Why you should adore copy editors

It’s great having someone take a look at your work to bounce ideas off of, or to help shape your vague, semi-formed thought into a coherent and solid piece; that’s why working with an editor makes you sound smarter. Working with a Copy Editor, on the other hand, helps to improve the flow of the piece, check for libel or erroneous statements, and also puts your piece into the format of the Canadian Press. This means that your work can be virtually indistinguishable from an article printed in a major Canadian newspaper — except for the fact that you’ll actually care about what’s written in your piece.

CP style, why and how we do it

Canadian Press is the common style which newspapers use to ensure that specific elements of writing remain consistent. This means that readers spend less time looking up words and re-reading sentences just to understand the message we’ve printed. Part of it is speaking simply and sending a clearer message. Another part is making sure we use acronyms, capitalization and vocabulary in a consistent manner.

When it comes down to it, CP style is why sometimes it’s “practise” (verb) or “practice” (noun), or why the Manitoban’s name is italicized, along with CD albums, movie- and book-titles. We slog through pages of rules so to avoid style-confusion, so that our stories could be run right along with those of other major publications — if we wanted to do that, of course.