Take it one step further
Editing is much more than AP style. At times it’s a painstaking process. Nonetheless, I fully understand that going through multiple editing cycles leads to exceptional work. My philosophy is that in editing, a piece should be propelled one step further. To go secure that additional interview. To further curate the statistics laced throughout as evidence. To thoroughly analyze the minute connotations of a word, which might affect how its interpreted, and the message in general. And when people’s work starts to excel because of this additional push, that is what creates trust and strong relationships for our staff. |
The "Bro Squad"
Sometimes editing can be subjective and the end goal is to offer the creator a new perspective rather than alter the voice behind their words. During my sophomore year, I was prompted to overcome this issue, and the people who helped me do so were nicknamed the “Bro Squad” by our advisor Sara-Beth Badalamente. The “Bro Squad” was essentially a group of senior baseball players who loved writing about sports– and as sports editor, I typically edited their work. At first, I was intimidated. Regardless, in the successive cycles, I decided there would be no point to leave superficial feedback. Not only did I help them publish their work, but I built relationships with most of the group– detailing that if I show effort in my editing writers will reciprocate it. I’m thrilled that the Bro Squad’s powerful, intriguing opinions were a part of our online and in-print work. |
The "Bro Squad" in both their natural habitats. All jokes aside, Kade Cupp and Alex Cole, pictured on the left, had some of my favorite pieces to edit. Other members of the "Bro Squad" are Samer Yassir front left of right-hand photo and Matt Wyderko middle of the right-hand photo. Sample of my feedback and interactions with them are below. (Click to enlarge).
|
Editing on the fly
For social media and our website, usually are posts are edited on the fly. So though it might be on a condensed time constraint, I try to offer concise feedback and fix all AP style errors before anything is published. In the cases where I believe more significant editing is necessary, I will communicate it to the writer and set an alternative deadline for their post. Top right: I edited a men's basketball IG post at 10:30. I asked my staff writer Quinn Newhouse to corroborate and check facts and helped him finish out the rest of the captions. (Although it shows in purple I wrote all the edits, they were copy and pasted from Quinn's work above, and just put in a format for the IG post). Bottom left: Making last-minute edits on a food related feature before it goes up on our The Emery website.
|
Not only editing text, editing designs
Another dimension of editing is the design component– not only in terms of copy editing but shaping up design layouts. Former Emery EIC Maya Kogulan and Managing Editor Mishal Charania sat down for an hour with me and prompted me to completely fix one of my pages– which was a one-pager with no clear dominant. The revamp took time but also enabled me to value the intricacies of designing, and I’ve tried to replicate that experience in my senior year.
(Every issue we create a list of design edits to complete before publishing. Along with these, we might meet one on one with designers when pages need further restructuring.)
Vol 6 Issue 5, 2021 design edits
Vol 7 Issue 1, 2021 design edits
(Every issue we create a list of design edits to complete before publishing. Along with these, we might meet one on one with designers when pages need further restructuring.)
Vol 6 Issue 5, 2021 design edits
Vol 7 Issue 1, 2021 design edits
Quick, send to press!
Deadline editing has its pressures, but the adrenaline rush reminds me of my sports. In being virtual, we’ve mainly shifted to leaving final edits on pdfs rather than the traditional paper method. Even as a sports editor, I stayed up until 2 to 3 a.m. on these nights to help get the paper done. It definitely isn’t healthy, but it acclimated me to the workload as Editor-in-Chief. Luckily, my Co-Editor-in-Chief this year, Allison Mi, is a morning person so we’re able to hand off the torch on the final edit process relatively well. |
These are texts from The Emery's GroupMe in the 2019-2020 year, which we frequently used to communicate while on deadline. In this situation, I finally helped us send to press. (Click to enlarge).
|
The oxford comma and AP style in general
I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but I didn’t remotely understand what the oxford comma was until my junior year of journalism. I’d spent a year completely ignoring it, but I quickly realized I wasn’t alone because in editing online and social media work it was the most pervasive error. At first, it seemed pointless and minimal, but I gained an appreciation for AP style and how these small details can create a more refreshing reading experience. I’ve taught AP-style presentations as mini-lessons in our classes along with our editor’s boot camps, using my advisor’s AP style reference book and online resources as references. And hopefully, now our staff isn’t as oblivious to the oxford comma as I was my sophomore year.