News Release: “Little Big Bend”

Artifact: “Little Big Bend” Web Page

This artifact was the the first news release that I produced. Although the news article is short I learned a great deal in the process. This served as my introduction to using the AP style guide as an editing tool. I specifically learned the proper way to site the title of a book, organization and title references in a new release. I learned how to use the prexisting templates to develop Web pages for the TTU Web site, specifically I learned what elements are universal and what elements must by customized for each story.

The most valuable aspect of producing this story was that I learned the syntax used by the OCM when saving Web pages and other content to the server, to be used on the TTU website. This served as an important lesson because using a constant “naming” scheme for Web Pages and content allows a team of developers to easily locate each others work on a server.

News Release: “Sally Davis Profile”

Artifact: Sally Davis Profile Web page

In regards to the length of the story and the amount of content, this was one of the biggest news releases I produced during my internship. This was also the second story I produced for the Web. I gained valuable experience in several areas while producing this story.

I gained a better knowledge of how to manipulate the TTU Web templates that are used universally throughout the TTU.edu Website. This knowledge allowed me to create a unique layout for the content of this story including multiple “DIV” areas that allowed me to position the text, images and sidebar where I desired.

I learned some specific editing techniques such as removing the repetitive references to the name “Texas Tech” throughout the story and separating quotes from larger paragraphs to create emphasis. I have discovered that while these are minute editing techniques the sum of them allows me to produce maintain the established writing style of the OCM.

News Release: Dairy Barn Story

Artifact: Dairy Barn Story

This was one of the bigger news releases I produced, it was a featured piece in the Texas Tech Today monthly newsletter. I gained a considerable amount of experience and knowledge about editing news stories for the Web. I learned how to effectively write subheads and how to use them to break up long stories. I also gained experience writing headlines, blurbs and cutlines which is a crucial element of all news releases produced by the OCM.
I received a lesson during the production of this story. I spent a considerable amount of time developing the graphic content of this story, I optimized several images for the photo gallery and developed a unique main image in Photoshop. However the editors decided to use different graphic content, I learned that the amount of energy you spend on content does not determine its usefulness.

News Release: “RaiderPCMart”

Artifact: RaiderPCMart Story

This was the only story I wrote throughout the course of my internship that got published on the Texas Tech Today Website. I learned a great deal about the writing process of professional news writers and editing from this assignment. In particular, I learned how the routing system is used to edit a piece. The story was subject to editing by four different writers, after each review I made the suggested changes and submitted the revised story to another writer. This process allowed me to learn from the edits of each writer, I learned how to properly reference numbers, identify the speaker of quote, abbreviate names and much more.

More than just learning how to write effectively, this story helped acclimate me to the professional world where your work is under constant scrutiny. I learned to not take this type of scrutiny personally or as a test of my skills or abilities, its purpose is to produce a quality story.