Copy Editing for Professionals [Spiral-bound]

Edmund J. Rooney (Author), Oliver R. Witte (Author), Oliver Witte (Author), Edmund Rooney (Author)

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 411 pages
• Publisher: Stipes Pub Llc (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875638961
• ISBN-13: 978-0875638966
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I envy the two authors, October 4, 2001

By 

Howard Seemann (Eureka, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Copy Editing for Professionals (Spiral-bound)

This combination textbook/workbook is one of those projects that makes me wish I had done it. Or that one as good as this was available when I was teaching.

It is broken down into three areas: copy reading, headline writing and publication layout. This is for any kind of publication, but the major focus is on newspapers.

A major factor in the book's appeal is the writing style: It makes copy editing sound like fun. It is fun, but many textbooks make it sound dull as dust. Even hardened old copy editors could learn a thing or two from this book.

Another strength is Chapter 5, which goes into some detail on the topic that gives young journalists the most problems: grammar. Without becoming simplistic, the book offers a clear understanding of this most important of all challenges.

If there is an unfulfilled need it is that the book does not take advantage of the computer. Most publications today are copy edited on a monitor. Paper is passé. Perhaps the next edition will offer a remedy.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Copy Editing for Professionals, September 23, 2001

By 

Sally Schmid (Downers Grove, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Copy Editing for Professionals (Spiral-bound)

As a former student of this copy editing book, I know it is indeed a copy editing book for professionals. I am a journalist who flips through the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual frequently to remind myself of its rules when the need arises. However, the great book is not nearly as comprehensive as Copy Editing for Professionals, a manual that includes copy editing answers to words and grammar questions not addressed by the Associated Press. And the book goes many steps further with easy to understand explanations and examples of Associated Press rules, chapters on issues that copy editors and reporters face in the field and quizzes to test the reader's knowledge. The useful examples are gained from the experience of authors who are experts in the field. Copy Editing for Professionals is a must-have for students, teachers and professionals in the editing field.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helping the Student over the Hump, July 18, 2001

By 

Robert Knight (Gettysburg, Pa.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Copy Editing for Professionals (Spiral-bound)

Dozens of books have dedicated themselves to teaching poor college students how to become a copy editor. The people who do this sort of thing for a living often wonder why; most are convinced the only way to learn copy editing is to do it. If they need a reference, they simply reach for a dictionary, a thesaurus, an Associated Press Style Book or their own publication's style sheet. If the students somehow don't get hired because they have no experience, and if they have somehow forgotten to acquire a shelf-full of copy editing books, however, the next best thing has arrived. Copy Editing for Professionals provides one-stop shopping for the student or journalist who needs a single reference that addresses the three skills copy editors need: reviewing stories or manuscripts, writing headlines and laying out pages. Even when computer software has taken much of the work (and fun) out of the process, copy editors still need those three skills and the journalistic attitudes that back them up (and often need some computer skills as well). Not that Copy Editing for Professionals dispenses with the need for other references like dictionaries and thesauruses; it doesn't. In fact, the authors, Edmund J. Rooney and Oliver R. Witte, assume the student has a copy of the AP Style Book and they make frequent references to it. Because any serious student of English must have a sense of humor, the book is splattered with cartoons and examples of how not to use the language, for example: "She carried a basket on her bed which was empty," "Wearing a bouffant gown of lace, the father gave the bride away," or what's wrong with the movie title "Honey I Shrunk the Kids." (It's Shrank.) Rooney and Witte have filled their book with solid, practical exercises, even inserting photos and reusable templates with their layout exercises. And after many, they have included common student errors, pointing out why they are errors and what students can do to rectify them. Copy Editing for Professionals is not the sort of book journalists would read from cover to cover-although they could. But I have not seen a more comprehensive reference or text, written so crisply and cleanly.