Copy reading and

Headline writing
The copy
Material for a newspaper or magazine
article
The text as written by the author
Copyreading
Itis the art of arranging, correcting,
and selecting the quality and type of
news
It is also called copyediting.
One who edits copies is called a
copyreader or copyeditor
C’s of Copyreading

• Correct
• Check
• Condense
• Clarify
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What to look for in Copyreading?
1. Grammar

2. Writing Style

3. Font/Typography

4. Slugline

5. Printer’s Direction

6. Headline Writing

7. Copyreading Symbols

8. Unit count
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Copyreading vs Proofreading

Copyreading – editing the copy

Proofreading – editing the proof/galley proof

Proof – The work displayed or printed.

 Slug verb with
Pork Barrel action
Active voice

Subject DOJ probes Revilla Summary of

Conventional
lead

more
THE EDITED COPY
THE PROOFREAD COPY

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Who is a copyreader?
• Sometimes called butcher or
mutilator
• Corrects errors in copies
• Should know the basics of all forms
of journalistic writing
Responsibilities of a copyeditor

1) edits errors on grammar (spelling,

tenses, agreement, etc.)
2) edits errors of fact (accuracy check)
3) edits verbose copy
4) deletes opinion or slant and libelous
statements
5) writes the headline
Copyreading symbols
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Pointers in
Copyediting
Numbers

The numbers 1 – 9 are written in

words while the numbers 10 and
above are written in figures.
Example:
nine students
13 children
Numbers
EXCEPTIONS:
 dates, address: always in figures.
 proper nouns: may be written in
figures/words
 beginning of sentence: always in
words
 events: 1st – 9th is allowed
Spelling
Look for misspelled words.
Here in the Philippines, American
English is used, not British English.
Ex: color, not colour
Ifa word has more than one accepted
spelling, the shortest one is preferred.
Ex: judgment, instead of judgement
Capitalization

The first letter of the sentence is

always capitalized.
Proper nouns are capitalized, common
nouns are not.
Ex: singer
Regine Velasquez
Small letters are usually used for title
or position.
Ex: Mrs. Cecilia Burayag, the principal of
BCIS, delivered the opening remarks.
Capitalized titles: Governor Umali
Abbreviations
Spellout Dept., gov’t, and other
abbreviations.
The abbreviations Jr. and Sr. are
allowed in names.
Remember:

Engr. Emmanuel Delgado;

Engineer Delgado
12 Dimagiba St.; Dimagiba Street
A title or position of a person may be
abbreviated if it appears before the
name but not if simply used in the
sentence:
Ex: Sen. Recto filed another taxation
bill yesterday.
The senator filed another taxation bill
yesterday.
Acronyms
Acronyms are usually written in
capital letters.
Example:
BCIS
Check if the letters of the acronym are
in the correct order.
When an acronym appears for the
first time in a news story, it is written
after its meaning and it is enclosed in
parentheses.
Ex: University of the Philippines (UP)
Paragraph

The first sentence of a paragraph is

indented.
Innews stories, the rule is one
paragraph, one sentence only.
Lead
Thereshould be no names of
unknown persons in the lead.
Check for buried leads.
The standard lead answers the 5 Ws
and 1 H.
Grammar

Check for errors in:

Tenses of Verbs
Subject-Verb Agreement
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
(agreement in gender and number)
Articles (a, an, the)
Remember: he said and not said he;
Aquino said and not said Aquino
Remember: three-day training and not
three-days training.
Trained for three days and not trained
for three-day.
Punctuation: period
.
Itis used at the end of declarative and
imperative sentences.
Itis used in abbreviations such as
p.m., a.m., Jr., Sr., Pres., Sen., Rep.,
Gov., Gen., Capt., Dr., Fr., Atty., Corp.,
and Inc.
Acronyms of schools, organizations
and offices do not need periods.
Punctuation: comma ,
Use commas:
toseparate the month and day from
the year.
toseparate the street, barangay, town
and province in an address
toseparate facts concerning victims
and suspects.
Punctuation: comma ,
Ex: Jolas Burayag, 17, of Barangay San
Fernando Norte
Do not use commas:
to separate the abbreviation Jr., Sr., or
III from the name.
Ex: Emmanuel Delgado Jr.
Punctuation: hyphen -
Use hyphen:
in most compound nouns
Ex: editor-in-chief, officer-in-charge
in fractions
Ex: two-thirds, three-fourths
Punctuation:
Quotation marks “ ”
 Quotation marks are used in direct quotations.
Indirect quotations do not need them.

Ex. “I forgot it,” he said.

He said he forgot it.

 Periodsand commas are written first before

closing quotation marks.

Ex. “Let’s go to SM,” the boy said.

Punctuation:
Quotation marks
“ ”
 Quotation
marks are used to set off titles of events,
shows, movies, books, etc.

Ex. We watched “The Titanic.”

 Quotation
marks are used to set off an alias or
nickname.

