One not-so-glamorous yet highly important skill that PR professionals must master is how to edit well. Let’s be honest, no one gets too excited about details like when to use an em dash versus an en dash, or whether to use an Oxford comma. However, having an eye for these small details is what makes your final product clean, correct and professional. In the communication field, the standard for writing is the Associated Press, or AP, style. The AP Stylebook is updated regularly – it has dubbed itself “the journalist’s Bible,” and for good reason. Knowing how to quickly and correctly reference the Stylebook will save you a lot of trouble in your future classes, internships and jobs because you’ll be able to easily follow established writing conventions. Over the past year, I’ve worked as a copy editor for Virginia Tech’s student newspaper, The Collegiate Times. This has helped me realize the importance of having an eye for details – if there’s a typo or grammatical error in a headline, for example, it takes away credibility from an otherwise well written story. For people to take our publication seriously, it’s important that we present ourselves just as seriously. Here are three key tips I’ve picked up while working as a copy editor that can help you master the AP Stylebook. 1. Don’t be afraid! The Stylebook looks large and intimidating. However, it won’t take you long to get accustomed to using it. The book is broken into sections and alphabetized, and with a little practice you’ll get much faster at looking up information. Remember, you don’t have to be able to recite the Stylebook, just reference it. Which brings me to my second point… 2. Get familiar, don’t memorize. It’s impossible to remember everything that’s in the Stylebook. You will quickly commit basic rules to memory, particularly common errors. But as you start out, just worry about familiarizing yourself with the book – how it’s written, how it’s organized and how to look things up. Bookmark questions that keep coming up for you with sticky notes, or highlight sections that you find important. 3. Look out for common errors. Keep an eye out for errors with AP Style that you see being made consistently. AP guidelines such as what to do with numerals, state names and addresses are frequently misused, and it will help you edit more efficiently if you memorize these commonly made mistakes. Here is a list from InkHouse of twelve common mistakes made with AP Style. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll soon become comfortable with using the AP Stylebook! Edited by Melanie Ford, Webmaster and Editor-in-Chief 2013-2014
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It’s exactly three months into the new year, and there are already several apps that are making their way to the forefront of both the iOS and Android app markets. Here is a quick rundown of some of the apps on each operating system that you can expect to hear more about in 2014. Do any of these apps have what it takes to be this year’s Snapchat? iOSHorizon How many times have you recorded a video with your phone only to realize that you had forgotten to rotate your phone so that it would capture the video in full screen? This problem can easily be solved with Horizon. Horizon is an app that allows you to hold your phone vertically while it records horizontally. This means that all of your videos will appear in full screen no matter which way you hold your phone. Horizon also allows you to add filters and share your videos updates. Traktor DJ Traktor DJ for iOS allows you to take control of the party right from your phone. With Traktor, you can import the songs on your phone into the program and mix them so that they transition seamlessly from one song to the other. Now you can eliminate the awkward silence between songs during a party, and you can show off your DJ skills without having to pay for expensive equipment. SocialRadar This app informs you when your friends are nearby based on information about their location that they share on various social media accounts. You can configure SocialRadar to alert you whenever your friends are within a certain distance from you, and you can also view their location on a map. SocialRadar also allows you to keep up with your friend’s social media. 5by 5by is an app that analyzes your mood and social interests in order to provide an endless stream of online videos that it thinks you will find interesting. 5by gives you the chance to actually sit and enjoy videos in your free time, rather than wasting time searching for a video that interests you. 5by is brought to you by the same people who are in charge of StumbleUpon, which may explain why users have found the app to be so addicting. Cloze Looking for a better way to keep up to date with your closest contacts without having to navigate through various email and social media platforms? If this is the case, then Cloze may just be the app that you have been looking for. Cloze allows you to read emails and social media updates from your closest contacts in a single interface, saving you the hassle of having to deal with “inbox overload.” AndroidAuto Finder There are several apps on the market that attempt to help you remember where you parked your car, but none of them is as efficient as Auto Finder. Auto Finder uses your device’s hardware sensors to detect when and where you parked your car so that you can locate it later on. The app works completely on its own and doesn’t require any type of set up from the owner. With Auto Finder, the days of wandering around the parking lot looking for your car are long gone. AirDroid AirDroid allows you to manage your phone from your computer. All you have to do is connect your phone to web.airdroid.com. From there, you will be redirected to a screen that allows you to do things such as manage contacts, answer text messages, make phone calls, and transfer files all from your computer. With AirDroid, you can access your phone without actually having to touch it. Type Machine Most of you know how frustrating it can be when you are typing something on your phone and it suddenly crashes, causing you to lose all of what you typed before you could send or save it. With Type Machine, you never have to worry about this happening ever again. Once activated, Type Machine stores everything that you have typed from every app. If your phone crashes, or you mistakenly erase something, you can refer back to Type Machine in order to retrieve your work. Type Machine also comes with a number of filtering options and privacy settings to ensure maximum efficiency and security. TimePIN TimePIN is an app that is geared toward increasing the security on your android device. We all have that nosy friend who is somehow able to guess our security pin numbers and gain access to our phones. TimePIN changes your security pin every minute so that only you can gain access to your phone. The standard pin is the current time, however, you can modify this in order to strengthen security. For example, if the time is 12:34, then your password is 1234. However, if you set TimePIN’s setting to reverse PIN mode, then your password is actually 4321. Even if someone figures out that you are using TimePIN, they will probably never be able to figure out your pin due to all of the different options available. Event Flow Calendar With the Event Flow Calendar widget, “I forgot” is no longer a viable excuse. The widget turns your lock screen into a calendar, so whenever you unlock your phone, you will be shown a list of all of the things that you have to do for the day. People are almost always checking their phones, so Event Flow Calendar is the perfect app for someone who may need a little bit of extra help remembering everything that needs to be done during the day – especially us college students! Edited by Melanie Ford, Webmaster and Editor-in-Chief 2013-2014 |
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