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Staff Manual & Handbook
2014-15
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Staff Manual & Workbook Purpose
This manual exists to help new and old staff members quickly get a handle on how The Reflection works.
It is imperative that time is taken to read this entire manual. Inside you will find information on exactly what your responsibilities are,
general rules and guidelines, some helpful Reflection tips, as well as a full reference section including a Reflection Style Guide. This
also serves as a workbook with questions, activities and homework to help you become a more informed staff member.
Proper use of this manual will make your experience with The Reflection a productive one.
*Thanks to the Gross Point High School newspaper, The Tower, for serving as a template for this student manual.
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Reflection staff manual contents
Part One: Syllabus
Course objectives………………………………………………………...................... 4
Course assignments...……………………………………………………......……….. 4
Classroom procedure.............................................................................................4
Grading......……………………………….......…………………………….................. 5
Grade determination................................................................................5
Pre-production......................................................................................... 5
Brainstorming sheets.................................................................5
Brainstorming participation .......................................................5
Production................................................................................................5
Beats......................................................................................... 6
Beat sheets/reports................................................................... 6
Duty sheets............................................................................... 6
Article grades............................................................................ 6
Article due dates........................................................................6
Page production........................................................................ 6
Page editing and checking........................................................ 6
Post-production........................................................................................7
Critique sheets.......................................................................... 7
Critique participation................................................................. 7
Ad sales................................................................................................................. 7
Masteries............................................................................................................... 7
Portfolio guidelines........……………………………………………………………......7
Questions.............................................................................................................. 8
Part Two: Requirements, Rules and Descriptions
9
Staff Job descriptions…………………………...............................................….…. 9
Deadlines during cycle……………………................................................................
9
Reflection room rules ………………………………………….............................…..10
Criteria for all copy……………………………......................................................... 10
Reflection style guide.............................................................................................11
Article requirements............................................................................................... 12
Beat requirements..................................................................................................12
Quick update requirements....................................................................................12
Info graphs, sides bars, political cartoons..............................................................13
File requirements................................................................................................... 13
File names to know....................................................................................
13
Turning in copy.......................................................................................................14
Questions...............................................................................................................15
Part Three: Policies and Standards
16
Interview policy and senior edition......................................................................... 16
Interview policy........................................................................................ 16
Editorial board meeting agenda….....………………………………....……17
Editorial policy…………………………..……………………………………...….….... 17
Ethical standards………………………..…………………………………....……..…..17
Terms of service.....................................................................................................17
Social media policy.................................................................................................18
Administrative policies…………………...……………………………....……..………18
General admin policies..............................................................................
18
Staff complaint/dispute procedures..........................................................18
Disciplinary policies..................................................................................18
Questions...............................................................................................................18
Part Four: Putting It Together
18
Advertising..............................................................................................................18
Tips for selling ads...................................................................................18
Ad account responsibilities……………………………………….................18
Design tips...............................................................................................................19
Headlines.................................................................................................19
Photos..................................................................................................... 19
Writing help............................................................................................................ 19
Article...................................................................................................... 20
Caption.................................................................................................... 20
Headline.................................................................................................. 20
Brainstorming and critiquing..................................................................................20
Writing Don’ts……………………….....……………………........................ 21
Questions...............................................................................................................22
Reference materials
23-end
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PART ONE: Syllabus
Instructor: Cheryl Jolin
(269) 274-0880
cjolin@gulllakecs.org (primary email)
cjolin@gl.k12.mi.us (googledocs)
Course text and materials:
The Radical Write Bobby Hawthorne
Scholastic Journalism
Paper exchange with other high schools
Outside reading and materials
Videos
Course Objectives:
1. to publish an online newspaper that is updated daily with a special early May senior edition that is produced by the senior staff
members. The primary audience for the Reflection is the student body; however, the paper serves the entire school and community.
2. to publish a paper that informs, entertains readers, which is free from libel and ethically sound.
3. to instill in writers that along with freedom of the press comes the responsibility of being objective, balanced and fair in their
reporting.
4. to write news, features, editorials, columns and sports stories using the methods of writing taught in journalism classes.
5. to design web layouts using creativity, as well as the principles of contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity taught in class.
6. adhere to deadlines.
7. to finance the production of paper through the selling of advertisements and fund raising. All staff members are required to sell one
ad to local businesses which have services or products that a teenager can use.
8. to use technology and learn necessary software to produce the newspaper.
9. to master fundamental skills necessary in producing the newspaper.
10. to be an important and vital member of the staff by writing, helping in production, helping with design, selling and designing ads
and evaluating the product.
11. to be a vital member of the staff by participating in brainstorming and critiquing sessions
12. to follow up on beat that is assigned them.
13. to conduct themselves in a professional manner and show respect for themselves and others.
Course Assignments
Students will:
1. write a variety of stories.
2. write the equivalent of three and a half articles per cycle of the newspaper. See Article requirements for details.
3. write a rough, revised copy and final copy of each article written.
4. participate daily by working outside of the class in service of the paper by doing beat reports, selling ads, covering sports and
extracurricular activities.
5. participate in design, headline writing, taking photos, creating artwork or graphics.
6. contact people for ads, sell ads and design ads.
7. copy read articles for errors and layout suggestions and gather story suggestions.
8. participate in brainstorming and critique past issues, following the requirements the editors have set for the year regarding the
process.
9. meet or contact beat sources assigned at beginning of semester at least twice a cycle. ALL beat reports are due according to last
name and day of week. See Beat reports for details.
10. turn in all articles and outside assignments on or before due date.
11. read and critique a variety of school newspapers, newspaper articles both online and print.
12. complete and pass all masteries.
13. take assigned notes, do manual assignments and quizzes.
14. create a quality portfolio of their work.
15. complete projects and outside assignments as assigned by editors and/or advisor.
16. keep assigned boxes, computers, and classroom organized.
17. sell and keep track of ad sales.
18. maintain a C average in this class per semester. A student who does not do so, will not be allowed to return on staff.
Classroom Procedure
1. Student will be in the room when the bell rings and ready to listen to advisor’s and co-editors’ directions or concerns. The first five
minutes of every class will be to give and receive instructions for that day. Once the information is given, students will work on
newspaper assignments.
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2. Tardy policy is same as in student handbook. Tardies result in detentions.
3. If a student leaves the classroom, they must tell the advisor where they are going and why. They must take their press pass and
have it visible on their person. They must also fill out the check out sheet, including the time, destination AND purpose. Students
are to return their press passes to their designated spot at end of block.
4. Students must return to the room and check in when done with beat or interview by filling out the time of return on the checkout
sheet.
5. Students must check in and out all cameras and recorders. All video, pictures and audio must before checking in the equipment.
Save the files on the computer you are assigned to in class in the proper folder AND back up all in the class’s passport. Failure to
do so will any of these steps will result in a reduction of your grade.
6. ALL students must return to the room five minutes before the end of class. If class is last block, students must return at 2:00 p.m.
Any abuse of these privileges may result in removal from assignment or staff. A student who returns late with out prior permission
will be marked tardy. A student who does not return to the room will be marked absent and treated as unexcused and will result in a
lower grade.
7. Students are expected to meet all copy deadlines even if it means finishing the assignment during lunch or before or after school. If
students do not meet deadline or fulfill other responsibilities, their grade will be reduced unless a pink slip is issued.
8. Students may receive a pink slip to turn in copy for full credit. This can only be given by the advisor with the agreement of the
editor-n-chief. Students must prove good cause.
9. If a student is ill or not in school, they must notify the advisor by phone or email if it means missing a deadline. Students who do not
do so will have their grade reduced.
10. Student are NOT to leave room on Fridays without special permission (taking pictures, info gathering for articles in that edition are
the only exceptions).
11. Students will receive a notebook at the beginning of their first trimester. Put your name on it and keep in the room in your assigned
box.
12. Students must pick up the room and area where they worked before being excused. Failing to put away flash drives, notebooks,
copy or any other materials into proper place will result in point deduction.
13. Students must take masteries for proficiency. Students must receive 100% and may take them as many times necessary until they
master the skill.
14. Students must save all work in the Reflection 12 shared folder in this classroom. See section on files and saving files for
information..
GRADING
Every student starts with an A. What you do to keep that A depends on you. It is up to you to turn in and keep track of your work. Below
is a break down of how your grade is determined in class:
Grade determination
Grading scale is the traditional percentages.
Each tri the final exam consists of the portfolio and an outside article or project (20%).
Remainder of grade:
• Pre-production (10%): Beat sheets (10 pts each), brainstorming (30 pts)
• Production (50% first tri; 60% second and third tri): rough drafts (25 pts each), revised copy (25 pts), final copy (30 pts),
duty sheet with finished duty (15 points each)
• Post (5%): personal critique (25 pts), participation in class critique (10 pts)
• Ad sales (10%) (first tri only) sell one ad for a month
• Masteries (5%)
Pre-production
Brainstorming is the procedure the staff uses to determine the content for each cycle of the Reflection. Each student fills out a
brainstorming sheet. See “Part 4: Putting it all together” for areas of coverage and further explanation. See “Part 5: Reference” for the
sheets.
Brainstorming due Tuesday beginning of period first day of cycle you’re brainstorming sheet is due when you walk into the room.
Be sure to pick up the sheet the previous day. Stories must not only have a subject but an angle for full points. DO NOT SIGN UP FOR
A STORY. All staff members, including editors participate. See reference section for brainstorming sheet. You will no longer be able to
put up ideas after due date. Any other articles must be added by the editors or advisor. We take a snapshot of the completed board.
Section editors and editors write all ideas on the board under each category.
Brainstorming participation takes place after all ideas are on the board. Staff discusses each idea. Our Side (the editorial) is
discussed and voted on. Editors enter in who is writing what articles. First choice for articles go to the person who had that idea for the
story.
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Production
The number one reason for a lower grade is not meeting a deadline, be it copy or page uploading. Some stories may require a pink slip
for copy from either the advisor or editors-in-chief. A pink slip grants special permission to hand in copy late without penalty. These are
only given the day before end of deadline or sooner and under special story-related conditions.
Beats
A beat is the area which a reporter is assigned to cover. You generate stories according to this area.
Beat reports: 2 beat reports per cycle-- one is a community beat, the other is a school beat.
• Report should be 100-200 word summary of upcoming events, news and other important information.
