Archive for February, 2010

Or, in N.C. State’s case, J-minor sticking points.

I was a public relations major in college. It was a great program, and many hours of strategy, tactics, case studies and theory went into my 1′ by 1′ paper diploma – which, sadly, has sat enclosed in its beautiful frame in my closet since graduation day.

However, the best classes I took in school were my journalism courses. For all of my classes, I had one teacher. He was old-school, tough, honest, a little rough around the edges and one of the best mentors I had in school. He hammered things into my brain that, to this day, I still can’t shake – and he helped me secure my first internship at a professional news weekly.

Before starting the PR curriculum, I had grand ideas of following in my grandfather’s shoes and working in a newspaper or magazine features department. I traded that in for a lifetime worth of press releases (you’re welcome, Dad!), but the experience I’ve had on the publishing side has been invaluable. (And exciting.) In fact, I remember when I first told my j-class professor I had decided to go into PR, he called it the “dark side.” I’m not sure I’d want to know what he’d think of social media.

More than any other teacher or class, however, I remember – and use – what he taught me daily. Never settle for anything less than a killer lede. Use as few words as possible. Make the AP Stylebook your writing Bible. And, for any math people out there: Clean copy > Clean house. (Although, usually my roommates could care less the blog post I just turned in on deadline was cleaner than our dishes right now.)

Here are the things he never let slide in terms of grammar that, in turn, now neither do I:

• The pointed “the” – I’ve never heard it referred to this way anywhere else, but it was his way of saying that most of the time, there’s no need for the word “the” when referring to a noun.

• The superfluous “that” – Most of the time, copy has to be squeezed to fit. Not just in the newspaper world, but in press releases, Web copy and even speeches. Ninety-eight percent of the time, he told us, the word “that” isn’t necessary. Every time I edit my work, I’ll find at least two or three in my copy that serve no purpose. (BTW, that last sentence falls into the other 2 percent. Oh, and the sentence before this one.) Kris Cramer agrees.

• Number error – Oh, number error. He would give us quizzes over and over on IMB and its picnics or the Wolfpack and its season opener. He’d even give us extra credit for bringing in articles that used it incorrectly – I think I brought in one Vogue article that credited Gucci and their fall fashion line.

He didn’t teach me everything, of course, which is why I have a running list taped to my desk of my most common mistakes. (Note to self: Corporation is shortened to Corp.) But I think he might be glad to know his classes made me a better writer – even if it is for the dark side.

What AP style/grammar rules are you a stickler about? What class(es) or professors impacted you the most after graduation?