by Harpreet Bhagrath | Apr 12, 2012 | Harpreet Bhagrath's Blog, Tutorials for Our Writers, Writing Tutorials
We prefer to use fewer words, and any superfluous words are mercilessly discarded. So try to use as fewer words as possible in your articles and features.
As an example, I take this sentence from one of our write-ups: The basic idea behind this is to ship all samples from…
This could be reduced to ‘The idea is to ship all samples from….
Or this sentence: Ministry of Health stated that if a situation arises where there is a large scale spreading of the virus…
This could just be: Ministry of Health stated that in case of large scale spreading of the virus…
Notice how the graph below has been cut to size.
Draft: If you are among those, who believe that smoking just one cigarette would not hurt your health in any way, and then it’s high time you change your perception. Because as per the researchers of a new study, 15-30 minutes is all it takes before that one cigarette you had puffed starts causing genetic damage in your body, leaving you one step closer to cancer. (65 words)
Edited: Smoking just one cigarette would not hurt your health, you believe? It’s time you changed your belief. According to a new study, 15-30 minutes of smoking is all it takes to cause genetic damage in your body, leaving you one step closer to cancer. (44 words)
Any questions on the above? Just get in touch with the core team — shoot us a mail, message us on Yahoo Messenger, or just give us a tinkle.
Happy writing,
Harpreet Bhagrath
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Dec 28, 2011 | Harpreet Bhagrath's Blog
This is how a typical interview with a prospective senior editor will go. Rather than asking the questions as an interviewer would, I like to discuss relevant areas in depth, like in an informal chat.
If the candidate doesn’t interest me much, the discussion is over within 15 minutes. But if the candidate shows some competence early on, the whole talk takes over 40 minutes. Long discussion is a good discussion for me.
So here are the discussion areas. I know they read like questions, but while the ‘interview’ is on, the questions below feel more like subject areas we take up one by one:
- Tell me a bit about yourself. Your family, education, career so far.
- Does Calcutta suit you? The daily commute.
- His ambition and career focus
- Let’s talk about your ambitions and where are you headed.
- What kinds of positions would you like to have in the future?
- Where do you see yourself two/five/ten years from now?
- His dedication to this profession
- Why did you choose this job? Also, why this profession?
- What appeals to you most about the prospect of coming to work here?
- How can this job further your ambitions?
- Did you apply to other places too?
- What difficulties did you face while writing the test – and editing too?
- Were they overwhelming?
- Was the test easy to understand?
- What difficulties can you face as a researcher and writer?
- How would you overcome them?
- How would you do a feature on “Selling a House”?
- Which abilities does an editor (and a writer) need the most?
- Think of a really good piece of writing (news as well as feature). What makes a news story (or a feature) good?
- What would your friends say are your strongest attributes and your weaknesses?
- How good do you think you are at English? On a scale of 1-10.
- Do you read? What do you read? Fiction or non-fiction?
- What are 3-4 things you’d like to accomplish early on? What kind of help would you need from me and others to achieve those?
- Do you see any obvious improvements we could make in the portals?
- What can I tell you about the job or the portals that you’d like to know?
- Any other questions you want to ask me?
- I’ll let you know within a week.
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Dec 25, 2011 | Harpreet Bhagrath's Blog
Mark every paragraph on a scale of one to ten, add all the paragraph scores, and then divide the total by the number of graphs. Then, to this resultant figure, add or subtract marks depending on the write-up’s overall coherence and assessment.
Judge the write-up vis-à-vis the following criteria.
- Correct grammar and English usage
- Focused writing
- Sentence structure
- Transition of ideas
- Within paragraphs as well as within the whole write-up
- Words and vocabulary
- Spellings
- Use of appropriate phrases
- Punctuation
- Whether reliable facts are provided and/or cross-checked (if test is taken on computer)
- Proper research and cross-checking of facts is of paramount importance
- Proper lead (if news writing is the test)
- 30 words roughly
- Provides the news facts in a nutshell
- Proper heading
- Concisely written
- Provides the gist of the news in the first 3-4 words (if newswriting is the test)
- Well-structured write-up written in a coherent language
As an examiner, ask yourself these.
Has the writer been able to organize the arguments and ideas in a logical sequence?
- New information after old information and not the other way round
Does the reading become awkward for the reader?
- Transition of ideas within sentences and paragraphs has to be smooth
Is the content informative and interesting (or as interesting as it can be) throughout?
- Has he found the weak parts and worked on them?
Has the writer matched the writing style, tone, and purpose of the write-up?
Has the writer maintained the consistency of language and tone throughout the document?
Has the writer checked clichés, pretentious language, homonym problems, spelling and punctuation mistakes, vague words and terms, illogical statements and arguments, incorrect possessives, trite expressions, and other problems in the write-up?
Has the writer checked redundancy, wordy phrases, and needless repetitions? Does the write-up contain wordiness?