• Beat reports are due according to YOUR last name and day of week. See schedule below and classroom calendar.
• Rough draft and final copy due same day. Your report will be posted that say day or the following day. If there is no
school the day your report is due, your report is due the next day school is in session.
Duty Sheets: Every staff member who is not an editor in chief must do one duty per cycle. A list of duties will posted in the room.
See classroom calendar and assignment section for due dates. The sheet must accompany the completed assignment. Options include
but are not limited to the following:
Updating morgue (once every two weeks)
Updating leper list (done once weekly)
Promotion of web site/Reflection (you come up with idea, implement and check success—may count for more than one duty)
Extra ad sale (actual sale)
Quick updates: summary paragraph/photo and caption over sports event (includes main highlights, score) or special event.
Article grade (co-editors): Editors alternate editing and uploading responsibilities. First week of cycle, both upload and revise all
articles and updates together. Second week, one editor will edit staff article rough drafts/final copies (when applicable). The other will do
beat sheet, quick updates, and be responsible for updates online. Week three editors switch duties, and so on.
Article grade (staff): Rough drafts are worth 25 points each. Final copies are 30 points and are graded. You must complete three
and a half articles per cycle (see “article requirements” for details). Below are points taken off for not following procedure:
-6 ...............................
LATE rough draft /final copy one minute after set deadline
-3 ..............................
Per day late for additional days past deadline on rough draft/final.
-2 or more..................
Not following mastery
-2 to -10.............................Missing interactive elements (info graphic, photo with credits and caption, hyperlinks,
maps of other interactive elements in class. Each post should include at least two).
-2............................... No headline
-6 to no credit............
Failure to revise copy.
+1 to +15..................... Additional quality full article beyond required 3 1/2
no credit for article.....
Failure to put away copy, *rough draft not attached, *under minimum
word count, *no revision done.
-2 or more ................
Failure to put away materials
-1 or more .................
Off task
+5..............................
For every quality full article turned in early.
-5...............................
Not spell checked
-10 .............................
Name(s) misspelled
up to -7 ......................
Saving file(s) in improper format (see specifications)
-5 to loss of credit.......
Not backing up or downloading/saving video, audio or photos
* Editors and advisor can refuse to edit/assign points articles that are under word count by 50 words. Advisor will refuse to edit/assign
points to articles with corrections not made or no rough draft attached. If article is turned in correctly after deadline, points are deducted
for being late.
Final Copy
Final copies are assigned a grade, not only on requirements, but on content. Students MUST revise all articles. You may also increase
credit for articles but revising them. Article publication will be given permission by editors and adviser.
Articles due weeks two, three and four
Monday rough draft due (to editor)
Wednesday revised copy (to advisor)
Thursday final copy (to advisor/editor depending on designation on revised copy by advisor)
page production (co-editors): Page production is the process of getting the paper ready to publish online. This grade
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applies to editors. Coeditors alternate weekly doing this. It is their responsibility to tag all articles by section and reporter’s name, (100
points). Staff members are expected to complete their assignments and meet deadlines--it is still the editors’ responsibility to check and
and keep track of the articles on google docs and to print out the spread sheet and put it the log book.
Page production grade
+1 to +10 ................ -20 ........................ -12..........................
-2 or more...............
After school class time per cycle working on another editor’s page
Posting a day late or not tagging names
Posting deduction per day after
Style guide error per infraction
page editing (section editors): Section editors are to read their respective sections and to make sure each section is
updated in a timely manner. Section editors are to do this every Friday. Failure to correct errors in articles in your section will result in
grade reduction.
page checking (staff): All articles, summaries, graphics, pictures caption, polls or quick updates you make should be checked.
Failure to correct errors can result in grade reduction.
NOTE: Students can also be graded for their conduct and professional actions in this class. This includes (but not limited to) fulfilling
responsibilities, participation in decisions and overall attitude. This can constitute 10-20% deduction in the student’s grade each
trimester. This determination will be made by the advisor after consulting with editor(s) and principal.
Post-production
At the end of each cycle, every student does personal critique (25 pts) and participation in class critique (10 pts).
Critique sheet: due Monday beginning of period first day of cycle. All staff members, including editors participate. See reference
section for critique sheet.
Critique participation: takes place as co-editors show articles and information for month using overhead. Staff discusses each
section and articles posted. All members of staff participate.
Ad Sales (staff members)
As a member of the news staff, you are required to sell one ad.
*Equivalent canvassing: for every 10 proven rejections student gets the equivalent of one ad sale.
1.It is your responsibility to keep track of your sales and turn downs--not the business manager or the adviser.
2.To receive credit for turn downs, you must give the turn down sheet to the advisor, and it must be corrected filled out.
3.You are required to follow up on all sales with the business manager in writing as to what transpired during the sale.
4.Contact persons, phones numbers, information on ad copy, etc. must be provided to the business manager as soon as you return
from the sale. Failure to follow up on your ad will result in loss of that ad sale. This means you must pick up the art work or arrange
for it to be sent to the business manager. It is your responsibility to check on this with the business manager.
5.For business editor responsibilities see business editor description.
Masteries
A mastery is simply successfully understanding and implementing an idea or concept completely. In this class, you must master skills to
become successful. It is the junior editor’s job to conduct the masteries.
1.Below you will find a list of masteries—the quizzes for these will be taken the first weeks of the first trimester you are on staff.
2.Students taking the class again will not be required to complete the same masteries again unless it is one that staff member has not
taken.
3.Masteries will be oral, written and hands on quizzes, each requiring a different level of mastery.
4.The first trimester you are on staff you will take your masteries. This material will be covered by the advisor and editors at the
beginning of each class. During second and third trimester, instructions will be given by the junior editor and new staff members are
expected to get help before or after school.
5.You may be given additional assignments and hands on activities to be completed before mastery can be taken. These will be
included in your mastery grade.
6.You must complete all the masteries given or your grade will be reduced by 10%. Mastery means you retake the quiz until you have
“mastered” the concepts; therefore, after completed, you have a 100% for this portion of your grade.
• Proofreading marks
• Quoting sources
• Reflection style guide
• Headlines/captions
• AP Style guide
• Computer basics
• Podcasts basics
• Files
• Basic Design
• Inverted pyramid
• Interviewing
• Basic Photography
• Copy formatting
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Portfolio Guidelines
NOTE: WE highly recommend you begin compiling your Portfolio immediately. This is half of your final exam in this class. After every
edition, update your portfolio. Do not wait until the end of the semester and then get all stressed out rushing to complete it.
ALL portfolios are now required to be done in iBook format. Lessons will be given at the beginning of the trimester on how to do this.
Portfolios should divided into sections. See below.
First time Reflection student portfolio requirements:
»» Opening: Error free resume that includes your specific responsibilities on this staff.
»» All of your reflective self-evaluations--most current to least.
»» For any special awards or recognition for your writing, list and take photos of awards in this section.
»» Link to this handbook and other important links.
»» Published writing: Final copies of article with link to article. If possible, embed article. If not, take a screen shot and include in
your portfolio.
»» Unpublished writing: copy and paste these final drafts only
(articles that have already gone through the drafting process—in
other words, articles that have been critiqued and revised).
»» Layout & Design: (examples of photos, ad design, political cartoons, photos, graphics, etc.) For this section, make sure to
include the actual images and graphics and a link to the page. If you can embed the page or take a screen shot, it is preferred.
»» If this section gets too large, divide this into categories also (info graphs, photos). For photo editors, divide into types of photos.
»» Special Assignments: Include any special assignments in this section. This include exam articles and extra pieces required
throughout the trimesters.
Self-Evaluation: Write a two-page evaluation for your portfolio (see above). Specifically reflect your different pieces of writing and
comment on your development as a writer/journalism student. How have you improved? What are some of your goals at the
beginning the semester? for the future? what have you learned?
Advanced/returning Reflection student portfolio requirements:
Choose one of the following:
1. Add on to your current portfolio:
»» Do not change anything except for your resume. For the rest, your are adding content.
»» Update your resume.
»» Add any new awards or recognitions you received since last time.
»» Add to or create new content into your portfolio for this trimester. Include ALL the first time requirements, but use papers,
writing and design from this semester. Advanced students may want to have separate portfolios for writing and design (see
option 2).
»» Evaluate yourself using the same method you used before. Answer the same questions and add to this advise you would
give to an incoming journalism student.
2. Add more categories and subdivide your portfolio. Do you have a lot of cool page layouts, photography or graphics designs to
show off? This is for you.
»» Reorganize your old portfolio. Start a new one in an area you wish to show case.
»» Do not discard anything.
»» Update your resume.
»» Add any new awards or recognitions you received since last time.
»» Add to or create new sections of your portfolio for this semester. Include ALL the first time requirements, but use papers,
writing and design from this semester.
»» Evaluate yourself using the same method you used before. Answer the same questions and add to this advise you would
give to an incoming journalism student.
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Part One questions and homework
Homework: Take home this handbook and read over “Part One: Syllabus” with your parents or guardian. Read and sign your
publication contract and return it to the adviser on the first day of class.
Question directions: You may write in this manual but do not turn in the page from this manual with the answers on it.
Instead, answer each of the following questions on a separate piece of paper or in a googledoc you will later share with Mrs. Jolin. You
may hand write or type out your answers.
1. Of all the course objectives, which do you think is most important and why?
2. What are some of the class assignments that you are expected to complete?
3. What is the first thing you should do when you come into this class?
4. What is the procedure for leaving the classroom?
5. What are you supposed to do when you return to the classroom?
6. Where do keep your note pad for interviewing? Why do you think it is important that you keep it in the classroom at all times except
for when it’s being used by you?
7. What is the result of not picking up after yourself in this class?
8. What is the result of not downloading files such as photos, audio or video?
9. What’s the name of the two folders on the computer that you keep your files in? Can you do this in the library? Why or why not?
10.
How much of your total grade does your portfolio represent? What should it contain?
11.What is a beat?
12.
How many ads are you supposed to sell? What are your responsibilities for that ad sale?
13.
What are the responsibilities of the staff in regard to checking over the paper on-line?
14.
What is a beat? Give a possible example in our school.
15.
How many duties must you do in a cycle?
16.
What is a mastery? Why might having complete mastery over proofreading marks be essential for this class?
17.
How do you think critiquing the paper helps to improve the staff and writers?
