Acknowledgments |
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xiii | |
PART I HEADLINES |
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Headlines: The Prime Seller of Newspapers and the Copy Editors Who Write Them |
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3 | (10) |
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What Kind of People Work on the ``Desk''? |
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4 | (5) |
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A Career That Lasts Beyond Retirement |
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9 | (4) |
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Headlines: The Door to Copy-Editing Mastery |
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13 | (8) |
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It's Your Turn to Write a Headline |
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14 | (2) |
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A Gallery of Classic Headline Gaffes |
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16 | (1) |
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Serious Stories = Serious Headlines |
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17 | (4) |
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``Counting'' the Headline |
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21 | (12) |
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22 | (2) |
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Two Systems for Doing the Count |
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24 | (2) |
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System 1: Counting in Numerical Sequence |
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26 | (1) |
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System 2: Counting by Character Widths |
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27 | (1) |
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27 | (1) |
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Deciphering the Head Order |
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28 | (2) |
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Learning Attitude Adjustments |
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30 | (3) |
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33 | (10) |
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34 | (1) |
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Hammerheads (a.k.a. Hammers) and Wickets |
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35 | (2) |
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37 | (1) |
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38 | (1) |
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39 | (4) |
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The Master Lists of Forbidden Words in Headlines |
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43 | (10) |
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44 | (2) |
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Forbidden Words: Hard News |
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46 | (3) |
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49 | (4) |
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Setting Up a Work Regimen and Determining the First Word (the Subject)---and the Second (the Verb) |
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53 | (10) |
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54 | (1) |
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Find Out ``Whodunit'' and the Headline's First Word Will Appear |
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54 | (2) |
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What to Do When You Hear ``Voices'' |
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56 | (1) |
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The Headline's Second Word: The Verb |
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57 | (1) |
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What to Do About ``Is'' and ``Are''---the ``To-Be'' Verbs |
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58 | (1) |
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Agreement of Subjects with Their Verbs |
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59 | (1) |
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Down Among the Collectives, Agreement Is Still in the Eye of the Beholder: Is It ``The Couple Was'' or ``The Couple Were''? |
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60 | (1) |
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The Verb as the Headline's First Word: The ``Verb Head'' |
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61 | (2) |
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Headline Punctuation, Abbreviations, and the Use of Numbers and Symbols |
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63 | (14) |
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63 | (1) |
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63 | (1) |
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64 | (1) |
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64 | (1) |
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65 | (3) |
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Dashes and Parentheses in Feature Stories |
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68 | (1) |
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68 | (1) |
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69 | (1) |
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69 | (1) |
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69 | (4) |
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73 | (1) |
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74 | (3) |
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Line Breaks, Decks, Jumps---and Second-Day Headlines |
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77 | (8) |
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77 | (3) |
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Decks (a.k.a. ROS or Read-Outs) |
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80 | (1) |
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81 | (1) |
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82 | (1) |
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Jumps Headlines and ``Continued'' Lines |
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82 | (3) |
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The Art of Writing Feature Headlines |
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85 | (8) |
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The Clever-Headline Writer |
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87 | (1) |
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The Masters of the ``Clever'' Head |
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88 | (5) |
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Different Papers, Different Head Styles |
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93 | (12) |
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Boning Up on Style Before Starting on a Copydesk |
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94 | (1) |
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Counts Too Short or Too Long? |
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95 | (2) |
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97 | (2) |
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Headline Styles for News of Fires, Accidents, and Major Disasters |
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99 | (6) |
PART II COPY EDITING |
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An Overall Look at Copy Editing Today |
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105 | (6) |
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The Impact of the ``Maestro'' System and Pagination |
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106 | (3) |
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109 | (2) |
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111 | (14) |
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113 | (4) |
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Editing Features and Opinion Pieces |
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117 | (1) |
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118 | (4) |
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122 | (3) |
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125 | (16) |
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A New Method for Editing a News Story's Organization |
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126 | (1) |
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The Basics of Newspaper Story Organization |
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127 | (1) |
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128 | (4) |
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132 | (2) |
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Coding ``Delayed'' Leads and Discovering Buried Leads |
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134 | (3) |
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Feature Story Organization |
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137 | (1) |
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Organization of Second-Day Stories and a Series of Articles |
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137 | (2) |
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Some Last Words on Editing for Organization |
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139 | (2) |
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141 | (12) |
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142 | (2) |
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144 | (3) |
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Editing Other Styles of Immediate Leads |
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147 | (1) |
