Who Do You Work For???

What are the proper terms to use when referencing ourselves, programs or offices in any media references? I’ve made it easy with multiple-choice questions, which are always the easiest.

  1. Who do you work for (just using White County as example):
  2. White County Extension Service
  3. Extension in White County
  4. Texas A&M University’s Extension program
  5. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in White County
  1. Your title, if you are an agent in White County, is:
  2. Jane Doe, White County Extension family and consumer sciences agent
  3. Jane Doe, White County AgriLife Extension family and consumer sciences agent
  4. Jane Doe, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service family and consumer sciences agent in White County
  5. Jane Doe, Texas AgriLife Extension family and consumer sciences agent in White County
  1. The collection of 4-H clubs in White County (or any county) are referred to as:
  2. White County 4-H clubs
  3. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s 4-H program in White County
  4. 4-H-White County
  5. Extension 4-H clubs
  1. The place where you work should be referred to as:
  2. Extension office-White County
  3. White County Extension office
  4. White County AgriLife Extension office
  5. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office in White County
  1. The place where meetings are held in Amarillo (district office) is:
  2. Texas Agricultural Research and Extension Center
  3. Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center-Amarillo
  4. The district Extension office
  5. Texas A&M University Research and Extension Center

Hopefully, you will know by the end of this exercise that you, your office and all your programs are a part of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and should be referred to in that way in all first-reference cases. AgriLife Extension can be used as a shortened version on second reference. Not Extension and not the County name.

Kay Ledbetter

Ag Communications specialist

Amarillo, Vernon

Contact Info:

806-677-5608 work

806-683-2736 cell

Stories:

Pictures:

You Tube:

All the stories, pictures and videos are there for your use as you see fit, as long as you attribute properly. Please take advantage of them.

I am here to help whenever you need a news release either written or proofed or distributed. If I am to distribute, I will make sure that it is in proper AP style before sending it out.

STORY GUIDELINE

Dec. 27, 2012(DATE – No logo, no excess address, etc.)
Grain elevator workshop scheduled for Jan. 26 in Amarillo (Simple headline, lowercase except for proper nouns)
Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, (contact style, no parenthesis in phone numbers)
Contact: Dr. Ed Bynum, 806-677-5600,
AMARILLO (dateline, all caps)– The Texas High Plains Grain Elevator Workshop (What is generally most important, not who)will be Jan. 26 at the Ashmore Inn and Suites, 2301 Interstate 40 East, Exit 72-A, in Amarillo, (date followed by location)according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist. (attribution, full name of agency on first reference)
The meeting is set for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.,(note style of time) said Dr. Ed Bynum, (name your source – often it will be you, but attribute it to someone) AgriLife Extension (proper naming on second reference) entomologist in Amarillo. A registration fee of $40 may be paid in advance or at the door. (May want to leave this off if you have problems with getting it run in the paper)
Early registration is requested by Jan. 20. Checks and a registration form should be mailed to Ronda Fisher, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, 6500 Amarillo Blvd. W., Amarillo, Texas 79106. Make checks payable to: Tri-State Chapter of GEAPS.
For a registration form, go to: . (Always double-check to make sure link works)
Program topics and speakers include: (use dashes for lists, along with periods. Make sure you fully identify speakers if you name with location)
-- Update of Grain Storage, Safety and Fumigation, Carol Jones, Oklahoma State University agricultural engineering, Stillwater, Okla.
-- Static Storage Fumigation, Dick Bigler, Amarillo.
-- Review of Environmental Protection Agency Worker Protection Standards and Requirements, Glen Walkup, Compliance Plus, Amarillo.
Continuing education units by the Texas Department of Agriculture for commercial, non-commercial and private applicator licensees are pending at this time, Bynum said. (If you know, say how many and in what subjects – spell out CEU)
This program is jointly sponsored by AgriLife Extension and the Tri-State Chapter of Grain Elevator and Processing Society. For more information, contact Bynum, 806-677-5600, or Eric Kelley, president of the Tri-State Chapter,at 806-622-1639.
-30- (signals end of story)

Developing a Strong Writing Style

When you're writing your newsletter, or any other document, content and style are equallyimportant. That is— what you say is just as important as how you say it.
Strong writing is:

Concise: Keep it simple. Use words your audience will understand, short sentences and paragraphs.A good rule of thumb is to limit sentences to about 15 words, and limit paragraphs to 3 sentences each. Learn to say a lot with a few words. Regardless of their reading level, people are most comfortable with fairly simple writing.

Complete: Have you included everything your reader needs to know to get the whole picture? Think about the subject from the readers' perspective—in most cases, they know less than you do.

Clear: Follow the rules of good writing to avoid mistakes in spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation and meaning.

Constructive: In Extension writing, we give people practical information they can use. We don't dwell on the negative aspects of a problem; we tell people what they can do to solve it.

Strong writing means creating a finished product without "snags" to get in the reader's way. Snags in writing are those problems that make the reader hesitate, or have to back up and read it again to figure things out. And there's nothing mysterious about good writing. Anyone who tries can become a better writer, through practice and revision.

AP Style
AP Style refers to the technical things about grammar, spelling, punctuation and other aspects of writing that make a big difference in how well your writing is received. Mechanical mistakes damage the credibility of your information by making it appear carelessly or hastily put together. Mechanical correctness, on the other hand, makes your information trustworthy, believable and is helpful to newspaper personnel with limited time and staff.

Time

Use numerals (figures, not words) except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, such as 10 a.m., 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m. Use periods and lower-case letters with a.m. and p.m. (not AM or P.M.). You state the time to be exact, so don't add redundancies: 9 a.m., Jan. 25. The accepted sequence is Time, Date and then Place when advancing an event.

Months and Years

Capitalize the names of months. When a month is used with a specific date, you can abbreviate it (Jan., Feb.) Spell the month out when using it alone. (Example: The food show is set for March.)When a phrase lists only a month and a year, don't separate the year with commas. But if there is a month, a day and a year, use the commas. Examples:

January 1998 was the wettest month on record.

May 15, 1999 is the deadline for entries.

Capitalization

In general, try to avoid unnecessary capitals. Proper nouns and proper names are, of course, capitalized. One of the problem areas is what to do with titles. The rule is to capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name (President John Doe). A title should be in lower case when it is used alone or is set off from a name by commas.

Examples:

President Mary Smith attended the national board meeting.

Mary Smith, president, attended the national board meeting.

Texas A&MAgriLife Extension Service is a proper name, so it is capitalized. While we always capitalize Extension in any usage, including titles, a newspaper editor would follow the AP Stylebook and put Extension in lower case. (Example: The county extension agent will lead the workshop.)

Acronyms

Don't overuse acronyms. Spell out the proper name the first time you use it. On second and later references you can use the acronym. If it won't create confusion in meaning, you can also use a shortened version of the name. (Example: The association awarded Jones its highest honor.)

Numbers

Spell out whole numbers below 10. Use figures for 10 and above. (Examples: You have three days to enter the contest. He has two goats and 25 head of cattle.) Spell out "first" through "ninth" when they indicate sequence in time or location. (Examples: first grade, third place.) As a general rule, a number beginning a sentence is written out. (Example: Five hundred people came.) Try not to begin a sentence with 4-H. If you must, keep it as is. (Examples: 4-H offers great activities.)

Dollars

Don't capitalize "dollars" unless it occurs at the beginning of a sentence. Use figures and the $ sign. (Example: The entry fee is $5.) The form for amounts less than $1 million is: $2; $25; $750; $1,000; $870,000.

Spelling

‘Almost’ is never good enough when it comes to spelling. Always have a good dictionary handy, and use it. The spell-check feature of your word-processing program is a useful preliminary tool, but it cannot substitute for careful proofreading and using the dictionary.

Grammar

Grammar refers to the way words are combined to create sentences. Making sure that all the parts fit together in a way that makes sense is an important part of the writing process. Here are a few common problems to look out for.

Noun-verb agreement.Make sure that your nouns and verbs agree in number. For example, if you have a plural noun in the subject of your sentence, the verb must also be plural.

Other Helpful Hints from AP:

  • When typing out an address in a story, both Farm-to-Market and Texas spelled out, i.e. 1102 E. Farm-to-Market Road 1294, Lubbock, Texas.
  • Figures, numerals, dimensions (7-year-old boy; three years ago; 1 percent; third grade; size 9; 6-by-8-foot rug; 5 ounces; 68,000-square-foot facility...)
  • When referring to a time span, use a dash to separate the two, i.e. 2-5 p.m. is preferred.
  • Use "that" for a thing, "who" for the personal pronoun, although "that" also fits some human references.
  • AP doesn't use italics in news stories. That includes newspaper names and magazine references. No italics.
  • AP uses dashes, not bullets, for lists in news stories that follow a colon. After each dash, capitalize the first letter and use periods at the end of each section.
  • In a simple series, AP doesn't use a comma before the last item. For a series of complex terms, though, use commas after each for clarity.i.e. They sold cookies, cakes and pies.
  • Eight states are never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.

Editing and Proofreading Your Own Writing
Effective editing is one key to good writing. But writing well isn't always easy, and editing your own writing can be even harder. Here are step-by-step suggestions to help improve your writing.

General Editing Suggestions

■After you finish your writing task, put it aside for 24 hours before looking at it again. You'll view it with a fresh perspective.