PART TWO: Requirements, Rules and Descriptions
Staff Job Descriptions
Editorial Board (EB): The editorial board is the governing body of the newspaper and is in charge of overall newspaper structure each
edition. They create the mock-up of the paper each edition at board meeting after brainstorming. The EB, at brainstorming session,
assigns the writer to the Our Side editorial using the input from the session. The EB is in charge of and responsible for the editorial
pages. The EB mediate staff conflicts and problems. The board consists of the editors-in-chief, assistant editor(s), business editor,
section editors (news, feature and sports), photo and special effects editors.
Co-Editors in Chief: The editor(s) in chief work closely with the advisor in overseeing all aspects of publication. They maintain
constant contact with the section editors, assisting them and making sure that each section is assigning, editing and pages. They lead
brainstorming and critiquing sessions. They chair, the EB and collect letters to the editor. Co-editors both must serve as a heavy-duty
copy editors. Checking entire paper for errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation; the other for style and factual accuracy. They proof
rough drafts and record them in the logbook. The editor(s)-n-chief represents The Reflection at school and community functions when
appropriate. They tag stories and update site, alternating in duties. They check and edit on-line pages for errors and updates. They
determine the final content of the paper. If no co-editor exists or is not available, an assistant editor will be assigned to help the editor in
these tasks.
Assistant (junior) Editor: A junior editor or editors will be selected every year to be in training for the position of editor in chief every
year. This editor’s duties is to learn all roles the Editor in Chief fills. The Assistant Editor also implements masteries.
Section Editors: Each section will have an experienced editor who will oversee that department. It is that editor’s job to proof pages
and bring any problems to the attention of the advisor and co-editors. They are in charge or making sure their pages are updated and
current. Section editors may be asked to implement masteries. Sections include: Video, Photo, Sports, Feature, News, Opinion
Graphics and Photo editors: These people are in charge of creative solutions to graphics and photography in the paper and for
making sure all links are working online. They are to design and create eye-catching designs for front page. They will do cut outs for
teasers on the front page and design one or more major special effect per issue. They will work most closely together and with page all
other editors and well as creating ads. It is the photo editor’s responsibility to upload all photos to smugmug.com
Marketing/Business Manager: Promotes the online paper, using traditional methods of advertising and through social networks such
as Facebook, Twitter and feed. Handles all advertising for the paper. Administers and compiles annual Student Spending Survey.
Coordinates the ad campaign and trains staff in ad sales. Puts together ad packets. Monitors ad sales for each issue, maintains billing,
solicits and sells new ads and keeps abreast of the financial status of paper. Helps design ads. Makes sure all ads on page are properly
placed and appealing. Trains an associate marketing/business manager.
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Reporters: All staff will write articles and contribute to the paper (see handbook for article requirements). Every staff member must
check multiple times all articles that appear in print to make certain the article is accurate.
Advisor: The advisor serves to advise the staff on all aspects of the paper’s publication. This person is present at board meeting to
monitor the discussion and gives advise on difficult decisions, especially those with legal or ethical considerations.
Deadlines during cycles for articles, photos, etc.
12 week tri with 4 week cycles = 3 cycles per tri
Week one of cycle: what’s due and what’s to do
•Update portfolios, do personal critique sheets and class critique for previous cycle.
•Brainstorm ideas for article topics (due Tuesday before class starts on google docs). Participate in class brainstorm for side
bars etc. for each of the sections.
•Masteries
•Beats due according to last names
•Rest of week one is for interviews (and also writing self-selected article).
Business editor writes one article per cycle first tri and two articles per cycle second and third tris (unless designing ads—then equal to
half article per ad designed) and must still do all beats.
Editors in Chief write one article per cycle—one of which is the Our Side. No beats.
Junior editors write two articles first two cycles first tri (give masteries) and third tri (proof reading rough drafts). No beats.
Section editors write the same as other staff members and do one beat (school beat). Exceptions are photo and graphics editors. They
are required to do all beats but only one article per cycle.
Reflection Room Rules
1. The Reflection room’s primary purpose is to facilitate the production of The Reflection newspaper. The overriding concern is always
that a comfortable, work-friendly atmosphere for staff members be maintained.
2. It is everyone’s responsibility to keep the room clean. All personal items should be picked up. Put your notebooks in the cabinet
at the end of the day. Objects found lying around the room will go in the Lost and Found. Failure to properly turn off computers,
put away personal items, put away disks and save materials correctly will result in a reduction in grade and items not claimed in a
timely manner may be thrown out!
3. Reflection staff is to stay out of the yearbook staffs’ belongings.
4. The Reflection room is for staff only. Yearbook and general English classes share the room with you. The yearbook staff shares the
computers with you. Only members of yearbook, Writing for the Press and Reflection staff may use the computers. Other people
are not allowed in this room without permission for security reasons.
5. Reflection staff may use the computers for personal work after their own work is completed provided they yield when newspaper
(or yearbook) work is being done.
6. Games are never allowed on computers. All computer rules are the same in this lab as in any other lab in this building. Students
may receive no warning and may be written up. If such student receives a loss of computer privileges, that student may not make
up work given during that time. Any work due those days will be a zero.
7. Only school g-mail is allowed. A general school email account is also provided to the journalism class for business ads
(newspaper@gulllakecs.org).
8. Downloading music or programs to the computers in this classroom is prohibited. Students disregarding this will receive a
substantially lowered grade, referral and/or removal from the class.
9. The CD burners are for classroom use only. Burners are not to be used for copying music or DVDs. Students disregarding this will
receive a substantially lowered grade, referral and/or removal from the class.
10. The telephone in the office is for business use for the yearbook and Reflection members only.
11. Music played in the Reflection room volume must be kept at a minimum. Music may be played in our room; however, volume must
be kept at a minimum. Students must agree on ONE MUSIC SOURCE! Playing different music in different parts of the same
room may drive your advisor MAD—resulting in dire consequences. When music is played during the school day, the doors to the
classroom must remain shut.
12. All food and drink with the exception of water is prohibited with exception of special occasions. Eat in the cafeteria. No water
allowed at computer stations.
13. Students leaving room must first tell the advisor AND editor where they are going and why. If a student leaves the classroom, they
must take their press pass and have it visible on their person. They must also sign the hall pass sheet as to their destination, time
AND purpose. Students who do not follow this procedure will be marked tardy or absent. First offense, student is warned. Second,
students are not allowed to leave room for week. Third, student is written up and can result in being removed from class. Students
are to return their press passes to their designated spot at end of block.
14. All students are to participate directly during class instruction days whether or not you have covered this material before. Students
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who are familiar with area being covered are expected to help those students who are unfamiliar.
DOWN TIME: There will be times when you may have completed your work and have extra time on your hands. You may go to your
locker to get homework after receiving permission. You must sit at table at the front of the class when doing so. PLAYING CARDS OR
GAMES WILL RESULT IN A 5% TO 10% LOWERING OF YOUR GRADE AND REFERRAL.
Common criteria for all articles, quick updates and beat reports
1. All copies must be typed in size 10 Times New Roman font double-spaced. No intent. Skip lines between paragraphs. All articles
must be typed and saved first to the hard drive folder of their assigned computer. If working in an outside lab, save on your name
then back up on a flash drive or burn to CD then transfer immediately to your assigned computer in the journalism room. After
doing so, delete off your name account. DO NOT SAVE MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF YOUR ARTICLE. Students who save multiple
versions will have their grade dramatically reduced.
2. The slug on all copy must include your name, date, time, computer and file name, whether the copy is a beat, quick update, article
and whether it’s a rough draft, revision or final copy, word count and section the article goes in (feature, sports etc.).
3. All articles should have a local, school or community tie (proximity).
4. No profanity, obscene language or any other sexual or drug related references will be tolerated in the publication of The
Reflection. Just because someone said it in a quote, does not mean we print it.
5. No double meanings especially in reference to drugs or sex. Intentional references will lead to the removal from staff.
6. Do not write anything that would hurt a third party (this includes fellow students, staff, community members and advertisers). Even
though a student may say it is all right to make fun of him or her, ultimately a responsible journalist does not make points at other’s
expense. What we may view as innocent fun, in retrospect, may not be seen as such now or in the future. This also applies to blog
entries from other students on our site. They will be deleted.
7. Libel is still libel even if you repeat it. Remember this.
8. Always remember this is a school newspaper. What we write reflects the student body and our community (hence, the name THE
REFLECTION).
9. Please remember that our paper is better is the material we use is our original work. Use of copyright material is prohibited without
permission. Fair use does allow us some rights. See advisor if you are unsure about any references/pictures made or taken from
an outside source. A part of your Duty grade is get promotional materials from studios for musicians and entertainers. You can not
run pictures without permission and must use a photo credit when you do.
10. All copy must have two or more sources.
11. All copy must directly hyperlink to sources.
12. Secondary hyperlinks should be included to enhance story.
13. Failure to remove questionable edited material will result in removal from class and failure of the course. Intentional addition of
questionable material not edited will also result in the same.
14. You may NOT write an article about a group in which you directly participate, such as a story about band if you are in band or about
softball if you are on the team. This is called conflict of interest in journalism, and whether we know it or not, biases appear in a
story.
15. You can not use quotes from members of this class; however, you may use ideas, common knowledge, information and any leads
other staff members might give you.
16. Do not get quotes from friends, acquaintances or relatives unless you have prior approval from the editors.
17. Posted in the front of the room is the “Leper List.” This contains students and staff who you may no longer get a quote from.
18. Get the hard quotes. Don’t get a quote from someone because it’s convenient.
19. All students will have another job every cycle other than story writing and classroom work. This is part of your grade also, and
participation in this mandatory.
20. Failure to edit your story completely after it has been proofed either the editor or advisor will result in a considerable reduction in
grade for said article. It is up to the discretion of the advisor or editor to refuse editing such as article until it is revised and upon
proper revision will receive late grade. Same goes for any article under required word count.
21. All articles for publication must have interactive elements and a photo or graphic (with exception of opinion articles). Include video
with captions, photos with captions, maps, hyperlinks, infographics, polls, etc.
Reflection Style guide for all copy
The Reflection will adhere to Associated Press guidelines (see “AP Style quick Reference” included herein as well as the Associated
Press Stylebook in the Reflection room) with the following additions/exceptions:
1. All staff member will follow the AP style book guidelines.
2. References to Gull Lake High School – will be referred to as GLHS and then only when necessary to differentiate GLHS from other
schools (as in sports coverage.)