- Say more with less words, in a way that every word tells
Has the writer checked his/her word usage?
- Has he eliminated clichés and used fresh words and phrases instead?
Has the writer replaced the weak or unfitting words with the ones that fit better?
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Nov 13, 2011 | Harpreet Bhagrath's Blog, Tutorials for Our Writers
If content writers stick around in the media for long, chances are that they’ll be required to gather information first-hand by interviewing sources. Here are a few pointers for the uninitiated.
Though there’s plenty to be said on the art of interviewing–in fact, books have been written on the subject–here’re a few notes to start the uninitiated. Plenty more will follow if only the team starts interviewing sources first-hand.
Go prepared. Do research on the subject (the interviewee) as well as the subject matter before the big day.
– The amount of research on the subject depends on why you are interviewing that person. Is it for an interview feature/profile feature or in-depth discussion, or the interviewee is one of the sources for a feature?
When you first meet the subject, introduce yourself, hand over your card, and do a bit of chit-chat. Tell him what you do at our publication. Explain a bit about the piece you are working on and where does the interviewee fit in the subject.
Take along a pen, a writing pad, and a recorder. In the notebook, write down the important points and note down the atmosphere and observation of the surroundings (for profile features, etc.). Also jot down the timing on your recorder when key issues/subjects were discussed.
Get their business card or note down their contact details. Never forget this. Card provides us with an interviewee’s name and designation correctly, besides of course, having his contact number. In case you have to clarify something later on, you’ll be kicking yourself for not asking for his business card.
Discuss things as if in an informal conversation. The idea is to make him feel comfortable.
– Ask open-ended questions to get the subject (the interviewee) to open up.
– No questions that just require a yes or no out of the interviewee.
Listen carefully and try to give interviewee the impression that you are completely into the conversation. Don’t interrupt him abruptly as this might put him off and the discussion will not be fruitful. But you can politely steer the conversation in the right (focused) direction in case the interviewee goes off on a tangent.
Ask the interviewee for a possible second sitting or at least further discussion through telephone.
Try to enjoy the conversation. The difference between a good interview and bad interview is whether you enjoyed having that conversation or not. This also holds true for public speaking.
Keep a camera with you. We need a good photo of the subject to go along with the piece.
Any questions? Just get in touch with me.
Harpreet Bhagrath
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Oct 4, 2011 | Harpreet Bhagrath's Blog, Tutorials for Our Writers, Writing Tutorials
Don’t repeat the same bit of information in the article. It shows very badly on the writer.
Repetition only reduces the limited number of words we have to keep the reader interested in reading. Here’s a fitting example of repetition, with the duplicate ideas in blue:
The NIH has named a total of 36 institutions till date that will take part in the study and a few more are expected to be picked in the future. It will recruit study volunteers from various locations. When it is fully operational, 1,000 children will be recruited from 105 counties across the United States. Each funded study center will recruit children from two to three different counties…
…The NIH said that the people taking part will be from rural, urban and suburban areas, from all income and educational levels and from all racial groups. It also hopes that the study (to be conducted at 105 locations throughout the United State) can help pinpoint early-life influences that affect later development, with the goal of learning new ways to treat or prevent illness…
…100,000 U.S. children from inception to the age of 21.
And then again, later in the article:
When it is fully operational, 1,000 children will be recruited from 105 counties across the United States.
What’s the point of repeating the same information so many times?
Take this one more example:
Nearly everyone is prone to some sneaking disease like influenza. One can find almost everyone who has suffered through them occasionally. No matter how healthy our lifestyle and eating habits are, one can often find the stealthy flu playing havoc with the immune system of almost all individuals.
Both the sentences in the para above are saying the same thing. The part in italics is just asking for it.
Any questions on the above? Just get in touch with the core team — shoot us a mail, message us on Yahoo Messenger, or just give us a tinkle.
Happy writing,
Harpreet Bhagrath
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Jun 28, 2011 | Harpreet Bhagrath's Blog
Can you spot two grammar mistakes in this headline from a leading Indian daily?
“Early of knock of monsoon rejoice farmers, residents”
The mistakes got past the reporter as well as the subbing desk. So much for multiple editing checks.
The headline was still not changed the last I checked (just before posting this blog); TOI needs to lay off the lazy.
Anyway, here are the mistakes. I had posted this reply soon as I read the piece:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Early-of-knock-of-monsoon-rejoice-farmers-residents/articleshow/9007874.cms
It’s amazing to see two big mistakes in a simple sentence from a national daily. That too in a headline!
A. “Early of knock of”
No need for explanation here. Even a ten-year-old can find the mistake.
B. “knock of monsoon rejoice farmers”
Subject-verb agreement: singular subject needs a singular verb; ‘rejoice’ is a plural verb here. Kindly make your subject agree with its verb.
It doesn’t behove a national daily to commit this kind of elementary grammar mistakes, and that too in a headline, no less. Come on, TOI! Live up to your name.
