Category Archives: Writing tips

‘Tis the (election) season
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Use "advance voting" instead of "early voting" to refer to electoral processes that allow people to cast their votes before Election Day: "It was the first year of the state's new advance-voting process." Keep in mind that the popularity of mail-in voting methods has lengthened the process for submitting and counting ballots. You can help your audience manage their expectations (and ward off misinformation about voter fraud) by using terms such as "election week" and "election season" rather than "Election Day" and "election night": "We're tallying election week results from around the state." These phrases are inclusive of advance voting and help reify that results that take longer than one day to roll in are expected and normal, not inherently suspect. More info from Election SOS here: https://bit.ly/3Yu1LKO (This entry is powered by a partnership with Modifier and Trusting News. Learn more about the project here: https://bit.ly/3WWWCKc)
Even when you’re trying to remain neutral in your election coverage, you can inadvertently increase polarization with your word choice and story framing. Trusting News has asked news consumers to describe the signals that make stories feel fair or unfair, and people often point to simple word choices. Even words such as “surprising” or “unapologetic” can signal a journalist’s point of view. To prevent adding polarization to your election coverage:To prevent adding polarization to your election coverage: Use this list of words to watch out for from Trusting News: https://bit.ly/3Xrq0Z5. It includes language that might spice up a story but can also convey a perspective or attitude, or words that might give away your own assumptions or viewpoints of an issue. Run headlines through this checklist from Trusting News: https://bit.ly/3G3zBgm. Users make snap judgments about your coverage, so careless headlines can quickly turn off and undermine the careful work you put into stories. Use this story checklist (https://bit.ly/4cSk146) to see if you can improve your story framing, word choices and sourcing to avoid adding polarization into your news coverage.

Unapologetically surprising
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Dangling modifiers are a common mistake in both writing and speaking. If you've ever watched an NFL game, you've likely heard one: "After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field stands." That is incorrect because "the ruling" did not review the play. The correct construction is: "After reviewing the play, the officials have determined that the ruling on the field stands." (Clunky, perhaps, but correct!) Here are some examples that stick with the sports theme: Incorrect: "Taking our seats, the game started." ("Taking" does not refer to the subject, "game," or to any other word in the sentence.) Correct: "Taking our seats, we watched the game start." ("Taking" refers to "we," the subject of the sentence.) Also correct: "As we took our seats, the game started."

Who’s refereeing dangling modifiers during football season? 🏈
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Opinion polls are snapshots in time and capture sentiment at the time they are taken, so write about them in the past tense instead of present tense: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar led the poll of California voters, which was conducted January 1 through January 10." However, be cautious about focusing on the likelihood of a candidate's victory over their stances on important issues. According to The Journalist's Resource, academic studies have shown this "horse race" style of reporting on polls, winners and losers creates distrust in politicians and news outlets, breeds an uninformed electorate and can even demobilize voters. It can also have disproportionately negative effects on women and third-party candidates, while boosting unusual candidates. If you have to report on opinion polls or the forecast of an election's outcome, be transparent about the methodology used in any data collection and explain statistical jargon, such as probability versus predicted vote share. If you have the bandwidth to realign your assignments, focus on candidates' policies and what their impact would be on your community. Meeting those information needs will help your audience make informed decisions at the polls. Read more from The Journalist's Resource here: https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/horse-race-reporting-election/

Election selections
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Hyphenate "back-to-school" when you're using the term as a compound modifier: "He got all his back-to-school shopping done at one store." Otherwise, don't use a hyphen: "She was ready to go back to school." Apply the same rules to "after school": "The money was meant to fund after-school programs." Use two words for "school day" and "school year": "The school year doesn't start until September."

🍎 It’s that time again
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Use "No. 1," "No. 2," etc., for official rankings: "Her album reached No. 1 on the charts." Otherwise, write out "number" and apply the general rule for numerals (spell out one through nine and use numerals for 10 and above): "His number one rule at meetings was no interruptions."

3, 2, 1…Olympics!
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Capitalize "Team USA" when referring to the United States' Olympic team: "He will not be representing Team USA at the Olympics." Use singular verbs: "Team USA is favored to win the event."

Team USA is the exception
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Capitalize "Olympics," "Olympic Games," "Summer Olympics," "Winter Olympics" and "Games" when it's a shortened version of the proper name: "The postponement of the 2020 Games was a disappointment for some athletes." Also capitalize "Olympian": "He is a three-time Olympian."

Let the Games begin
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"Reign" is the term you use to describe a monarch or a predominant force: "Elizabeth I reigned over England and Ireland for more than 40 years." "Even though she tried to stick to the agenda, chaos reigned in the meeting." A "rein" is what you use to control horses: "She grabbed the reins." The expression is "free rein": "The students were given free rein to choose any topic they wanted for their final presentation."

Free rein 🏇
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Don't capitalize "solstice," which refers to the longest day and the shortest day of the year: "Her wedding was a few days after the summer solstice, so it didn't get dark until nearly 9 p.m." In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice is in June and the winter solstice is in December.

When the ☀️ is at a standstill
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