Career/Profession article: Journalism, Copy Editing
So You Want To Be A Copy Editor Job descriptions, duties, earnings, challenges, and requirements By: Elizabeth Quinlan Copy editors are the backbone of many publications, newspapers, companies worldwide, and even journals, according to “The Role of an Editor” by Scopus, a citation database. They are the people who proofread articles, check facts, typeset stories, and complete various other tasks depending on where they are employed. For the purposes of this article I will be discussing copy editors in the news media sector, specifically newspapers. To get an idea of what positions I will be discussing, here is a job opening at the Beatrice Daily Sun, a newspaper in Nebraska currently hiring a copy editor. Background According to Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center, copy editors usually must have some reporting experience to prove they are strong writers and are able to perform well under pressure. It is recommended that interested individuals also obtain a Bachelor’s degree in a related field, though a Master’s in journalism is recommended. Let’s return to our job listing. It aligns well with these requirements, as a Bachelor’s degree or prior newsroom experience is preferred. According to Elizabeth Greico of the Pew Research Center in the article “Newsroom employment dropped nearly a quarter in less than 10 years, with greatest decline at newspapers,” Newspaper newsroom employment has dropped from 71,000 workers in 2008 to 39,000 in 2017, a 45 percent decrease in overall employment. This means that as jobs become scarcer in newspapers, more people will be vying for each job. Reporters used to work at newspapers without a journalism degree, but now competitive applicants may want to obtain a degree, or work for several years at a local newspaper to gain experience. “Knock out a couple of internships while you’re still in school to get a head start” working as a journalist, says freelance writer Jenell Talley in “What Does a Journalist Do.” Skills What are some important skills for journalists to have? 1.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
As a journalist, one of the most important skills for being able to work in a news-driven environment is being able to work with reporters, editors, and designers to ensure that production is going smoothly. Newsrooms prefer people who are able to give transparent information and effectively communicate to one another throughout the production process. 2.
Understanding of AP Stylebook
Career/Profession article: Journalism, Copy Editing The Associated Press Stylebook is the main guide for how stories are written, and include rules on how to abbreviate addresses, use capitalization, and refer to specific titles. In order to effectively edit newspapers, including the Arizona Daily Star and The Beatrice Sun, memorizing the AP Style will help copy editors quickly edit stories without needing to refer to the guide. 3.
Ability to meet deadlines, operate, and adapt to change in a daily, unpredictable news production environment
As journalist Alexandra Topping says in her article “My Job Explained: Journalist,” “There is no such thing as a typical working day.” Editors must be flexible and able to manage multiple priorities, story ideas, and deadlines based on what news occurs throughout the day. Changes in the daily workflow require employees to keep a calm head and complete assignments despite the chaos that they may be experiencing. 4.
Strong news judgment
Strong news judgement will enable reporters and editors to work together to decide and publish stories that are relevant to their audiences. Being able to judge news quickly and efficiently will help produce stories that will actually create revenue for the newspaper online, and keep their audience engaged with stories that are being published. 5.
Experience working collaboratively with members of a team
Again, as an editor, it is important to be able to manage multiple people who are working on a team, such as the news team working with their news editor. It is important to be able to work collaboratively with other reporters in order to pitch stories, edit stories, and discuss ideas with the team to complete assignments. Larger stories will also require a larger team to manage all the elements of production that go into publishing the finished product. Conclusion Depending on what industry you are seeking to work in, the title of copy editor and its meaning may vary. However, strong writing and communication skills, persistent fact-checking, and proofreading abilities remain important tools for students to obtain before seeking employment as a copy editor after graduation. Before choosing this profession, do some more research and consider your hobbies and personality traits. Editors are usually the artistic of conventional personality type according to 123 Test, and work best when there are defined duties and tasks laid in front of them. Copy editors focus on accuracy and reliability to help their newspapers grow, and may also enjoy creating and designing things.
