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Preface | |
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The Copy Editor's Role | |
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How we got here | |
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The importance of good copy editing | |
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The duties of a copy editor | |
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The characteristics of a good copy editor | |
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The copy desk in a modern newsroom | |
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The editing process | |
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News story | |
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Brochures | |
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Professional perspective: Sharon Bibb: Looking to the future | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Using Correct Grammar and Punctuation | |
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Parts of speech | |
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Sentence structure | |
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Common pitfalls in grammar and usage | |
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Subject and verb agreement | |
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Professional perspective: Edgar Miller: Rule or myth? | |
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Noun and pronoun agreement | |
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Reflexive and intensive pronouns | |
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Pronoun case | |
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Essential and nonessential clauses | |
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Possessive nouns | |
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Sequence of tenses | |
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Irregular verb forms | |
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Subjunctive mood | |
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Misplaced and dangling modifiers | |
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Double negatives | |
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Parallel construction | |
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Punctuation | |
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Editing with computers | |
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Traditional copy editing symbols | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Consistent Style and Correct Words | |
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Consistent style for carefully edited publications | |
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Associated Press style | |
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Numerals | |
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Abbreviations | |
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Capitalization | |
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Time | |
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Cities and datelines | |
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Other style issues | |
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Correct word usage | |
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Common spelling errors | |
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Professional perspective: Poynter Institute faculty: Spelling tips | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Editing Stories | |
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Editing leads | |
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Including essential information | |
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Accuracy in numbers | |
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Reporting survey results | |
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Accuracy in word usage | |
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Eliminating redundancies | |
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Editing story structure | |
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Using transitions | |
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Handling quotations | |
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Shortening stories | |
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Estimating story length | |
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Editing with precision | |
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Editing news-service copy | |
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Primary news services | |
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Supplemental services | |
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Handling copy | |
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The wire editor's job | |
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The first edition | |
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The story conference | |
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During and after the crunch | |
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Editing for the Web | |
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Keep it short | |
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Make it skimmable | |
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Link it | |
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Professional perspective: Matthew Lee: Online editing | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Checking Facts | |
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Reliability of reference sources | |
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Indexes | |
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Internet search tools | |
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Search and meta search engines | |
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Lists | |
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Professional associations, foundations, institutes | |
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Internet discussion groups | |
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Usenet newsgroups | |
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Commercial electronic databases | |
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Standard reference works | |
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Biographical information | |
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Book reviews | |
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Current events sources | |
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Factual data and statistics | |
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Directories of newspapers and magazines | |
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Dictionaries and manuals of language and style | |
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Business and advertising information | |
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Broadcasting and film | |
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Government, politics and law | |
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Health and medical information | |
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Maps and geographic information | |
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Quotations | |
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Religion | |
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Science | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Legal Concerns | |
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Prior restraint | |
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Competing personal interests | |
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Professional perspective: Mary Kay Martire: Legal advice for copy editors | |
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Libel | |
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Plaintiff's burden of proof | |
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Defenses against libel | |
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Privacy | |
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Copyright | |
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Trademarks | |
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College press rights | |
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Techniques for avoiding lawsuits | |
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Cost of a lawsuit | |
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Complaints from the public | |
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Prepublication cautions at the newsgathering stage | |
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Prepublication cautions at the copy desk | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Editing and Ethics | |
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How to decide questions of ethics | |
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What is ethics? | |
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Philosophical principles | |
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How to use the Potter box | |
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Codes of ethics | |
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Editing with good taste and sensitivity | |
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Situational ethics | |
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Press response to criticism | |
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Ethics in the 21st century | |
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Professional perspective: Jeanette Chavez: Essential ethics | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Typography | |
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Type sizes | |
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Type widths | |
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Type styles | |
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Type weights | |
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Type families | |
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Legibility | |
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Web typography | |
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Professional perspective: Joe Gillespie: Typography as performance | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Writing Headlines | |
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Purposes of news headlines | |
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Characteristics of good headlines | |
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How to write headlines | |
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Professional perspective: Peter Bhatia: Cliches are not my cup of tea | |
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Guidelines for writing news headlines | |
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Ambiguous and confusing headlines | |
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Examples of good headlines | |
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Press release headlines | |
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Professional perspective: Peter Bhatia: The power of headlines | |
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Feature story headlines | |
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Web page headlines | |
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Magazine titles | |
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Headline punctuation | |
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Headline capitalization | |
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Headline counting | |
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Counting manually | |
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Counting with computer software | |
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Placement of headlines | |
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Headline alignment | |
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Headline styles | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Editing Pictures and Infographics | |
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Better visuals through teamwork | |
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Professional perspective: Steve Dorsey: On design | |
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Selecting pictures | |
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Preparing photographs for publication | |
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Handling photographs | |
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Cropping | |
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Scaling | |
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Digital images | |
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Editing informational graphics | |
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Advice for graphic artists | |
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Role of the copy editor | |
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Professional perspective: Lynne Perri: Communicating visually | |
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Editing captions | |
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Picture stories | |
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Caption styles | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Design and Layout | |
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Design principles | |
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Balance | |
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Contrast | |
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Proportion | |
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Unity | |
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Design elements | |
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Body type | |
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Display type | |
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Borders | |
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Open space | |
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Art | |
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Color | |
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Forms of layout | |
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Newspaper layout | |
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Basic guidelines | |
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Dummying Page One | |
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Dummying inside pages | |
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Pagination | |
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Newsletter layout | |
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Production considerations | |
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Magazine layout | |
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Formats | |
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Basic guidelines for magazine layout | |
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Web layout and design | |
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Mapping a Web site | |
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Helping readers navigate a site | |
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Editing pages within a site | |
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Professional perspective: Diane Carmony: Design and content | |
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Suggestions for Additional Reading | |
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Exercises | |
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Frequently Misused Words | |
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Index | |