Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Drowning -- Red Marks

At this point in the term, you may be getting many of your papers back with lots and lots of red ink all over your work. Red pen marks where I point out things that didn't work so well and offer ideas on what you could have done better.

And that's a good thing! Red ink is good!

Seriously, I'm not trying to give you a BS pep talk. Red ink really IS good.

In journalism, we learn by doing, then reviewing, and then applying any and all lessons learned going forward. Red ink helps you do that by pointing out the good and the could-be-better. Red ink helps you identify where you need to keep working and improving. Red ink gives you feedback that is critical at this point to your development as a journalist.

So don't freak out. Red ink is good. Just make sure you are carefully reading and evaluating my critiques; learning whatever lessons you can; and applying what you learn the next time out.

No comments: