ethical boundary? The way Jesse Day spoke about it, it seems that journalism involves toeing the line, seeing how close you can get to the ethics line without crossing it. Will that picture of the child with the blown-off head cause trauma to readers and parents, or should we print it to prevent something like it happening again?

We've talked about ethics in my Accounting 433 class this semester. Accounting involves a lot of ethical decisions, but nothing compared to what you face on a daily basis in journalism. That one story you chose to print could forever make you wonder if you did the right thing. You have to constantly check ethical guidelines and make sure you use "attribution" so that if anything comes up with what you said, you attributed it to someone else, so they can take the fall. And the whole concept of sucking in viewers by showing ghastly news stories (I know Jesse said that's not what they do, they just report the news, but come on, we all know gore is popular. Why does everyone slow down as they drive past an accident?) disturbs me. Sure, news that just showed happy stories wouldn't get high ratings, but maybe that's a problem rooted in our culture. I don't know. I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with those kind of situations on a day-to-day basis. I don't know how I would sleep at night...

In Response to Melissa Bonneville's Post

I totally agree with the lure of the weather report as a hook to keep you watching. I too enjoy watching the weather, and the seven-day forecast is what you always wait for. I've always noticed the short updates they use. They will use lines, sometimes ones that lead you to think something drastic will happen ("Will we get snow on the valley floor?") and then when it comes time for the actual report, it will have nothing to do with what they said earlier ("No snow in Portland, only above around 5000 feet in the mountains").

I've also noticed how they save the best stories for the end of the show. They broadcast a little tidbit of what they will talk about, and then at the very end of the program they will have a tiny clip about the supposed big story that they lured you in with.

These little tricks used by the evening news may seem kind of deceptive, but they are techniques that they have come up with, and they seem to be working. If I watch the news for the weather, I'll keep watching until the seven-day forecast. If the story I want to hear about is at the end of the program, I'll keep watching until it's over. So I guess they do know what they are doing over at the news station...

It's now time for the evening news...

I've grown up watching the evening news. My parents always turned it on when they got home while they prepared dinner. It would be an update of what happened during the day, something to come home to. When I was little it was common background noise to our family evenings. But as I have since moved out, I've discovered that I'm not as inclined to turn it on. I've found it's just too depressing!! I would much rather turn on a sitcom rerun. The characters will get into some problem, but things always work out and you usually get a laugh along the way. You can sit comfy in your warm home and watch the characters struggle and ultimately come out on top.

As of late, all that the news broadcasts is murders, traffic collisions, failing markets, unrest overseas, and other catastrophes. Gone are the days of feel-good stories and special interest pieces. Instead we are bombarded with the bad in the world. Problems usually don't get wrapped up into one little package--they drag on and on. You don't get to laugh at people's antics--instead you cringe. It can really affect you. Ever since September 11, and the continual broadcast of the horrific images and footage taken of the event, TV news just hasn't held the same place for me. Unless it's snowing outside, the news usually won't come on.

The Internet has also replaced TV news for me. Instead of having to suffer through all the terrible things going on in our world to catch a story about the weather, you can just go online and quickly find out what you want to know. You can avoid the bad, and just pick out the good. And in this way, you can have time to watch your rerun and laugh a little.

In Responce to Inna's Post

The class on freelance writing opened up my eyes to how magazines get put together. I agree with Inna about the multiple possibilities that are available to someone who wants to write. All you have to do is look at a publication's website and find out if they take freelance work, and then send it in. You can also change topics that you want to write about as you please. I like how Inna says that in this way, writing will never get boring. If you want to write about exercise one week and child raising the second, all you have to do is send your work to different places. I think this does open up a lot of possibilities to someone who wants to write and get published. It provides an opportunity to write about what your heart desires, but also to get paid for it.

Freelance Writing

The idea that you can get paid by sending items you wrote to different publications is really a good idea. You don't have to be an employee, you just send in something you wrote, and if they like it, they'll print it!! I didn't realize that most of the items that you read in magazines are actually written by freelance writers. I think that is actually a great idea for both writers and publications.

First of all, writers can write about many different topics and many different genres. Writing about the same thing all the time could get pretty boring, and by being able to write about anything that interests you at the time, a writer can have some variety in their work. A freelance writer also has many options for getting their work published. If they send their work to one publication and they don't like it, they can then send it to another publication that will publish it. This gives many opportunities for a writer to get published.

Publications also would benefit from using freelance writers. They don't have to keep writers on payroll, and they can pick and choose written pieces as they want. They may publish something from one writer one month, and not like the next article sent in. So they can then choose something from another writer. They can also get large varieties of work. When they can choose many different works from many different writers, they're publications cover a wide variety and are interesting to read. They can get work from different regions, different interests, and different topics.

Overall, the freelance writing market is a good system for everyone. If I was looking to go into writing, I would definitely consider doing freelance.

In Response to Sarah Ross's Post

I liked how Sarah mentioned that you should read what you write out loud before finalizing. For one thing, you can catch errors in grammar that you might skip over when reading in your head. But as Sarah said, if you read something you wrote in a board meeting and stumble over wording or phrasing, your credibility disappears. For example, say you are writing a proposal and are asked to read over a section during a meeting. If you can't read what you wrote, your proposal will probably not be chosen. When you are trying to build up ethos, not being able to read your own work will harm any other efforts you may have used to incorporate credibility into the proposal.