3. Staff names – Adult names will be first and last name in the first reference and last name in second and subsequent references.
4. Student names will be published using first and last names in first reference and last names in second and subsequent references
(i.e., Mary Summer) and Summer in second and subsequent references. If two people in the article have the same last name
and are students, then first name will be used. If one is an adult and the other a minor, than the adult’s last name is used and the
minor’s first name.
5. Identifying Class -- Students’ class should be identified before their name (senior Jill Smith).
6. Elementary children will be referred to by grade, first and last during first reference, and first name thereafter.
7. Placement of “said” – In attributing a quote, the word “said” should follow the name of the source (i.e., “Yadda yadda yadda,” Mr.
Davis said.) Only when the speaker is more noteworthy than the quote (i.e., President Bush) should the speaker’s name precede
the word “said.”
8. Avoid generalizations such as “students believe…” – they do not ALL believe any one thing; “Everyone knows…” unless everyone
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9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
truly does know what you state; and even “most students believe…” unless you have taken a survey and can support your
assertion with statistics.
Avoid editorializing in any non-opinion piece, even with one-word descriptors like “evidently,” “apparently” and “only” as this inserts
the writer’s opinion into the writing.
All surveys, polls and questionnaire-type reader responses will clearly indicate the method of polling used, the number of
respondents, the number of students polled and a clear indication of the results of the poll, usually in graphic form.
Designation of sports teams by gender within a sentence should be:
girls’ soccer, basketball, tennis, etc.
boys’ soccer, basketball, tennis, etc.
varsity soccer, freshman basketball and JV tennis (when writing about a specific team)
All copy is written in Times New Roman size 10.
On the web site, all copy is in Times New Roman size 10.
Bylines are the second line and must be written as By John Smith. Do NOT use a colon between by and your name.
Captions must be at least two to three sentence long. First sentence in present tense, the rest in past. Have action verbs and
identify all the people in the photo. Do not state the obvious, instead state what can not be observed.
Headlines in sentence format, present tense with action verb.
Article requirements
1. Staff member write three and a half articles per cycle. First two topics generated through brainstorming in week one of cycle, 3rd
topic is self-selected. You may be assigned articles at times.
2. Self-selected article MUST be timely and topic approved and posted by editor in the front of the room (an in depth article to replace
summaries put on site is one suggestion). If you get a scoop from your assigned beat, that might be what you’d choose. This article
and may be turned in during any of the 4 weeks of the cycle, but extra credit will be given for all completed (final copy turned in)
articles written for first cycle—including this one. Staff members may get approval for self-select articles the prior cycle.
3. Every article must be accompanied with headline.
4. All articles must have either of your own completed infograph or side bar with descriptor or quality photo(s) or video with title and
complete caption or pod cast with a title and brief descriptor.
5. All articles must also include a second interactive element such as google map, poll, sound bite, podcast, pull quote or hyperlink.
6. The half article you may share a by-line by writing with another staff member OR write three quick updates. These must be
approved by staff and selected with approval by editors.
7. All articles must be approved by editors before writing. If you are not present or do not select your articles the day of brainstorming,
you must go to the articles list and select from the topics listed, tell the editors which one you want, and they will add your name to
the article.
8. Staff member may share bylines but count as half an article, therefore, must do two half articles.
9. All full articles should be a minimum of 350 words and include a minimum of three to five direct quotes with the exception of
reviews and opinion. Always interview thoroughly and get more information than you will need. USE YOUR IPADS OR PHONES
and record the interview with permission, but ALWAYS take notes too.
10. Keep your note pad in your box.
11. You may write extra articles that compliment each other for a package for one cycle and skip writing an article for another cycle.
12. Some articles are on-going and require more time; however, you are still required to write the same number of articles per cycle.
13. Rough draft of article goes to the editor and junior editor. Final copy goes to the adviser. Revision of the final copy goes to the
adviser or editor (who it goes to will be indicated on the revised copy). You may be required to turn in another final copy if so
directed by the editor or adviser. ALL VERSIONS OF THE ARTICLE MUST BE ATTACHED WITH THE MOST CURRENT COPY
ON TOP.
Beat report requirements
1. Each staff member is assigned a school beat for which they are responsible for regular contact. They are also required to write
one community beat per month,
2. Know your beat contacts well. Establish a rapport. Professional conduct, regular contacts, and an informal approach will help find
that “real” story beyond the scheduled candy sales, sports events and school events.
3. Beats are written using the 5 Ws and H in inverted pyramid.
4. Staff members are responsible for bringing potential story ideas from their beats to the monthly story brainstorming meetings.
Include these in with brainstorming.
5. You must do two beat reports per cycle.
6. Report should be 100-200 word summary of upcoming events, news and other important information with at least one direct quote
or a photo with a title and caption at least five sentences long and a meaningful direct quote from person pictured.
7. Rough draft goes to the editor. Final copy to the advisor. You may be required to turn in another final copy if so directed by the
editor or advisor. ALL VERSIONS MUST BE ATTACHED WITH THE MOST CURRENT COPY ON TOP.
8. Reports are due according to YOUR last name and day of week. See “posting online” and classroom calendar in room.
9. The beat list consists of the following (but others will be added). Note you may be assigned to more than one beat, depending on
when these meet.
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• web design/business
classes/DECA/Quiz Bowl
• English/Social studies
• Volunteens/Senate
• Math/ Science
• Art/ Band/choir/guitar
• Drama/Theatre
• EFE/EFA GYM/Health
• Mrs. Addy’s classes/
• Shop/woodworking/technical
drawing
• Yearbook/ Announcements
• Principal/Vice Principal
• Athletic director/outside
sports
• Superintendent/School board
(must cover each meeting)
• DECA/Quiz Bowl
• Other clubs
• Counselors
Quick update requirements
1. Quick updates are timely. Athletic events and special school activities fall under the heading. Timeliness is import.
2. Quick updates must be published quickly for them to be timely. You must turn in the quick update the same day as the event
happened if at all possible and no later than the next school day. For example, a soccer game on Tuesday, should be turned in the
beginning of class on Wednesday and posted that day to the site. Editors will revise the quick update at their own discretion and
then post; therefore make your quick update as polished as possible.
3. Quick update may be selected from the duty list (see example in reference section), which is posted in the room. You may do the
option of a quick update in place of half articles. It’s important for sports events that you let the editors know which game you are
covering.
4. Two quick updates are equal to a half article. Four quick updates equal one full article. All quick updates must be approved by the
editors. If you have an idea for a quick update that is not posted in the room or on googledocs, get editor approval (if you have to
phone them, do it!).
5. Update should be 100-200 word summary of the event, news and other important information with at least one meaningful direct
quote and written using the 5 Ws and H in inverted pyramid.
6. A quick update can also be a photo you’ve taken with title and caption at least 3-5 sentences long with a direct quote from
participant if at all possible.
Info graphs, sidebars and political cartoon
1. Polished sidebars (already created Illustrator and PhotoShop with graphics saved in proper format) are worth a half article.
Unpolished sidebars value will be determined by editor and advisor (usually only half). You must get approval for content before
you begin one.
2. A political cartoon is equal to half an article. In order for it to be considered for publication and credit as such, it must be in the
correct format specified for publishing on line (jpg or png) and meet the requirements for political cartoons and approved by editors
and advisor. Editorial cartoons must be signed by the creator and should be related to a current issue in the news. All cartoons
and illustrations are subject to laws concerning slander and libel and must adhere to the ethical practices of the Reflection for
publication (see “Ethical Standards”)
File requirements and information
Understand and use all the following requirements correctly.
Organizing and saving files correctly is part of your grade.
ALWAYS DOWNLOAD YOUR FILES TO YOUR ASSIGNED COMPUTER AND BACK UP ON PASSPORT. Upload photos to you
take to smugmug NOT your computer. Failure to do so will result in a reduction of your grade and loss of credit for that
assignment.
Basic computer information:
If you do not know the drives on the computers, learn them! (and I mean that exclamation point).
Organizing folders, articles, pages and picture files:
1. Always save to the correct share folder Reflection 12. Articles in the share folder must go within another folder that you create with
your name on it. Use one computer to keep all your work in and no other.
2. Always use “Save as” the first time you save an original copy of a file on to the hard drive.
3. There you should always save as, copying over your old files. NEVER have multiple versions of files unless they are clearly named
rough draft.
• Never use periods or symbols in your file names.
• Never use space—instead use underscores.
• Never name files a generic name.
• Never have file names over 20 characters.
• Never use profanity or words that could have a double meaning in file or folder
names.
• Never create a mock version file or page.
• Always save to the proper share folder file.
• Always save to the hard drive and the disk multiple times while you work.
• Always save to the hard drive, then back up to flash or CD.
• Always minimize PhotoShop while working on a picture. Remember, you can have Word, PhotoShop and
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Illustrator files open.
3. NEVER turn off your computer while saving a file.
4. Always be sure the light is off on the drive before you remove CD or flash. This is the number one way files get corrupted. You may
not be able to open your file again. Not cool.
5. Never save original work to flash or on your name on the server in Illustrator or Photoshop and work off on your graphic or picture.
Files are too large for the computer to properly save. Files may become corrupted and unusable.
6. ALL article files must be saved in a folder with your name on it. All article files must be saved using file names that describe that
article. DO NOT HAVE MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF YOUR ARTICLES. An incorrect version of an article placed on a page will result
in loss of credit for that article.
7. It is preferable to write your articles in the classroom lab. However. when using the library’s computer or home computers while
writing copy always use a flash drive or CD to back up. You may email articles from home to school using our journalism account
(journalism@gulllakecs.org) or your g-mail account. Make sure you come to the classroom and immediately, then save it to your
folder on your assigned computer in your folder. Follow the instructions above to do this.
8. ALL page files must go into that month’s folder. All pages must be named date, using the same format as the folder. NO exceptions.
9. ALL picture files and graphics go inside your folder with your name on it; names must identify the people and/or actions. Files must
have unique names. Specify if cut outs. Never save over the original picture. Rename it. NO multiple versions of picture files with
the same name.
