Chicago Manual of Style - Q&A

Worried about what I mean by the serial comma* or other such terms? Begone, confusion! The Chicago Manual of Style web site has a nice reference tool in the form of a Q&A page. The page has an alphabetical index down the left side and a search tool.

*The serial comma is the comma just before the conjunction in a series. Modern American usage requires its use. Example: Planes, trains, and automobiles.

Idea. Collect. Focus. Draft. Clarify.

Late last month, Roy Peter Clark filled up his writer's toolbox with Writing Tool #50: The Writing Process.

Clark credits journalist and writing teacher Donald M. Murray with changing his life with five words: Idea. Collect. Focus. Draft. Clarify.

Until he heard Murray, Clark believed great writing was unattainable to him. After he heard Murray, Clark learned that writing is a step of rational steps--steps we all can use:

In other words, the writer conceives a story idea, collects things to support it, discovers what the story is really about, attempts a first draft, and revises in the quest for greater clarity. . . . Finished writing may seem magical to the reader, but it is the product of an invisible process, a series of rational steps, a set of tools. (Clark)

Clark played with Murray's basic model for over 20 years and presents his own version (with explanation) in Writing Tool #50:

1. Sniff around.
2. Explore ideas.
3. Collect evidence.
4. Find a focus.
5. Select the best stuff.
6. Recognize an order.
7. Write a draft.
8. Revise and clarify.

Sniff. Explore. Collect. Focus. Select. Order. Draft. Revise. These are words for a writer to live by.

Noah Webster & Americanisms

According to the 14Apr05 email from Today in Literature,

On this day in 1828 Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language, thereby authorizing "color," "theater," traveler" and a host of other Americanisms. But not all of them took: such words as "soop," "hed," "tung" and "tuf wimmen" were rejected as going too far. The 1828 edition is back in print today, heavily promoted by groups who prefer its Christian approach and moral tone.

New Source of Information on HIV/AIDS

Poynter.org columnist Sree Sreenivasan highlighted an excellent online source for medical information in his weekly post today: GlobalHealthReporting.org, a web site supported by the Kaiser Family Foundation with major support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

GlobalHealthReporting.org focuses upon HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and health journalism, so those of you students working on the HIV paper may find it a valuable resource.