Related articles online:
Advice from copy editors
Becoming a copy editor
What copy editors do
Subject head: Letter of Rec Daily Sun Quinlan Email: SmKnight@email.arizona.edu Dear Ms. Knight, As part of the application for the copy editing position at the Beatrice Daily Sun, I would like to provide a letter of recommendation to distinguish myself as a viable applicant for the position. The Beatrice Daily Sun is seeking someone who has excellent news judgement and attention to detail. As a rising college senior about to graduate with several internships under my belt, extensive experience working at the Arizona Daily Wildcat and Arizona Daily Star, and a Bachelor's in Journalism, I am an ideal candidate for this position. Would you please write a letter of recommendation for me, with particular comments in regard to our past association at The Arizona Daily Star and courses, including Inside The Beltway, the Media Apprenticeship course, and my honors thesis on copy editing? I have no doubt you will be able to speak to my strong writing skills and editing ability based on my weekly reports from my Apprenticeship at the Star, where I also spoke about the importance of headlines and my ability to manage multiple priorities. My participation in our weekly news briefings in the Inside The Beltway course should also prove my news judgement abilities. Some other areas to focus on would be my strong work ethic, ability to work under multiple deadlines, and my “confidence to talk to members of the community about story ideas, concerns, and comments.” The Beatrice Daily Sun is owned by Lee Enterprises (more info here), the same company that owns the Arizona Daily Star, so I am familiar with the company’s practices and know I will be a good fit for this position. I have attached a copy of my resume and cover letter for you to review if you choose to write my letter. My desired deadline for submitting the letter is Monday, Feb. 18, and if you are unable to provide a letter, please let me know by Monday, Jan. 28. Thank you in advance for your time. Regards, Elizabeth Quinlan Journalism major, pre-law minor | University of Arizona elizabethquinlan@email.arizona.edu | 520-226-1793 | Class of 2020
Elizabeth Quinlan elizabethquinlan@email.arizona.edu | 520-226-1793 | Tucson, AZ (able to move) | LinkedIn: elizabeth-quinlanAdept copy editor with three years of newsroom experience. Ability to manage multiple deadlines and priorities. An organized, strong writer who is confident in my excellent communication skills. Expertise with performing well under pressure. I am confident in my ability to talk with others about story ideas, concerns, and comments. RELEVANT EXPERIENCE Apprentice, Arizona Daily Star Aug. 2018 to present • Write headlines for copy and photo cutlines, editing about nine pieces of content nightly • Communicate with multiple mentors and coworkers daily while maintaining professionalism. Editorial Intern, Madden Media May 2018 to July 2018 • Edited, fact-checked submission, drafted stories, and researched potential story ideas. • Attended design and publication meetings and shadowed other employees on design and editing desks. Copy Editor, Arizona Daily Wildcat Aug. 2016 to May 2018 • Fact checked and edited stories for style and grammar on copy desk for award-winning, student-run newspaper with digital-first content. Worked three days weekly, editing about five stories each day. Freelance editor, Woodruff Family History May 2018 to Aug. 2018 • Edited 520-page genealogy of Sam Woodruff and his family dating back to 1500s to present day. • Corrected grammar and spelling, enforced style guidelines and tracked missing information. Resident Assistant, New Start Summer Program May 2018 to July 2018 • Assisted more than 350 residents in transitioning from high school to college for six weeks. • Followed policy and procedure while developing interpersonal relationships and managing a schedule. Office Assistant, UA Housing and Residential Life Aug. 2017 to May 2018 • Performed general office tasks, including copying and filing, managing hall posters, and inventory for dorm closets.
EDUCATION University of Arizona, Honors College Bachelor of Arts, Major in Journalism, Minor in Pre-law • Cumulative GPA: 3.97
Tucson, AZ Aug. 2016 to May 2020
SKILLS • Self-motivated, excellent attention to detail, strong writing skills, and ability to manage time. • Proficient with AP Stylebook, InDesign, InCopy, Photoshop and Microsoft Office Applications. • Adept with newspaper applications including Slack, Google applications and Camayak. INTERESTS AND ACTIVITES President, Historic Lane Hall Council Aug. 2018 to present • Lead weekly meetings, oversee nine committees for program created for 450 residents in three resident halls on campus. Member, National Residence Hall Honorary, Omega Eta Lambda Chapter Aug. 2017 to present • Attend activities related to service, recognition, leadership and scholastics with top 1 percent of oncampus student leaders.