One student: Sean_Johns1
Two students: Sjohns_Pjankowski3 (two students action not necessary. Number for multiple pictures. )
Group picture: Voluns_grouppic2 (Volunteens group picture 2)
File names and terms to know:
TIFF
Tag Image File Format (TIFF files). TIFF was developed by Aldus, before Adobe bought them, and is the most widely supported format
across other platforms. TIFF writes a large file, and it uses lossless compression, meaning there are no losses, that you can always
read back what you wrote out, without data corruption. If you ever modify and write the file a second time (i.e. alter and copy), then use
a non-lossy format like TIFF. TIFF files are large, huge even. We want the online page to load fast--so don’t use TIFF as a format.
PNG
This is also lossless and can same transparent background. The file is a bit larger, but the quality is good. USE this format and JPG on
our site for photos.
PSD
PhotoShop Document--This is the format PhotoShop uses to manipulate images. PSDs use lossless compression; however, the files
don’t compress much, making them huge like TIFFs. What’s great about PSDs? The file type was made for photo manipulation. It works
with a true color, 256 pallet. Down side is that PSD files are not universally supported. I suggest always keeping your files in PDF until
the end, then change them to JPGs or PNGs.
BMP
(Windows Bitmap) BMP is lossless like TIFF. BMP will handle 24 bit data, but it cannot be compressed. BMP uses RLE (Run Length
Encoding) to compress 8 bit data, which is effective in graphics, but much less effective in continuous tones like photos. If you create a
graphic in Microsoft Paint or transfer a graphic there, it is converted to a bmp. The 24 bit data is fine for web graphics that do not require
high definition; however, for news publication, we will not get the quality picture needed. Never use BMPs.
DPI (dpi)
Dots per inch. Used to describe the number of dots found per linear inch in an image or graphic. Thus a 72 dpi picture is perfect for web
pages (smaller file) since the file is small and loads fast. For print, in yearbook for example, pictures must be higher quality and have
a higher dpi (300 minimum). Do not confuse dpi with the resolution of a computer screen, which should be measured in ppi (pixels per
inch).
GIF
Graphic Interchange Format (pronounced like the peanut butter). This is an older format developed by CompuServe, and it was
fantastic in its day with relatively small compressed file sizes (but nothing like JPG—larger file). However, GIF is limited to only 256
colors, a great match for the older 8 bit video boards, but which makes it poorly suited today for photographic purposes. The file is also
large for photographic images. GIF are often used on line.
GIF uses lossless compression, like TIFF. JPG is much better for photographic images, The file is very much smaller (although lossy).
But GIF files will be smaller for graphic artwork. For our purposes, gif may only be submitted when a transparent background as needed
(for example, we want to put spot color behind it). GIF are NOT supported on our website. Do NOT use them.
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JPG
Joint Photographic Experts Group (.JPG files, pronounced Jay Peg). This is the best format for scanned photographs used on websites
or for sending your photographic images in email, because the file is small, often compressed to only 1/10 or 1/20 size. However, this
fantastic compression efficiency comes with a price. JPG uses a lossy compression, that is, some quality is lost when the file is written
(saved), and it cannot be recovered. Even worse, a little more quality is lost EVERY TIME the JPG file is compressed and saved again.
I avoid saying “lost data” because that is misleading. By lost quality, I mean lost purity, or lost integrity because of mild corruption of the
data, rather like noise.
So therefore, because of quality problems, JPG is NOT suitable for storing a master copy of your data. You should grit your teeth and
hold your breath if you ever find the need to modify and rewrite a JPG file, because it will lower the quality of that image even more,
EVERY TIME you save the file. Save your master image in a non-lossy format (like TIFF or PSD format), but also write a JPG file for
non-critical uses that need it to be smaller, like email and web pages. A JPG file can be read and viewed a jillion times without affecting
the data, like on a web page say, but EVERY TIME THE FILE IS SAVED, the JPG compression causes additional image quality to be
lost. Never work on a picture in JPG format. Use this file for our website or PNG.
PDF
Portable Document Format--PDF is a document format that retains the font and graphic information of the original. PDF files can be
printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader and retain the accurate font and graphic representation of the original. PDF files can be made from
within such applications as InDesign and Word if it has the plug in.
PPI
Pixels per inch--the resolution that an image will be displayed on a computer screen. For example, a one inch image that has a
resolution of 72 pixels per inch will be one inch long on a computer screen that has a resolution of 72 pixels per inch. On a computer
screen that has a higher resolution such as 100 pixels per inch, the image will display smaller than one inch.
As for audio and video file format, we’ll go over this in class, but know that Flash is NOT supported on iPads. We do not use Flash on
our website for that reason.
All video and images will be saved on smugmug.com under our account. Videos will be uploads there only and embedded from there.
Photos are downloaded onto glhsreflection.org directly.
Turning in Copy
Notice: Understand and use all the following requirements correctly. Saving and turning in copy correctly is part of your grade.
1. All copy must be typed in Times New Roman size 10 font double spaced. Skip lines between paragraphs.
2. One space only after periods. If your article goes to print, you will be asked to convert to single space.
3. You must always include a slug. Type the following on your paper in the upper right hand corner:
--------
your name
assigned computer name/number it’s saved on
Name of the file
today’s date and time
article type (article, Quick, beat)
draft version (RD, RV, FC).
section article goes in (home, news, opinion, feature, etc.)
3. In left hand corner, write key words on what story is about (slug), word count and what section of the paper it goes into.
4. Indicate where the Photos or graphics the go with the story are at bottom of your copy. Paste pictures to page and write caption
and title.
5. Print out one copy of rough draft. PAPER CLIP IT TOGETHER. Never use staples on any version of your article. We run them
through the copy machine. Points are deducted if we must remove staples.
6. Put in the editor’s box.
7. Rough copy will be handed back for revision. Make all revisions indicated as soon as they are returned to you and hand in to
advisor’s box. Hand in this with all your rough drafts.
8. Final copy of your article will go to either the editor or the advisor, depending on what the advisor has indicated on your revised
copy. You may be asked to revise your final copy again for approval. You must do this immediately and hand it back to the editor or
advisor for approval.
9. If the other version of your article are not attached to your final or revised copy, your article will NOT be edited, and your grade will
be reduced for every day it is late. If copy is lost, you will receive a zero on your rough draft as the editors will have to edit it again.
FC will be late those number of days it takes the editors to get to your article.
10. Your article is done when it is no longer handed back to you to revise.
Part two: Questions and activities
Question directions: You may write in this manual but do not turn in the page from this manual with the answers on it.
Instead, answer each of the following questions on a separate piece of paper. You may hand write or type out your answers.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What are the duties of the Editorial Board, and who is on the board?
How many weeks in a cycle, and what happens during the first week of every cycle? How many articles do you write in a cycle?
What is the policy regarding doing homework in the classroom?
What are two other Reflection room rules?
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5. You are not allowed to use your friends in articles for any other material other than background sources for general news purposes.
Why should you as journalist adhere to this policy?
6. What’s the leper list, and why is it important?
7. If you are absent on the day articles were selected, where do you go to find a list of the articles?
8. Pretend that you’re writing an article on the football team. Write a slug for this article.
9. Write a direct quote using a proper use of the student’s name, class and attribution (placement of the word said).
10. What format do you write beat reports in?
11. What are common topics for quick updates?
12. Give an example of a correct name for a photo with two people in it named Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.
13. What are the two preferred formats for pictures on-line?
14. What is DPI? What is the common DPI for Internet images, and why should Internet photos have low DPI?
PART THREE: Policies and Standards
Reflection interview policy & senior edition
Interview Policy
1. The staff of the Reflection will be professional in manner, dress and language when on newspaper business and especially when
conducting an interview.
2. If at all possible, interviews will be scheduled in advance, allowing time for adequate preparation.
3. All staff members are to keep a notebook used specifically and solely for interviews. Students should use this even when recording
the interview.
4. Face-to-face interviews produce better results and are preferred over phone or Facebook interviews.
5. If possible, taped interviews are preferred but not solely relied upon for accuracy – take notes as well. Interview subjects must
be informed that the interview is being taped. Interview notes are the property of the writer and are not subject to review by the
interview subject.
6. Writers should check accuracy of quotes, especially potentially controversial quotes, prior to publication. Read back the quote for
clarification. It’s often necessary for a reporter to talk to the interviewee again for clarification.
7. Writers should interview as many possible sources of information about a story, even, and especially, those who may find objection
with the subject of coverage. Properly conducted and documented interviews are required for all news, feature and sports articles
and news.
8. Sources must be identified by name. Information from anonymous sources will only be published at the discretion of the editorial
board working in conjunction with the adviser. (See “Ethical Standards.)
9. Before conducting any interviews, all staff members must read “How to Get the Most from Your Interviews” by Don Gibb.
Senior Edition
1. All seniors on staff are responsible for putting out the senior edition of The Reflection. Working on the senior edition is a portion of
your grade.
2. Planning for this will begin the first trimester when the senior questionnaire is distributed, and each person will have multiple jobs in
regard to this issue.
3. During the second trimester seniors will work on their respective sections, using InDesign.
4. The editor of the senior edition will be a senior member of the staff. Yearbook staff members may assist. It will fall on either the
senior business editor or the most responsible senior page editor(s).
5. The Senior Editor (SE) will, along with the senior staff, assign pages, set goals and coordinate all aspects of the production of the
senior edition. All pages must be proofed by SE.
Reflection Editorial Board Agenda
Editorial Board meetings will be held on a regular basis for the editors and advisor to plan upcoming issues of The Reflection, approve
letters to the Editor, assign editorial topics and discuss staff problems.
These meetings are mandatory for all EB members. These meetings will be at least monthly, and the time will be determined during the
first two weeks of school. Meeting may be during Seminar or before or after school. Staff may sit in on meetings provided they do not
interfere. There will be times when other staff may be present at these meetings. Failure to attend meetings or frequent tardiness may
result in removal from board at advisor’s discretion.
Editorial Board Meeting Agenda
1. Editor in Chiefs’ announcements and concerns.
2. Advisor’s announcements and concerns.
3. Discuss current production status
4. Decide on content, photos, graphics for paper.
A log will be kept for each board meeting as to date, time, what was covered and who attended by a junior editor.
Any votes taken on any issues should be included in the log.
