Weekly Suggestions

Every week, while we are doing final proofreading on the Sophian in the early hours of the morning, the Associate Editors and I make a list of various style errors and suggestions that we notice often in articles. These comments are then talked about at our weekly staff meeting, but starting this week, you'll be able to read them on this blog.

• Use shorter paragraphs
• Don't use exclamation points!
• Avoid "cutesy" writing (if you're using exclamation points, you have probably crossed into the realm of "cutesy.")
• Avoid slang
• Don't say "in my opinion"- this should definitely NEVER happen in a News article, but it shouldn't appear in an Opinions article either. If you just state your point, without saying "I think" or "in my opinion" or (God forbid) "I feel," it sounds a lot more convincing.

Check back next week for more tips!

Anna Newman, Editor-in-Chief