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148 | (2) |
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150 | (1) |
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150 | (3) |
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Editing the Close and Quotes |
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153 | (16) |
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154 | (3) |
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157 | (1) |
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158 | (3) |
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Detecting ``Phony'' Quotes |
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161 | (2) |
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Editing Quotes from the Unschooled or the Foreign Born |
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163 | (1) |
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Which Quotes Should Be Killed? |
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164 | (2) |
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166 | (1) |
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Placement of Quotation Attributions |
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167 | (2) |
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169 | (10) |
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170 | (1) |
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171 | (1) |
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172 | (2) |
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Notebook Dumping and Stray-Fact Hitchhikers |
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174 | (1) |
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175 | (2) |
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Lancing the Boils and Bloodsuckers in Sentences |
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177 | (2) |
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Editing Stories Involving Numbers |
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179 | (24) |
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180 | (2) |
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Recognizing Statistical Bias |
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182 | (3) |
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Suspicious Research Numbers |
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185 | (1) |
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Understanding Property Taxes |
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186 | (2) |
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188 | (2) |
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How to Calculate Percentages |
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190 | (2) |
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Figuring the Percentages of Increases and Decreases |
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192 | (3) |
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195 | (1) |
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Editing the Market's Ups and Downs |
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196 | (2) |
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``Times as Great'' Is Not ``Times Greater Than'' |
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198 | (1) |
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199 | (1) |
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200 | (1) |
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The Writing Style Used for Numbers |
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201 | (2) |
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Attributions, Identifications, and Second References |
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203 | (16) |
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Attribution Form and the Venerable ``Said'' |
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204 | (2) |
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206 | (3) |
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Identifying Sources in Attributions |
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209 | (1) |
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210 | (2) |
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Second and Subsequent References to Sources in the News |
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212 | (3) |
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Pronouns in Second References: When ``He'' and ``She'' Become ``Their'' and ``They'' |
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215 | (4) |
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Catching Errors in Grammar and Usage (That/Which, Who/Whom, Parallelism, Subjunctive Mood, and Other Pitfalls) |
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219 | (18) |
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220 | (1) |
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221 | (1) |
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222 | (1) |
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223 | (1) |
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223 | (2) |
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225 | (1) |
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226 | (1) |
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226 | (1) |
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226 | (1) |
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227 | (1) |
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228 | (1) |
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Relative Pronouns: That, Which, and Who |
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229 | (2) |
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231 | (3) |
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234 | (1) |
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235 | (2) |
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Transition Words and Forbidden Words in Text |
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237 | (18) |
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237 | (2) |
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Feature Story Transitions |
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239 | (4) |
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The Master List of Forbidden Words and Expressions in Copy |
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243 | (2) |
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245 | (10) |
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Writing and Editing Captions |
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255 | (20) |
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256 | (1) |
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257 | (2) |
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The State of the Caption Elsewhere |
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259 | (3) |
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262 | (1) |
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O = Subtract the Obvious by Adding Substance |
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263 | (2) |
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M = Reflect the Mood of the Illustration |
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265 | (2) |
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I = Check Identifications |
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267 | (1) |
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268 | (3) |
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A = Accuracy and Preventing Litigation |
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271 | (4) |
PART III ACCURACY AND LIBEL |
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Two Safeguards for Headlines and Copy: Pursuing Accuracy and Avoiding Lawsuits |
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275 | (18) |
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Joseph Pulitzer: ``What a newspaper needs... is ...accuracy, accuracy, accuracy!'' |
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278 | (2) |
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Time, Inc. Publications: Role Models for Exemplary Accuracy |
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280 | (2) |
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Lawsuits: College Publications Are Eligible Too |
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282 | (1) |
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Even When Papers Win, the Lawsuit Is a Lose-Lose Situation |
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283 | (1) |
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``Serial Killer Arrested,'' ``Marijuana Cases,'' and Other Libelous Headlines |
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284 | (1) |
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War Stories of ``Near Misses'' and ``Direct Hits'' May Be the Best Libel Teachers |
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285 | (1) |
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The Increase of Multimillion-Dollar Lawsuits and the Uniform Correction Law |
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286 | (2) |
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A Sampler of Practical Protective Systems for Copy Editors |
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288 | (5) |
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Job Hazards: Dealing with Too Many Earthquakes, Monicas, and Shootings |
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293 | (4) |
Notes |
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297 | (18) |
Glossary of Copydesk Terms |
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315 | (8) |
Bibliography |
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323 | (4) |
Index |
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327 | |