Week #12!

Monday, November 9, 2009.

First on the agenda for Monday was returning the bio assignments. As Professor Eisman put it, “Some of them were wonderful.” She pointed out that those who did well wrote them like bios, not like news features. Congrats to Sam, Alica, and Tasha for writing the best bios! These three did well because they stayed on focus and used vivid details – they also happened to pick really interesting people.

Next we took a news and grammar quiz. Professor Eisman announced that it was also a “no-whining quiz,” but I think we failed that part.

After that, we presented the group PSA assignments. Everyone obviously had fun with these! Professor Eisman told Sam that he made an excellent 40-year-old man, and is making t-shirts out of the tagline Susan and I came up with: “Bad grammar isn't sexy.” Unlike her promise to give us all jobs, she said she plans to stick to this one.

Some tips for good PSAs:

• Keep it short and simple.
• Know your audience.
• Get their attention from the start.

Next, we discussed Yahoo's plan to release a style guide for web writing in 2010. The style guide will be similar to the AP Stylebook, but with some differences, although probably not as many as this. Professor Eisman went over a powerpoint and gave us a pamphlet with several of the tips from the Yahoo guide.

Finally, class was let out 15 minutes early! Hooray!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

One would expect that everyone would have been exhausted on Thursday after writing our features all night, but everyone seemed as lively as usual. Professor Eisman even said we were annoying! Personally, I was more concerned that “math” was listed on the agenda.

Quizzes were returned, and Professor Eisman confirmed that the correct possessive forms are “waitress'” and “Dickens,'” as in, “Sydney Carton was the waitress' favorite character in Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities” - but that sentence is in the passive voice, so don't write it.

Next, our PSA assignments were returned. Professor Eisman said that Fia and Taylor's anti-flip flop ad was the best because of its great tagline, its simple focus, and its relation to the World Series. Stevia and Brittany's chilling medical marijuana ad was a close second – Professor Eisman said that the short sentences as well as the repetition worked well. Professor Eisman said that Susan and I came in third because our tagline was the best, and said she is working on getting us t-shirts!

After that, we started looking at news sites to figure out what makes goods headline and blurbs (sidenote: blurb is NOT a technical term). We encountered some controversy with this video. The title is an incorrect quote – never do this! Professor Eisman said she plans on sending an email about this.

We read a lot of headlines, so I won't list them all, but here are some characteristics of the good ones:

• Make sure the headline fits the story! Deliver what you advertise.
• The headline and blurb should be connected, but shouldn't repeat each other – a blurb should elaborate on the title, not reiterate it.
• While headlines and blurbs should be informative, don't give too much away, because then no one will read the actual article – except, of course, Mass Comm students studying for news quizzes.
• Suggest drama or controversy when practical.
• Use strong verbs.
• Drop names.
• Use humor when appropriate (e.g., when writing for The Onion).

Next, we read a long, rambling article on democracy in Bhutan. There was a lot that could be cut from the article, some poorly worded sentences, and even some contradictions. Sam suggested that the story be restructured before “hacking into it at the sentence level.” Professor Eisman pointed out the visual problems with the story as well – there are no subheadings to break it up, and the reader's eye is drawn to the captions first. When writing for the web, consider appearance.

After that, we read a much more concise article on the same subject from BBC. This article listed all of the facts about Bhutan under a map instead of working them into the article. Let's face it, most readers aren't terribly interested in the number of tourists that go to Bhutan every year or the date they first had television, but it's good to have this information off to the side in case anyone is curious. The article also included a subhead, even though it was much shorter, and had a good kicker about the king having several wives. Overall, everyone seemed to find this article much more accessible

Then we did math. I don't know about you all, but I haven't done math since I took stat as a freshman two years ago. I can't even add anymore. However, some of you clearly knew what you were doing, as we got all of the questions on the quiz right! Professor Eisman said she's never had a class do that.

If you want to torture yourself, the quiz is here. Professor Eisman said that we will probably have some math questions on the final.

Finally, some of the Talon editors stopped by because they're looking for writers. They gave out fliers, but in case you lost yours, here are the details:

• Stories should be about something on campus, and must be 350-400 words with 2-3 quotes.
• Meetings are Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. in MGC 250.
• Office hours are Sunday from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Monday from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Direct questions to talonmanager@american.edu.

Have a great weekend!