AWARDS Highest Academic Distinction, UA Spring 2018 RA of the Summer, New Start July 2018 • Earned the award for being innovative and having creativity, deadline management skills, and ability to connect with over 350 summer students enrolled in the New Start program and preparing for college. Diamond of the year, NRHH May 2018 Best Research, 24th Annual New Start Academic Conference July 2016
REFERENCES Martin Rosales Night editor Arizona Daily Star MRosales@Tucson.com 520-573-4171
Nancy Sharkey Professor of Practice University of Arizona NSharkey@email.arizona.edu 520-621-6358
Daniel Ramirez Project and Design Lead Learning A-Z Daniel.Ramirez@LearningA-Z.com 866-889-3729
Elizabeth Quinlan Copy Editor I am an adept copy editor with three years of newsroom experience, able to manage multiple deadlines and priorities. I am also an organized, strong writer who has expertise with performing well under pressure. I am confident in my ability to talk with others about story ideas, concerns, and comments. elizabethquinlan@email.arizona.edu
520-226-1793
Tucson, AZ (able to move)
LinkedIn:elizabeth-quinlan-/
SKILLS Adobe Suite
Self-motivated
Detail-oriented
Writing
News judgement
Prioritizing
Time management
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY Apprentice, Arizona Daily Star 08/18 – Present Tucson, AZ - Write headlines for copy and photo cutlines, editing about nine pieces of content nightly, 11 hours a week. - Communicate with multiple mentors, coworkers, and instructors weekly while maintaining professionalism. - Send content to last stage of proofreading before publication, being the last person to thoroughly review copy.
Editorial Intern, Madden Media 05/18 – 07/18 Tucson, AZ - Edited and fact-checked submissions, drafted stories, and researched potential story ideas for publication. - Organized and formatted listing and charts using Excel for publications with circulations up to half a million. - Attended design and publication meetings and shadowed other employees on design and editing desks.
Copy Editor, Arizona Daily Wildcat 08/18 – 05/18 Tucson, AZ - Edited and fact checked stories for style and grammar on copy desk for award-winning, student-run newspaper. - Collaborated with other reporters and community members to discuss story ideas, comments, and concerns. - Worked three days weekly, editing about five stories daily using InCopy, AP Style, and the in-house stylebook.
OTHER EXPERIENCE President, Historic Lane Hall Council 08/18 – Present
Tucson, AZ
- Delegate weekly meetings and oversee nine committees for program created for 450 residents on campus. - Represent hall council members in Residence Hall Association meetings, defending members’ voting rights. Resident Assistant, New Start Summer Program 05/18 – 07/18 Tucson, AZ - Earned RA of the Summer award for being innovative and having creativity, deadline management skills, and ability to connect with over 350 summer students enrolled in the New Start program to prepare for college. - Followed policy and procedure while developing interpersonal relationships and managing a schedule.
EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts, Major and Honors in Journalism, Minor in Pre-Law 08/16 – 05/20 - Cumulative GPA: 3.97
University of Arizona Tucson, AZ
INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES - Visited various news industries on weeklong trip to Washington, D.C. over Spring Break 03/18 - Traveled to Whiteriver, Arizona to learn about food sovereignty for Honors Alternative Spring Break 03/17 - Studied abroad in Orvieto, Italy and visited various cities while taking Photojournalism 05/17 – 07/17
References Martin Rosales Night Editor
Nancy Sharkey Professor of Practice
Daniel Ramirez Project and Design Lead
Arizona Daily Star
University of Arizona
Learning A-Z
MRosales@Tucson.com NSharkey@email.arizona.edu Daniel.Ramirez@LearningA-Z.com 520-573-4171
520-621-6358
866-889-3729
Elizabeth Quinlan elizabethquinlan@email.arizona.edu | 520-226-1793 | Tucson, AZ| Linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-quinlan-
1107 E. James E. Rogers Way Tucson, AZ 85719 January 20, 2019 Patrick Ethridge Editor and Publisher Lee Enterprises 110 S. 6th Street Beatrice, NE 68310 Dear Mr. Ethridge, I am writing to apply to the copy editor position at the Beatrice Daily Sun. I found your job posting on the website for Lee Enterprises and applied immediately, as I believe I am very qualified for this position. I have been a copy desk apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star for five months, have edited on my campus newspaper for two years, and will be obtaining my Bachelor’s in Journalism in one year, as seen on my resume. Martin Rosales, my mentor at the Star, can speak for my attention to detail and ability to write good online and print headlines. At Madden Media, I used my creativity to research various story ideas and pitch them to my supervisor, Andrew Schaeffer. Madden Media was also undergoing large departmental changes while I was interning there, so I found my confidence to speak up about questions and concerns that I had when pitching story ideas and working with Mr. Schaeffer. The Beatrice Daily Sun is southeast Nebraska’s #1 source for news, and I would be honored to work for such a newspaper. I am willing to move to challenge myself and grow as a professional journalist, while improving your newspaper. I have included copies of my resume, work samples, and a letter of recommendation to this email. If you have any questions, you can contact me via my email or by phone at 520-226-1793. Thank you for your consideration, Elizabeth Quinlan
Elizabeth Quinlan 1/27/19 Digital Professional Brand Plan Outline for a Digital Portfolio/Website: As of Jan. 27 I have revisited my pre-existing online portfolio on Wordpress and altered a few things, updating information about myself and inserting a new page where my design portfolio now exists. Currently, here are the sections I would like my complete portfolio to have: •
Photographs: All the photos on my website are from my trip to Orvieto, Italy. Aside from the gallery widget at the bottom of the page, I would like to include some photos here to prove my editing and photographing ability.
•
Writing: Many newspapers require that their employees have strong writing skills, even as editors. Currently, this page is inundated with all the stories I wrote during my brief stint as a student reporter at the Daily Wildcat. I may return to this page to include more recent class assignments and multimedia projects, renaming this section “Reporting.”
•
Editing: This page is currently not up, because I need to think of how I will showcase my documents and the difference between the original and edited versions. This page will show my ability to edit and write stories. At the Star I write headlines, cutlines, and edit the story itself, so this page will be to show that ability.
•
Design: I took a publication and design class where I created a few newspaper front pages and magazine pages, so this is where I will upload them. Linked to my Issuu account.
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Contact: A simple contact form for people who want to get in contact with me. (note: I checked, it does work.)
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Resume: This page is also not up yet.
•
Links used: Issuu, LinkedIn, and other social media accounts under Contact: Social
Social Media: Firstly, I plan to only include Twitter and LinkedIn as part of my professional brand while leaving my other social media accounts alone, since I don’t use social media often anyway. Designating these two
Elizabeth Quinlan 1/27/19 social medias as professional only will help me avoid positing anything unprofessional or unwanted by employers there. Twitter
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Follow influential editors and reporters in the news industry, and editors of publishing companies I may be interested in
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Follow any editing blogs or professional news organizations to stay in-the-know about conferences, activities, publications, and jobs
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Comment on/retweet tweets related to my industry or pertain to skills I am building
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If other people communicate with me, respond to them
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Stay up-to-date with the latest news as it happens
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Networking: this site is the most popular for young professionals in the journalism industry
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As a journalist, I will avoid posting any political statements or personal opinion
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Profile currently has no Tweets on it and has an updated tagline and profile photo
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Share LinkedIn status updates
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Best way to remain in a professional environment where I can discuss and engage with professionals
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Plan to share information about the news industry
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My profile is currently up-to-date, though there is more that could be done on my resume side
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Using this site frequently will help me garner more connections
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Learn how to share and comment on articles that interest me
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Follow tags and communities that are related to my interested profession
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Share any blog updates from personal portfolio As you can see, there is not a lot of revising needed for my social media, as I do not have a lot of
content there to begin with that I would need to clean up. Instead, I plan to develop and use social media more frequently to create an image of myself that is easily recognizable and professional.