■Be completely brutal with your first draft. Nothing should satisfy you. Delete. Substitute. Rearrange. Insert.

■Be especially critical of the first few and last few paragraphs.

■Read aloud for content and style. The ear detects errors better than the eye. Better still, have someone else read it aloud to you—places that make your oral reader stumble will make your audience stumble, too.

■Keep a list of errors to help you improve.

Editing for Content

■Is your purpose clear? Or will readers have to wade through six or eight paragraphs before understanding why you wrote the item? Get to the point right away.

■Have you stuck with the main subject and eliminated unrelated ideas?

■Did you leave out major points that could help readers understand?

■Are your supporting details adequate?

■Did you include too many details? Are your sentences and paragraphs weighted down with more facts than your readers need—or want—to know?

■Is your organization easy to follow? Did you move from beginning to end in a logical way? Or does your copy ramble?

■Does your copy answer the question, "So what?" In other words, do you tell readers why the piece is worth reading?

Know Your Audience

Before you begin to write your newsletter, take a few minutes to think about your readers. Ask yourself these questions. Make notes of your answers—writing your answers will help you focus your thoughts and will provide a good reference for the next time you write for this audience.

Who are the readers of your newsletter?

What is their educational background?

How do they get most of their information—books, magazines, radio, television?

What are their social and economic levels?

What are their interests, attitudes and beliefs?

What will they need to learn from your newsletter?

Are they already aware of this information, seeking to learn more, evaluating these ideas compared to others, trying out the idea or already committed to using it?

Why will they read your newsletter?

How do you hope they will respond?

A very important factor that will help you reach any audience you write for is readability, which is discussed in detail in the next section.

Can you read this?

Aoccirdng to rsreeach at CadmrbigeUstvieriny, it deson'tmatetr in wahtoedrr the lterets in a wrod are, the olnyiemorptnttinhg is that the fsrit and last letter msut be at the rgihtpalce. The rest can be a ttoalmses and you can siltl read it wtuhoitploberm. Tihs is bseauce the hmuanmnid does not read evreyletetr by itlsef, but the word as a wlhoe.

EDITING IS A GOOD AND NECESSARY THING FOR ALL OF US

This is a good reminder that no matter what you write, long or short, you need to get someone else to look it over. You know what you want to say or what you meant to say – have someone else make sure it actually says those things.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is, very simply, passing off someone else’s words or ideas as your own.Plagiarism is dishonest and unfair to the original writer, and it reflects poorly on thecharacter and professionalism of the plagiarist.

The good news is that avoiding plagiarism is not hard to do. It just takes a little thought on your part.

Using source material reflects well on you, showing that you have taken the time to research an issue and have discovered the best information to share with your audience. Citing your sources gives concrete evidence of your professionalism and expertise, and it enables your readers to follow up with the original sources if they want more information.

So here’s how to use source material and to avoid plagiarism:

Step 1.

Paraphrase or quote.Do not copy!

Step 2.

Include the reference to the original.

Examples: What to do and what not to do

Original

“In assessing the public health aspects of genetically engineered foods, it is the

proteins that are expressed that are of interest. Three possible modes of adverse

health effects have been hypothesized: toxicity, impaired nutrition, and foodallergy.“

NOT an acceptable paraphrase

In evaluating the public health impacts of genetically modified foodproducts, it is the proteins that are most important. Three types ofnegative health impacts are possible: toxicity, reduced nutritive value, andallergic reactions.

Just using your thesaurus to substitute a few words is not paraphrasing!

An acceptable paraphrase

J. A. Bernstein and his colleagues point out that the main risks to human health from genetically modified foods come from proteins. These proteins can have lower nutritional value than those in non-modified foods; they can cause allergies; and they can even be toxic to human beings.

Good paraphrasing means putting the original ideas into your own words. But you still need to include the reference to the original source.

A quote

J. A. Bernstein and his colleagues, writing about the effects of genetically modified foods on human health, find that “three types of negative health impacts are possible: toxicity, reduced nutritive value, and allergic reactions.”

When you quote directly from your source, include their exact words in quotation marks. And include the reference to the original source.

What about media releases produced by CommunicationsSpecialists or subject-matter Specialists?

To support many programs, specialists will create media releases for you to use. These stories can be found at:

When you use these releases in your local media or in your newsletter, you should follow the general guidelines above. An easy way to avoid plagiarism is to write an introductory paragraph in your own words, explaining why this topic is appropriate for your audience in your county. End the paragraph with a sentence introducing the pre-written release, such as “Sally Specialist, a health specialist with AgriLife Extension, provides more information on how you can help your children prevent tooth decay.” Then follow with the copy Sally Specialist has written, along with the URL of the web page where you found the release and the date you accessed it.