Ex. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

Juan Chua a.k.a. “Boy Singkit”

Punctuation: Apostrophe ‘
 Apostrophes are used in the possessive
form of the noun.
Ex. the teacher’s table
the teachers’ meeting
 In contractions
Ex. I’m (I am)
you’re (you are)
Reminders
 Watchout for jumbled letters, words and
paragraphs.
 Check for joined/disjoined words.
Ex. class room, new teacher
 Delete editorializing words/phrases.
Ex. The very beautiful and intelligent
principal…
The cops were right in arresting…
Reminders
 Checkfor redundancies (recurring
words/phrases/paragraphs, synonymous or
redundant terms).
Ex. the concert the concert ended
 REMEMBER: After editing the news story,
write 30 at the end of the article. If the
article is not yet finished, write more at
the bottom of the page.
Headline writing
Headline
an assemblage of words written in
bigger, bolder letters than the usual
page text at the beginning of the news
The title of a news story
FUNCTIONS OF HEADLINE
1) to attract readers
2) to tell the story (in a summary)
3) to add variety of type (to break monotony
in a sea of type)
4) to identify personality of newspaper (use
of font/style of letters)
5) to index/grade the news (big type for
important news; small type for less
important)
Tips in headline writing
1. First, read the story for general
meaning.
2. Clues to the headline are usually in
the lead.
What happened?
Who did what?
How did if happen?
3. Use the shortest words possible.
Examples include:
cop – policeman
nab – arrest
mishap – accident
up – increase
down – decrease
thief - robber
4. Have a subject and a verb. Avoid
starting with a verb; the headline
might sound as if it were giving
orders.
Wrong: Revise money mart guidelines
Correct: Central Bank revises money
mart guidelines
5. Use the historical present tense if
the verb is in the active voice.
Wrong: Delgado topped editorial tilt
Correct: Delgado tops editorial tilt
6. Omit the helping verb if the verb is
in the passive voice. Only the past
participle is retained.
Wrong: Drug pushers are nabbed
Correct: Drug pushers nabbed
7. Use the infinitive for future events.
Wrong: City Hall will punish anti-
squatting drive
Correct: City Hall to punish anti-
squatting drive
8. Do not use a period at the end of the
headline.
9. Omit articles (a, an, the).
Wrong: A fire hits Tondo slum area
Correct: Fire hits Tondo slum area
10. Use a comma instead of “and” in
writing headlines.
Delays, confusion bug Asiad
Lacson, Trillanes no show at SONA
11. Use semicolon to separate
sentences.
Gina Lopez heads Pasig body;
Noy swears in 35 other execs
12. Use the punctuation marks
(especially the exclamation point)
sparingly.
13. Use single quotes (‘) in headlines
instead of double quotes (“).
14. Always give the source of a quote.
Quotation marks are not needed, a
dash or a colon will serve the
purpose.
Crackdown on errant bus firms – Enrile
Enrile: Crackdown on errant bus firms
15. Use the down-style – only the first
word and proper nouns are
capitalized, unless otherwise
indicated. This is more readable
because people are used to reading
sentences this way.
Ex. Faculty honors Nuñez
16. Use only widely known
abbreviations.
Wrong: JEE to play Santa this Christmas
17. Don’t use names unless the person is
well known, use common nouns
instead.
Wrong: Santos electrocuted
Correct: Carpenter electrocuted
18. Use specific terms instead of
generalities
Example: Trader killed
Better: Trader stabbed to death
19. Just report the facts; do not
editorialize.
Wrong: Noy gives inspiring talks
(The word “inspiring” is just your
opinion.)
20. Be positive. Don't use negatives in
headlines. They weaken not only the
headlines but also the stories.
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DECK
Thisis the number of lines your
headline will have
Example:
BCIS bags medals in NEPEESA quiz bee
(1 deck)
10 more cops wanted
for Maguindanao massacre
(2 decks)
Unit counts

A count system considers differences

in the widths of letters.
Capital letters: Small letters:
m, w – 1 ½ units
M, W – 2 units
jilft – ½ unit
JILFT – 1 unit others – 1unit
Others – 1 ½ units
Punctuation marks
dash (–) – 1 ½ units
question mark (?) – 1 unit
others - ½ unit
Number digits
0 to 9 – 1 unit
Space – 1 unit
BCIS bags medals in NEPPESA quiz
bee
B C I S b a g s
1½+1½+1+1½+1+1+1+1+1+1

(11 ½ units)

m e d a l s i n
1½+1+1+1+1+1+1+½+1+1
(10 units)
BCIS bags medals in NEPPESA quiz
bee
N E P P E S A
1½+1½+1½+1½+1½+1½+1½+1
(11 ½ units)

q u i z b e e
1+1+½+1+1+1+1+1
(7 ½ units)
TOTAL = 11 ½ + 10 + 11 ½ + 7 ½ = 40 ½ units
Slugline
- compose of date, what type of story that
was edited, what the story was all about,
initial of the author and page where you
want to place the story. It is usually
encircled in the upper left corner of the
copy.
Ex. 07/10/16
News
Duterte names…
DOB
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Printer’s Direction
- instructs the printer on how to lay out the
copy in the newspaper.

Head: Font style, font size, how many

decks headline style, headline structure

Ex. Tahoma, 48 pts, 1 deck, downstyle,

flush left

Body: Font style, font size, ex. Arial, 12 points

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My Technique

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 Thank you
for listening!