Reflection Editorial Policy
1. The Reflection will publish a non-by lined staff editorial each month titled “Our Side” that is related to a current topic or news
story covered in the same or past issue. The subject will be determined through one of the following means: 1) the editorial staff
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
and with input from the entire Reflection staff at brainstorming session, 2) the editor in chief’s discretion, or 3) the editorial board
meeting.
By lined opinion articles are the exclusive opinion of the writer. By lined opinion articles are assigned by the editorial staff working
in conjunction with the adviser, and the adviser reserves the right to review opinion pieces before publication. In the event of a
dispute as to the topic, approach, length, or focus of an opinion piece, the adviser reserves the right to hold publication of such
article until such dispute is resolved.
The Reflection is an open forum for student expression and Letters to the Editor are encouraged. Letters to the Editor must be
signed although authorship may be withheld upon request and at the determination of the editorial staff. Letters may be edited for
length, grammar, spelling and/or content in order to adhere to accepted standards of practice (see “Ethical Standards”). Letters to
the Editor may not be accepted for publication within five days prior to publication deadline unless the requirement is waived by the
adviser, in which case it will appear in the next scheduled issue.
All elements of publication are subject to laws concerning slander and libel and must adhere to the ethical practices of the
Reflection for publication (see “Ethical Standards”).
Editorial cartoons must be signed by the creator and must be related to a news story or editorial published in the same issue. All
cartoons and illustrations are subject to laws concerning slander and libel and must adhere to the ethical practices of the Reflection
for publication (see “Ethical Standards”).
Writing, photographic, artistic and design contributions to the Reflection may be published with the approval of the adviser. Such
submissions will be attributed accordingly.
Reflection On-line Terms of Service Policy
TRADEMARK INFORMATION
The domain name of the site and the name of the newspaper and logos are trade names, trademarks and/or intellectual property of the
newspaper. Without prior permission of the newspaper, you agree not to display or use these in any manner. with out formal permission.
USER INFORMATION
The Reflection is an open forum and invites comments and letters to the editor. Libelous or disparaging comments will be. Any material
posted that infringes on copyright law will also be removed.
VIOLATIONS
Please report any violations of the terms of service to newspaper@gulllakecs.org attention to advisor or editor in chief.
Reflection Ethical Standards
Writing published in the Reflection will follow current laws governing publication of information, will reflect responsible journalistic
reporting standards and practices and will follow the following criteria:
1. News, sports and feature writing will reflect an unbiased point of view. Writing will include opposing points of view and will draw
from a variety of sources. Writers will avoid the following: interviewing friends, interviewing those with a specific point of view or
only students from a specific grade, getting even with individuals or programs with whom one may have a conflict or compromising
objectivity in the reporting of the truth. Although journalistic judgment must be used in determining size, placement and
newsworthiness of stories, these determinations will be made from an objective point of view.
2. Controversial matters, such as the school’s policies, may be the subject of editorials and will be written with a sense of good taste,
fairness and responsibility.
3. As with all journalists, students will not publish or disseminate material that according to current legal standards:
• Is obscene
• Is libelous
• Creates a clear danger
• Causes substantial physical disruption of school
• Is an invasion of privacy
• Advertises illegal products or services
4. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Claiming another’s work as one’s own, either deliberately or through omission is considered
plagiarism. Students must credit other people’s ideas and materials, including those published in newspapers, magazines and
books. Visuals or information downloaded from the internet requires attribution as well as permission from the author.
5. Anonymous sources will be used only at the discretion of the editorial staff working in conjunction with the adviser. Significant
consideration will be given to the importance of the topic and quote and to the possible consequences of publication as an
identified source. Anonymous sources should be considered only when necessary to protect the source from harm and when
information is not obtainable in any other manner.
6. Writing will avoid offensive or distasteful content as determined by the editorial staff working in conjunction with the adviser.
Although it is impossible to run any story without offending, insulting or displeasing someone, student journalists must strive to
keep the press open and accessible to a wide variety of views without stooping to gratuitous offense. Profanity is considered
beneath the writing caliber of the staff of the Reflection. Innuendo will not be tolerated. Source material that may be considered
offensive will be evaluated for newsworthiness by the editorial staff working in conjunction with the adviser.
7. The Reflection is committed to accuracy. All story elements, including quotes, statistics, photos and content should be verifiable
and precise. In the event of a misquote or other mistake in reporting accuracy, a correction will be published on the content page
in a timely manner.
17
8. Idle gossip of a harmful nature will not be published.
9. Staff will follow MIPA’s Code of Ethics.
The above Ethical Standards were compiled from “Principal’s Guide to High School Journalism” published by the Quill and Scroll, the
“Blue and White Manual” and current Gull Lake “Student Handbook.”
Social Media Policies
1. Don’t disparage the work of colleagues or competitors.
2. Don’t engage in any impolite dialogue with those who may challenge your work — no matter how rude or provocative they may
seem.
3. Base all comments posted in your role as a staff member in the facts, drawing from and citing your reporting when appropriate.
Reflection Administrative Policies
General administrative policies
1. The Reflection is guided by the staff adviser and directed by a student editorial board consisting of staff editors.
2. The Reflection is subject to laws governing publication of information, including slander and libel, and adheres to the rules of ethics
established.
3. The Reflection is responsible for costs of publication (printing and photography expenses, group membership fees, etc.) to be
budgeted in consideration of advertising revenue, donations and other revenue sources. Expenses are approved by the adviser.
4. Advertisements in the Reflection appear at the discretion of the editorial staff. If for any reason the editorial staff decides to pull an
advertisement, a refund for all non-published contracted issues will be made.
5. Advertisement sales are the responsibility of the Reflection staff and communication between the Reflection and advertisers is the
responsibility of the staff, primarily the business manager.
6. Members of the staff of the Reflection are selected at the discretion of the adviser and editors in chief after an application process.
Input of current EB board for next year’s staff is welcome.
7. Final grades are determined by the adviser, who may incorporate editor and/or staff input into this process.
Staff Complaint/Dispute Procedures
1. Concerns, problems and disputes should be respectfully directed to the appropriate editor who will attempt to correct the problem
or resolve the dispute through discussion with the affected parties.
2. If the editor determines that the situation requires further intervention, the editor will notify the adviser who will determine the
appropriate course of action.
3. If a staff problem is brought to the attention of the adviser directly without editor involvement, the adviser will first refer the staff
member to the appropriate editor for rectification.
4. If the problem is determined by the adviser to require further attention, the adviser will notify the appropriate members of
administration for further advisement.
Disciplinary Policies
1. Any staff action determined to require correction will be documented within a Student Performance Contract signed by the student,
adviser and parent. Examples of actions that may require documentation and correction include but are not limited to repeated
violation of classroom rules, missed deadlines, poor quality of work, problems in working and cooperating with fellow staff members
and/or adviser, and non-professional behavior within or outside of the classroom.
2. Course of disciplinary action may include reduction of grade, requested conference with parents and/or administrator, or in extreme
instances, removal from class with administration, guidance and parental approval.
3. On occasion, it may be determined by the adviser that a one-to-one conference is required to discuss or correct a problem.
These conferences may be conducted by the adviser or by a member of the editorial staff at the determination of the adviser.
Conferences may be held within the classroom or in a more removed setting (usually the hallway or business office.) Although
these conferences are verbal and are designed to redirect behavior before it requires documentation and further action, any
problem area, handled either verbally or in writing, may result in a reduced grade for the class.
Part Three: Questions and activities
Question directions: You may write in this manual but do not turn in the page from this manual with the answers on it.
Instead, answer each of the following questions on a separate piece of paper. You may hand write or type out your answers.
1.
2.
3.
4.
How should interviews be conducted?
What are some ways to check the accuracy of your information?
What makes the Reflection an open forum?
You are a section editor of the paper, and you have a reporter who has repeatedly been late with articles. What is the procedure you
follow to address this situation?
5. Now you’ve found out that this same reporter has made up numerous quotes in past articles that have been published. What do you
do? What should be the consequence for this reporter’s actions?
6. Someone has disagreed with your by-lined opinion article in the comments section. What do you do?
7. That same person has gone on to your Facebook account and continued the rant. What do you do?
18
PART FOUR: Putting It Together
Advertising
Tips for selling ads
1. Most often you will have to address the manager of a business when selling ads. Find out the full name of the store manager and
when he or she is usually in before going.
2. Make sure you have all the supplies you need to sell the ad before you go. Have the ad packet and two copies of the contract.
Have a pen and pencil and a note pad for rough sketches of ad. Be mindful to think ahead of what type of ad would be effective for
the advertiser you are soliciting. Find something out about the advertiser. They will be impressed you took the time to prepare in
advance.
3. Be polite. Dress appropriately. Shake hands when you introduce yourself and after you close the sale. Be sure to identify yourself
clearly, state your name and affiliation with the Reflection. Look the person in the eyes.
4. Support the Reflection.
5. Show enthusiasm.
6. Explain that the Reflection now online. Tell them we have over 1,000 students at our school. Remind them that parents and
community members will also look at the pages.
7. Stress the quality of student market information that the business editor shares with you. Write down in your notebook the results of
the Student Spending Survey.
8. Remind advertisers that our students aren’t just current customers; they are possible long-term customers.
9. Don’t ask, “Do you want to buy an ad?” First sell they idea that they need the ad, say instead, “I have an opportunity for you.” In
sales this is called, “creating desire.”
10. Explain pricing procedure and show examples of ads and their prices.
11. Tell them they can link their own web site to their ad.
12. Tell them they can check the hits to the page their ad is on using the Google Analytics.
13. Show them the more they buy, the less they cost.
14. If the advertiser blows you off, offer to return at a more convenient time. Remember to ask, “May I come back later?” Leave a copy
of the contract and ad info packet and your business card. Arrange a time to come back.
15. No matter what, never be rude. Always shake their hand and say thank you, even if they repeatedly reject you.
Ad Account Responsibilities
Every staff member is required to sell one ad for the Reflection. While the business manager is responsible for scheduling ads and
placing them on the pages, each staff member must abide by the guidelines below for maintaining their advertising accounts. Following
these rules will make the business manger’s job much easier and greatly reduce the risk of an advertising error.
