1. Revising
and Editing
News Writing

2. L-Q-T-Q
Remember the basic formula. Use the LQTQ handout.
Write a lead that quickly and clearly indicates the focus of the story.
The next paragraph supplies the details and remaining 5W’s.
Next, use a quote
summarizes the story or provides an additional detail, opinion or emotion.
Write a transition to the next quote or thought.
Use another quote.
And so on …
This slide can be used as a reminder on a day that students are primarily working on their stories. Other than this slide, this lesson is about rewriting and self-editing, after an initial draft is complete. *

3. No big long blocks of text.
Remember, short paragraphs
You need one new paragraph for each new idea. Every new quote is one new paragraph.
No big long blocks of text.
Shorter paragraphs break up the text and make it more inviting for the reader, online or in the newspaper or yearbook. Do a test. Pick any student story and take all of the paragraphs out of it. Then put it side-by-side with one that has all the paragraphs in it. Ask the students which they would be more likely to read. Even though the one with paragraphs looks longer, it also is more inviting and most of your students will agree it looks easier to read. *

4. When you’ve written your story...
High-five yourself. Good story.
Now make it better.
Most stories, even yours, require rethinking, rewriting, restructuring, rewording.
Stop thinking that it is perfect just the way it is. You can do better. Everyone rewrites.
Every teacher knows that there is nothing students hate more than the “do over”, which is what they think of rewriting. It doesn’t help that most standardized writing assessments are timed writing assignments in which they are graded on how well they can write a draft. So of course they think it’s finished. IT IS NOT. It is the job of the journalism teacher, more than any other, to drive the notion of first draft as completed work out of the heads of students. You really have to SELL the rewriting and editing process. GOOD LUCK. * *

5. All Writing is Rewriting
How to revise and edit news stories

6. It’s perfectly OK to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly.”
“I’m always surprised that people think professional writers get everything right on the first try. Just the opposite is true; nobody rewrites more often than the true professional.” — William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well
It’s perfectly OK to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly.”
— C.J. Cherryh, science fiction writer
As an introduction activity, you may want to separate the quotations on slides 3 & 4 and give one to a small group to discuss. Students can have a short conversation about rewriting and editing. This activation of prior knowledge and (p)review of vocabulary and concept to be covered in the lesson will help your ELL students feel more prepared. *

7. — Ron French, The Detroit News
“A reporter who doesn’t rewrite has tight deadlines, bad habits or both. (In fact, I rewrote the above sentence twice.)”
— Ron French, The Detroit News
“I don’t write. I rewrite. My stories come about more like rocking a car back and forth in a ditch … Eventually it gets out and I’m on my way.” — Tim Nelson, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. *

8. What is good rewriting?
After reading the quotations as small groups or as a class, have students brainstorm what they think goes in to rewriting articles. Maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised that they have a good idea of what steps to use for a good draft revision!

9. The rewriting process is not:
making your handwriting neater
using the thesaurus to find bigger words.
typing exactly what you wrote by hand.
only running spell check and grammar check
adding extra words *

10. Making it better, Step 1:
Run spell-check. Correct typos, spelling errors and obvious grammar errors.
Check name spellings, dates and facts.
Run a word count. If you have 500 words for a 350-word article, that’s good.
If you have 200 words, stop right there. You need to do more interviewing. THINK: What am I missing?
Use the graphic organizer handout to go along with the steps on slides You may decide that you want students practice the steps on a particular piece of writing, so whole class projection may not be as effective as allowing students to complete on their own time. *

11. Making it better, Step 2: Read your story out loud.
Check for a subject and verb in every sentence.
Listen for run on sentences (places where there should be a stop but isn’t) and mark if a period or comma should be added.
Mark anything that sounds strange, bad, or incorrect.
For ELL students, asking them what “sounds wrong” is often an impossible task, especially if they are recent arrivals or are particularly low-fluency in English. If you have a balanced number of higher fluency/lower fluency students, pairing them up to do this may work. However, if your entire class is struggling with fluency, this can make more problems than fixes. If you want students to practice their spoken fluency, a low-stress activity is to have students record themselves reading their story to review on their own, then play it back to listen for mistakes. This combination can help students find mistakes first when they read out loud and then again when they listen to the recording. *

12. Making it better, Step 3: quotes
Reread all your quotes.
Check your notes for other quotes that might work better or fit better.
Don’t have good quotes? Go back and conduct more interviews.
Double-check names, grades, titles, and spellings. *

13. Making it better, Step 4: balance
Reread all your quotes.
Do you have quotes:
From different groups of people (teachers, students, grades, etc)?
Showing multiple sides of a story?
Are all important points made by the people who are in disagreement present?
Eliminate any personal pronouns not in quotes (we, our, us, my, me, I).
Make sure you are not expressing an opinion. *

14. Making it better, Step 5: verbs
Circle all the –ly words (adverbs).
Can you take out the adverb without changing the meaning of the sentence?
Yes? Then do it.
Can you improve the sentence with a stronger verb?
Yes? Use the verb and take out the adverb. *

15. More on verbs
Circle all the –ing words and all the instances of “is”, “was” or “has.”
Can you change the verb to an active verb (“walked” instead of “was walking”)?
Is the sentence written in active voice? (Who – did what – to whom)
Can you improve the sentence with a stronger verb? Use it.
Active voice will be a challenge for all students. Depending on your students, you may want to present a mini-lesson prior to this revision lesson. *

16. Making it better, Step 6: lead
Reread your lead.
Count the words.
If it’s over 30, that’s way too many. Make it shorter.
Are all of the 5W’s and H covered in the first two or three paragraphs?
If not, add what’s missing.
Does the lead immediately interest the reader and tell what the story is about?
If not, write one that does. *

17. Making it better, Step 7: ending
Reread your ending.
Is it a quote that summarizes or adds a twist to the story?
Yes? Then go on to the final step.
Is it an essay-like conclusion that you wrote yourself?
Yes? Then REWRITE. Try to find a kicker quote. Don’t ruin a great news story by editorializing at the end. *

18. Making it better, Step 8: finally!
Run a final spell-check again
Correct any errors.
Check your word count again.
If your word count is close to the word count you were given, your story is ready for a peer edit.
If it’s still too long, go through it again, looking for any place you repeat yourself or where you can say something in fewer words.
If it’s still too short, go back to Step 3. *

19. *

20. Checklist for news stories
Are the most important and recent facts first?
Is the story accurate? Are all sources identified?
Are the paragraphs short?
Is the sentence structure varied in the story?
Is the story formatted so it is easy to read?
Does your story flow? Did you use the transition/quote (L-Q-T-Q) formula?
Did you use active voice?
This is another quick-check list that can be used for peer critique or self-critique. There is also a more thorough two-page peer editing worksheet that can be used for peer edits.

21. First draft rubric
Interview sources and quotes(at least three sources) ________ / 20 possible
Organization/sentence fluency
(clarity and wordiness) _______ / 20
Focus (on topic from beginning to end) ____ / 20
Compelling lead and conclusion _______ / 20  
Conventions (names spelled correctly; correct capitalization and punctuation; correct grammar and spelling. More than five errors = 0) ______ / 20
Total______________100 possible
This is another possible assessment that can be used for your grading or for self-critique or peer critique.
There is also a more complete News Writing Rubric to use as a handout or for grading news stories. * *