Get out your 2009 AP Stylebook, Post-It notes and a pen and get ready for a short bootcamp by Barbara Nixon. Learn what the five most important things to know about AP Style are, and even get a bonus at the end. Flag your book as you go along, pausing the Prezi below when you need to.
Want a PDF of the 5 Things and their page numbers that I refer to in the video? Here you go:
[Updated from a blog post from April 2009]
In the public relations courses that I’ve taught over the years, it seems as though one of the biggest struggles for the students is writing using Associated Press style.
Why is learning AP style so important? PR practitioner Sandra Hernandez offers this:
PR writers really need to know the things that make them effective. I learned to write in AP in college, because it was necessary to pass the class. I continued to write in AP because I found that what I send to media had a better response rate when written in AP.
To help students learn more about AP style, I sought feedback from a variety of public relations practitioners and faculty members, trying to come up with a list of what PR writers REALLY need to know (cold, without even looking in the AP Stylebook) about AP style.
The most helpful advice came from colleagues on PR OpenMic, a social network for PR students, faculty and practitioners. (See the individual responses I received in the PR OpenMic PR Writing Discussion Forum.) Additional helpful advice came from colleagues on Twitter, including Kristie Aylett and Claire Celsi.
The most important (and sometimes confusing) parts of AP Style for PR writers are:
Now you have choices about how to access the AP Stylebook. You can purchase a hardcopy of the book, buy an online subscription to it, or download the app from iTunes for use in your iPhone or iTouch.
Many PR writers can also benefit from brushing up on standard grammar. My favorite site for general grammar advice is Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl. Consider subscribing to Grammar Girl’s podcast through iTunes.
Additionally, I found several websites that help my students with AP Style see my Delicious bookmarks on AP style and other posts here that I’ve categorized with AP Style Bootcamp.
So, PR pros and journalists, what would you add? What can help PR students understand what they REALLY need to know about AP style?
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Tonight on Twitter, I saw a tweet from Milton Ramirez that pointed me to this presentation by Arun Basil Lal. Arun has some great tips here on writing good blog posts. The most useful information specifically about writing starts on slide 11.
It’s worth reading. Soon.
For students in my PRCA 3030, PRCA 3330, COMM 2322 and COMM 4333 classes.
NOTE: The Topics of the Week need to be at least 300 words each, not 250 as I inadvertently mentioned in the video.
Though I do agree that there’s no such thing as a “dumb question,” I feel the need to briefly get up on my soapbox this morning. I promise I won’t be up there too long.
Students this semester, especially but not exclusively those in my online classes, are asking questions. That’s a good thing. It means they’re engaging.
However, they are questions that would be easily answered without asking me directly if they’d do two simple things before asking:
In at least 75% of the cases (and I really am tracking it this semester), the questions that they’re asking have already been addressed. Clarification questions? I welcome those. But basic questions like “how do I know what I’m supposed to include in my blog?” Those are a horse of a different color.
There. Now I can step off my soapbox and get back to helping my students become independent learners.
(NOTE: Ever wonder where the expression “on a soapbox” came from? Wikipedia to the rescue.)
Cross-posted from my Becoming Learner Centered blog.
Blogging is like gardening. Though it may be easy to start a blog, you must nurture (“feed” and “water”) it often for it to flourish. (Many thanks to Michael Willits for help with the analogy!)
If you are in one of my public relations classes this semester, please complete the appropriate checklist to see if your blog meets the expectations for the end of January:
These checklists are designed to help you. I will start reviewing your blogs late this weekend.
Questions? As always,
Take about an hour and watch “Twitter for Business,” a webinar led by Laura Fitton (author of Twitter for Dummies.) This webinar is part of Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing University, a series of 16 talks by people prominent in the social media space.
The slides from the presentation are below, in case you want to see them before you listen to the webinar; the slides are shown along with the audio in the webinar, however. (This means, if you want the audio, you’ll need to listen to the webinar, not just click through the slides below.)
Want to see what my PRCA 3330 (PR Writing) students at Georgia Southern University are blogging? They’ve been assigned to create & maintain a blog using these guidelines. Most of them just started with their blogs this week; content will be added throughout the semester, so if there’s not much there yet, just wait . . . there will be plenty in a few weeks!
If I was paid a dollar this semester for every time I heard/read a student say this, I’d be rich. Well, at least I’d have enough for daily Starbucks.
It’s so confusing having an online class! I can’t ever remember when things are due…
Here’s my suggestion.
Create a Google Calendar for yourself. (Here’s how.) Your Google Calendar is available from any computer, and it can automatically synchronize with many popular smart phones (like the iPhone, BlackBerry or Palm Pre) — which means that you’ll have the ability to know when things are due no matter where you are, 24/7.
For my classes, look in BlackBoard/GeorgiaVIEW for deadlines for:
Look here on my blog for blogging guidelines and descriptions of when your blog posts are due. These vary by class. And remember to include your TOWs (Topics of the Week) for those classes that include them as part of the assignment (all but PRCA 3711/4711 and FYE 1220); TOWs are due Saturdays at midnight.
Create a calendar entry in your Google Calendar for each item that is due. Set interim deadlines for yourself for larger projects. You can tell Google Calendar to send you a reminder about any deadline you choose.
And that’s all there is to it. At least, except for the “completing the assignments” part.
Hope you found this helpful.
(NOTE: If you have another calendar method you prefer, and it already works well for you, USE IT. No need to switch. But if you’re having trouble staying on top of your classes, try this method. It’s how I keep myself organized.)
We’ve now (almost) finished Week Two of my online courses at Georgia Southern University. On a daily basis, I am receiving e-mails from students saying they’re confused about what to do and when. I know that taking online classes is new for most of you. So here are some tips that should help clarify things:
The main reason I have everything here in one blog is that I have many students who are in multiple classes with me. It makes sense to centralize the information so no one needs to remember where to go to find their information. As long as you remember to click on the Category of your class, you should find my blog easy to navigate. And who knows, you may even learn something be reading about what is going on in other classes.