Contracts must be filled out correctly. Incomplete contracts or those which are filled out incorrectly will not be accepted by the business
manager. The staff member will be given a reasonable amount of time to correct the problems. If after that time the contract is not
corrected, the student will lose that sale. Even if the sale is not made, you must keep track of the places you went on the ad contact
form. You should have all of the following information filled out on your contract forms:
1. Company name, address, phone number, fax number and email address
2. Contact person’s signature and name written legibly
3. Art work for ad or instructions as to how the business manager is to create the ad. If art work is to be emailed to business
manager, it is ultimately the person who sold the ad’s responsibility to check with the business manager to check if the art work has
been received, not other way around.
Follow these guidelines and you will retain your ad accounts:
1. Always copy the sales sheet and turn the original in to the business manager along with any payment. If it is to be billed, make sure
you check the appropriate box.
2. In case contacts are filled out over the phone, mail a copy of the contract to that advertiser.
3. Supply the business editor with any necessary ad material or file a full week before that ad is to be placed on the page. Points will
be deducted for failure to do so.
4. Get all the artwork for the ad. If the business editor must go to the business to finalize ad and get artwork, the credit for that ad is
forfeited.
5. Keep track of the ads that have not yet been confirmed. Most of the places you contact will say maybe. Some will say no. The
maybes can become sales. Before sales begin, the business manager will give each person a log. Fill this out and for each maybe
and no, get signature, contact name and phone number.
6. Listen and write down the date for confirmation on all sales. After that date, the business manager will call for your contact sheets
with your possible sales and turn downs. If one of the sales is finalized after that date by someone else, it is up to the business
manager and advisor’s digression who will receive credit for that sale.
Design tips
Headlines
19
1. Every story must have a headline and a sub headline.
2. Headlines should get smaller as you go down the page. Smaller stories get smaller headlines.
3. Never allow an art element to come between the headline and the start of a news story.
Photos
1. Directional photos should face the text of the story they accompany.
2. When in doubt, run one big photo instead of two small ones.
3. When running two or more photos, make one substantially larger than the competing photos.
4. No square photos.
5. All photos must have a credit and caption.
Writing help
Article writing:
1. Write in past tense.
2. Should have interesting, compelling lead.
3. Find the right angle.
4. Stick to the subject.
5. Dig deeper. Most stories in high school newspapers just gloss over the main points. Find the story within.
6. Vary word usage.
7. Vary sentence length. Remember the idea of contrast.
8. Use no bias in news, feature or sports other than in quotes. The only place for bias is on the opinion page.
9. Check and double check the spelling of names. Always use spell check.
10. Keep paragraphs short. This isn’t English class. One sentence can be a paragraph.
11. Use quotes and lots of them. Follow this formula. Lead, transition, quote, transition, quote, etc.
12. Quotes that state obvious should not be used.
13. Quotes that state facts should be used as for transition and paraphrased with attribution.
14. Avoid cute slang and clichés.
15. Describe what you see and hear. That is reporting too.
16. Don’t be afraid to use what you learned in English. Metaphors, similes, personification can all be used effectively in journalism.
Caption writing:
1. The first sentence of captions are written in present tense to show immediate action. Sentences after, are in past tense.
2. Identify all people from left to right.
3. Use class, first name, last name. In sports, use position, first name, last name.
4. Check and double check spelling and identity.
5. Identify the action taking place in the photo. Be specific. If it is a sports picture and you don’t understand the sport, have someone
who does understand explain and help you write the caption.
6. State when and where the action took place.
7. The best captions tell a story. If a person is just mugging the camera, lose the picture.
8. Never restate information from headline or article in a caption.
9. Use quotes in captions when at all possible.
10. If this is a historical photo, state it in the caption.
Headline writing:
1. Read the story. Headline should maintain the tone and content of the story.
2. Most headlines are in present tense.
3. It’s always a good idea to think of two key nouns from the story and use one of both of those. Nouns should be specific.
4. Don’t confuse a headline with a label or title. A headline is a complete sentence with a subject and a verb. Labels and titles are not
sentences.
5. Always use strong action verbs. Don’t use passive or helping verbs.
6. Avoid cliches in headlines unless you using it in a unique way.
7. Only first word and proper nouns are capitalized. Think sentence.
8. Use single quotes instead of double.
9. Use humorous headlines for humorous stories. Serious headlines for serious stories.
10. Don’t steal key lines from story.
11. Don’t use articles in the story (the, a, and). Drop the word “and” and substitute a comma.
12. Drop possessive apostrophes in headlines.
Brainstorming & critiquing
20
1. Every staff member takes direct participation in the brainstorming and critiquing session for articles. If a student refuses
to participate, the result will be removal from the class and/or reduction in grade. Staff members must also fill out a formal
brainstorming sheet and critique sheet.
2. For brainstorming, you will be invited through your school email account to the spread sheet in Googledocs. Enter your
brainstorming for each of the categories. Do not fill out the yellow sections--that is for the editor. You can not enter information after
the time it’s due. The editor or advisor must do that for you.
3. Participation for brainstorming begins as the editor show the spread sheet on the overhead. Each idea will be discussed as it is
presented. If the ideas is selected, the student who thought of the idea gets first choice to do that story.
4. You must fill out a sheet on your self-selected article and have it approved by the editors.
5. Story ideas must be new ideas and not covered recently. Do not use other student’s ideas. Be original. Students intentionally
copying others ideas will not receive points and will be formally reprimanded.
6. Each ideas for brainstorm MUST contain an angle to be presented. For example, don’t state homecoming dance. Instead a story
that follows a student’s first homecoming dance.
7. If your story idea came from something printed (newspaper, paper exchange, magazine, or other source), please bring it in with
your idea and your fresh angle.
8. The following are the sections that the staff may be asked to generate ideas for and general information about the section’s
content:
News: current events with local focus. No national news unless there is a clear local tie to this.
Feature: human interest articles with local spin.
Opinion: student opinion, may be local or school related
GL/DL: This is not part of brainstorming. It is main rotating section on the front page and highlights different types of stories
related to Gull Lake. These are selected by the editors.
Sports: no national sports, stick to local and school sporting events.
Entertainment: reviews of all kinds, what’s new, interesting in the world of entertainment.
Our Side: un-bylined editorial of staff’s opinion. Staff votes on topic.
*Devil Talk: Fun question, often related to an opinion article that appears on news page.
*Devil’s Mouth: serious question asked from random GLHS students, topic related to a topic of interest or a subject on feature
page.
*topics or questions for these are determined by editors or page editors. List may vary.
5. If no form is given, use the list above. Or a list of story categories will be provided in the front of the room. If this changes, the
editors will notify you.
6. If a form is provided, fill it out.
When writing, DON’T:
1. Use adverbs. Adverbs are evil. Used like Harlequin romantic fiction writers, the adverb destroys intelligent, concrete writing.
For example: “I’m just fine,” she seductively said, dreamily smiling languidly into his eyes, longingly wondering how she
could rapidly rope herself this very handsome cowboy.
HUGE HINTS: Adverbs often end with the letters ly. Other evil adverbs that I don’t want to see are as follows: very, really,
almost, much, more, many, often. My question to students who insist they use adverbs is this: why use an adverb when a
stronger verb or adjective works? (By the way there’s a contest every year where authors see who can write the worst bit of
fiction http://www.bulwer-lytton.com. Adverbs are their friends.)
2. Refuse to use the Associated Press stylebook rules dealing with numbers. One through nine= write it out. Ten and above, write as
number unless it’s the first word of the sentence. Exception: When the number is part of an adjective. Example: The 9-year-old boy
rode the pony (also note that this is hyphenated). If at all possible, don’t use a number to start a sentence. Hey, and that works with
ordinals, too. First, second, third are spelled out until 10th.
3. Separate verbs from nouns for no good reason.
4. Use the words Gull Lake High School or GLHS in your copy block or headline for no good reason. This morning coming in the
parking lot I noticed that this was Gull Lake High School. I don’t need to be reminded of that and our readers don’t need to be
reminded either.
5. Use exclamation points!!!!!!!! I don’t mean to be sexist, but women do this all the time!!!! Why?!!! Sociologists have thousands of
pages of research and theories as to why!!!! Want to know who wrote the story without looking at the by line?!!! Use exclamation
points!!!
6. Use a synonym for the word said for no good reason. The word said is good enough. It is simple. It is unbiased. Best of all, it falls
into the text, meaning it doesn’t register with the reader and allows the story to flow.
7. Write said John instead of John said. This isn’t Shakespeare. You wouldn’t write said he, would you?
8. Misuse commas. You don’t need one after the last item in a sequence. “The American flag is red, white and blue.” You do need
one to set off a clause at the beginning of a sentence: “While peering over the window, Doris saw her boyfriend kiss her sister.” You
don’t need one to set off a dependent clause at the end: “Doris saw her boyfriend kiss her sister while peering over the window.”
And you do need one for all independent clauses (those with subjects and verbs which can stand alone): “Doris was peering out
that window, and she saw her boyfriend kiss her sister.”
9. Put commas and periods after quotation marks. They go inside. Always. Unless you live in Great Britain. Then go for it.
10. Use passive tense for no good reason. That means don’t use any form of the word “be”: use “will attend” not “will be attending.”
And remember, always put the subject of the sentence first. If not, you’re using passive voice.
11. Be Abstract. Don’t tell me how the new teacher likes music. Tell me she enjoys Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the early Beatles.
21
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
17.
18.
19.
Start your story or copy block with the weather for no good reason.
Use John Lennon leads. Imagine? That’s fabrication. This is journalism, not creative writing.
End your story or copy block with words to the effect that this is going to be really fun/good/exciting year.
Start a sports article about the weather
Write about how the team worked well together as a team.
Think hooked on phonics is close enough. I’m not Mrs. Walking Dictionary either, but I know how to proof read, click spell check
and ask. “Hey, want to read over what I wrote for errors?”
Use “that” for a personal pronoun for a person. People are “who”—not “that.” Lawn chairs are that.
Write, “The band, squad, team or club will hold their meeting…” A club is singular and must take a singular pronoun—it.
The possessive pronoun its not their.
Write due to the fact that... or use other dead wood terms.
Use second person.
Use single quotation marks to emphasize words. The only place to use these is a quote within a quote. That’s a rule of grammar.
An as for using double quotation marks to make people “get” your point, don’t do it. Look at it this way, the people who are smart
enough to get the point got the point without any help. Those who need it to get the point might not get it anyway. So why offend a
smart person?
Part Four: Questions and activities
Question directions: You may write in this manual but do not turn in the page from this manual with the answers on it.
Instead, answer each of the following questions on a separate piece of paper. You may hand write or type out your answers.
1. You’re going out to sell ads. What are some steps you should take to prepare for a successful sale?
2. What are your responsibilities to for the ad contract?
3. What are some ways to avoid losing an account?
Activities:
1. Use the “Writing Copy” and “Don’t” section as a check list for your first article. Don’t forget to do the same for your headlines and
photo captions.
2. Read another peer’s article. Use that same sections to write a critique of that person’s article, headlines and captions. What did
they do right? Wrong?
PART FIVE: Reference Section
22
Beat Report checklist: You must do one duty per cycle or four duties per trimenster.
Staff Ed
Name of beat:
___ ___ Headline with specific noun and strong verb
Student name:
___ ___ Interesting angle with new coverage (not old news)
Date:
___ ___ Written in inverted pyramid Time:
___ ___ Has multiple sources
Editor’s signature______________
___ ___ Includes direct quotes, attributed correctly
___ ___ Names spelled correctly
**Attach this to your report***
___ ___ Spell checked
___ ___ Follows AP and Reflection style guide
Beat Report checklist
Staff Ed
___ ___ Headline with specific noun and strong verb
___ ___ Interesting angle with new coverage (not old news)
___ ___ Written in inverted pyramid ___ ___ Has multiple sources
___ ___ Includes direct quotes, attributed correctly
___ ___ Names spelled correctly
___ ___ Spell checked
___ ___ Follows AP and Reflection style guide
Beat Report checklist
Staff Ed
___ ___ Headline with specific noun and strong verb
___ ___ Interesting angle with new coverage (not old news)
___ ___ Written in inverted pyramid ___ ___ Has multiple sources
___ ___ Includes direct quotes, attributed correctly
___ ___ Names spelled correctly
___ ___ Spell checked
___ ___ Follows AP and Reflection style guide
Beat Report checklist
Staff Ed
___ ___ Headline with specific noun and strong verb
___ ___ Interesting angle with new coverage (not old news)
___ ___ Written in inverted pyramid ___ ___ Has multiple sources
___ ___ Includes direct quotes, attributed correctly
___ ___ Names spelled correctly
___ ___ Spell checked
___ ___ Follows AP and Reflection style guide
Name of beat:
Student name:
Date:
Time:
Editor’s signature______________
**Attach this to your report***
Name of beat:
Student name:
Date:
Time:
Editor’s signature______________
**Attach this to your report***
Name of beat:
Student name:
Date:
Time:
Editor’s signature______________
**Attach this to your report***
23
-DUTIES-
QUICK UPDATE
Date:
JV football
summary or
quality picture with
caption including
score
QUICK UPDATE
Date:
Varsity football
summary or
quality picture with
caption including
score
QUICK UPDATE
Date:
Other Varsity girls’
sport __________
____
summary or
quality picture with
caption including
score.
QUICK UPDATE
Date:
Other Varsity boys’
sport
_______________
summary or quality
picture with caption
including score
QUICK UPDATE
Date:
Other JV girls’ or
boys’ sport
_______________
summary or
quality picture with
caption including
score
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
QUICK UPDATE
Extra curricular
activity summary
______________
summary or quality
picture with title
and caption 35-50
words
QUICK UPDATE
Extra curricular
activity summary
______________
summary or quality
picture with title
and caption 35-50
words
QUICK UPDATE
Extra curricular
activity summary
______________
summary or quality
picture with title
and caption 35-50
words
QUICK UPDATE
Extra curricular
activity summary
______________
summary or quality
picture with title and
caption 35-50 words
QUICK UPDATE
Extra curricular
activity summary
______________
summary or quality
picture with title
and caption 35-50
words
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
**Ad sale
Update morgue
Update leper list
Must be actual sale
­­NAME:
NAME:
Create poll with
graphic/photo and
instructions on a
current topic to
go on site FOR
ENTERTAINMENT
Create poll with
graphic/photo and
instructions on a
current topic to go
on site FOR GLDL/Feature
Name:
Name:
**Delete tmp files,
run scan disk and
defrag computers
**Run virus scan
on computers
**Promotion of
website/Reflection
(you come up with
idea, implement
and check success)
**Get permission
**Research a
current law case
for promotional
material for
and present to class
during first five
musicians, actors,
authors images for minutes.
press releases.
Company:
Name:
** more than one student may do this duty.
Must have Mrs.
Jolin log on to
computer and must
be done after school.
Must have Mrs.
Jolin log on to
computer and
must be done after
school.
Staff members who fail to pick up supplies, abuse hall pass privileges or do homework in class will have duty
grade reduce!
All Quick Updates must be approved by editors.
24
Duty Sheet
Name: Describe what you did and when:
Date: Time:
Date: Time:
Date: Time:
Date: Time:
Attach quick update if you did one or hard copy of poll
Duty Sheet
Name: Describe what you did and when:
Attach quick update if you did one or hard copy of poll
Duty Sheet
Name: Describe what you did and when:
Attach quick update if you did one or hard copy of poll
Duty Sheet
Name: Describe what you did and when:
Attach quick update if you did one or hard copy of poll
25
Self-selected article
Section:
Article topic:
Angle:
Idea for package:
Info graph, poll, photo or side bar idea:
Self-selected article
Section:
Article topic:
Angle:
Idea for package:
Info graph, poll, photo or side bar idea:
Self-selected article
26
Section:
Article topic:
Angle:
Idea for package:
Info graph, poll, photo or side bar idea:
Name:
Date:
Name:
Date:
Name:
Date:
27
Quick AP Style guide rules
Numbers
• Spell out the numbers one through nine; for 10 and up, use Arabic numerals.
• For ages and percentages, always use Arabic numerals, even for numbers less than 10.
• Spell out numerals that start a sentence; if the result is awkward, recast the sentence: Twenty-seven detainees were released yesterday. Yesterday, 993 freshmen entered the college.
• The one exception to this rule is in a sentence that begins with a calendar year: 1938 was a turbulent year
for Leon.
• Use Roman numerals for wars, monarchs and Popes: World War II, King George VI, Pope John XXIII
• The figures 1, 2, 10, 101, and so on and the corresponding words — one, two, ten, one hundred one and so
on — are called cardinal numbers. The terms 1st, 2nd, 10th, 101st, first, second, tenth, one hundred first and
so on are called ordinal numbers.
• For large numbers: use a hyphen to connect a word ending in y to another word: twenty-one, one hundred
forty-three, seventy-six thousand five hundred eighty-seven
• Do not use commas between other separate words that are part of one number: one thousand one hundred
fifty-five
• Spell out casual expressions: A thousand times no!
• Proper names: use words or numerals according to an organization’s practice: 3M, Twentieth Century Fund,
Big Ten
• Avoid unnecessary ciphers. Use $1, not $1.00; 1 p.m., not 1:00 p.m.
• Fractions standing alone are spelled out. One-fourth of the students
Sports scores
• Use an Arabic number exclusively, placing hyphens between them. 16-2, 8-7
• Use a comma in this format: Gull Lake 6, Comstock 5
•
Percentages
• Use a numeral and use the word “percent,” not the symbol %. Example: The raise will be 5 percent
• Percent is one word, not two.
• Make sure your percentages add up to 100 percent whenever appropriate, such as in stories about political
polls.
Dates
• Always use Arabic figures, without st,nd,rd or th.
• Capitalize months.
• When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. (e.g.
Oct. 4 was the day of her birthday.)
• When a phrase lists only a month and year, do not separate the month and the year with commas. (e.g. February 1980 was his best month.)
• When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas. (e.g. Aug. 20, 1964, was the
day they had all been waiting for.)
Time
• Use figures except for noon and midnight
• Use a colon to separate hours from minutes (e.g. 2:30 a.m.)
• 4 o’clock is acceptable, but time listings with a.m. or p.m. are preferred
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Punctuation
apostrophe (‘)
• For plural nouns ending ins, add only an apostrophe:the girls’ toys, states’ rights.
• For singular common nouns ending ins, add’s: the hostess’s invitation, the witness’s answer.
• For singular proper names ending ins, use only an apostrophe: Descartes’ theories, Kansas’ schools.
• For singular proper names ending in sounds such as x, ce,and z,use ‘s: Marx’s theories, the prince’s life.
• For plurals of a single letter, add’s: Mind your p’s and q’s, the Red Sox defeated the Oakland A’s.
• Do not use ‘sfor plurals of numbers, or multiple letter combinations: the 1980s, RBIs
• Headlines: no apostrophe
colon (:)
• Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a
• complete sentence: He promised this: The company will make good all the losses. There were three considerations: expense, time and feasibility.
• Colons go outside quotation marks unless they are part of the quoted material.
comma (,)
• Do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: John, Paul, George and Ringo; red, white and
blue.
• Use a comma to set off a person’s hometown and age: Jane Doe, Framingham, was absent. Joe Blow, 34,
was arrested yesterday.
dash (--)
• Make a dash by striking the hyphen key twice. Put a space on either side of the dash: Smith offered a plan
— it was unprecedented — to raise revenues.
• Use a dash after a dateline: SOMERVILLE — The city is broke.
Hyphen (-)
• Use a hyphen for compound adjectives before the noun: well-known actor, full-time job, 20-year sentence,
10-year-old boy
• Do not use a hyphen when the compound modifier occurs after the verb: The actor was well known. Her job
became full time. He was sentenced to 20 years.
• Do not use a hyphen to denote an abrupt change in a sentence—use a dash.
Parentheses
• The perceived need for parentheses is an indication that your sentence is becoming contorted. Try to rewrite
the sentence, putting the incidental information in commas, dashes or in another sentence. If you do use
parentheses, follow these guidelines:
• If the material is inside a sentence, place the period outside the parentheses.
• If the parenthetical statement is a complete independent sentence, place the period inside the parentheses.
Period
•
Use a single space after the period at the end of a sentence.
•
Do not put a space between initials: C.S. Lewis; G.K. Chesterton.
Quotation marks (“ ”)
• In dialogue, each person’s words are placed in a separate paragraph, with quotation marks at the beginning
and end of each person’s speech.
• Periods and commas always go within quotation marks.
• Dashes, semicolons, question marks and exclamation points go within the quotation marks when they apply
to the quoted material. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.
• Use single marks for quotes within quotes: She said, “He told me, ‘I love you.’”
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