Hello Editing 3220 class!

My name is Steven Bench, but I go by Steve. I am currently a Sales Professional. I graduate from Weber State's Professional Sales program in 2013. I am currently enrolled the Master of Professional Communication program at Weber State. As an MPC student, we are allowed to take one class at this level, with an added MPC focus. Writing and editing have been a struggle for me throughout my academic and professional career. Writing is a key skill for any communicator. I want to improve my writing skills. Whether I stay in sales, move up to management or make a career change, writing will be a valuable skill I will need for the rest of my career. I feel that editing will help make me a more effective writing by helping me to eliminate the common mistakes I make in spelling, punctuating, etc. I feel that by improving my writing skills, I will be much more effective in my academics and professional career.

My areas of interests are military history, world history, and foreign affairs. I love reading books, articles and watching documentaries about these subjects. I am currently reading a book in my free time titled "The Black Banners: The inside story of 9/11 and the War on Al Qaeda." by Ali Soufan. The author was on the FBI's Counter-Terrorism Unit for several years. He was the one of only a handful of agents who spoke Arabic in the FBI before 9/11. He talks about his experience interviewing Al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the attacks on 9/11, the USS Cole and American Embassies in Northern Africa. Topics like these intrigue me. I have thought about applying to a position within the Intelligence community but I need to improve my writing in order to have a chance at landing a job.

I grew up in Clinton, UT (shout out to Jake!). Syracuse High School wasn’t built back in my day. I graduated Clearfield High in 2005. I served an LDS mission to Honduras, where I learned Spanish. I enjoy college football, rugby, weightlifting, and barbecuing. I always cheer for the Wildcats but my favorite college team is the Utah Utes. I played rugby while I attended Weber State. I had friends on the team who introduced me to elite weightlifting and barbecue. One team mate was from South Carolina. He showed me a few tricks and I have enjoyed it since.

I met and married my wife while attending Weber State. I proposed to her at a WSU football game. I can claim 20 seconds of TV fame as I proposed to her on Big Sky TV. I always joke with her that convincing her to marry me was my best sale! We have been married for 5 years and have a 14-month-old baby girl. She is an absolute joy. She is learning to walk, talk, and feed herself. We enjoy spending time together going to the park, grocery shopping, and finding new restaurants where we try out the cuisine.

Good luck with the semester!

Hello everyone, my name is Erika Aland. I am currently a senior at Weber State University. I am majoring in English with a Communication minor. I have never changed my major, but I have changed my career goals. I have decided against becoming a librarian. At the moment, my plans are to become an editor, maybe at a book publishing company. I love to read all kinds of books, though my favorite genres consist of fantasy, adventure, and romance. Two years ago, my friends and I decided to start a book club. We read various genres ranging from classics to science fiction. I also enjoy editing the works/writings of other people. I love learning the rules of grammar so that I can better improve my own writing and the writing of others. I remember that I wanted my high school teachers to give me a list of grammar rules. They never did; instead, they taught me as we went along.

I have lived in the city of Roy for my whole life. I am the oldest child in my family of six. I have one brother, who is currently serving an LDS mission in Oslo, Norway, and two sisters, ages 15 and 11. I have a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel named Ginger. My dog is named Ginger because there are two redheads in my family.

In my spare time I cross stitch, listen to music, and play the piano. I have spent many years developing my musical abilities and my favorite piano skills include sight reading and accompanying large and small ensembles. I have participated in different choirs throughout my education, though I still prefer playing the piano to singing. I derive pleasure from going to movies. I especially enjoy introducing people to new books, movies, or TV shows. I firmly believe the greatest joy of discovering and experiencing a new story comes from sharing the adventure with someone else later on. Right now, I am really into superheroes, especially the Marvel movies and the TV shows The Flash and Arrow.

The highlight of my summer consisted of my family celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my grandparents. We chose to travel to California where we visited the beach, Universal Studios, and the Disneyland parks. This trip was probably the last big hurrah my extended family will do together.  

I am currently working at Crane Field Golf Course in Clinton where I take tee times and occasionally drive golf carts around the course. I was a member of the golf team for two years in high school, though I do not play as much as I used to. However, I golf right handed, even though I am left handed, because my family did not want to buy specialized golf clubs.

By the end of this editing class, I hope that I am better at spelling without the use of spell check and that my writing will be more precise when I want it to be. I am better at writing long, elaborate sentences than short, to the point ones.

Overall I am looking forward to this class and getting to know everyone.

Hello Editing Classmates!

My name is Regina Esparza, but I go by Gina. My major is in Communication with an emphasis on Public Relations/Advertising and I am a junior. Last semester was my first year coming back to school full-time since 2001. Long time. I’m still trying to figure things out and balance family life and school life. Coming back to school is something that I have always wanted to do, but the timing was never right. With the support from my husband and kids it’s made it easier for me to transition.

My family is originally from Southern California however, when my husband came back from his tour in Iraq we wanted a change for us and our kids. We packed up our stuff and within two months were moved out here. With a little hiccup that had us move to Arizona for my husband’s job we still ended up back in Utah.

In figuring out what I want to do with my life I have always loved sports and entertainment. My family always tells me you should be doing a job in that field. Everyone who knows me knows I enjoy the Hollywood gossip and ask me if I’ve added to my “Hollywood wall” which is of celebrities that I have met and taken pictures with. It’s something that I enjoy.

In my spare time when I’m not looking at sports or entertainment news I enjoy watching my kids play sports. I’m their biggest and loudest cheerleader and I try to help and get involved when my schedule allows it. I also enjoy going on hikes, love to eat good food, love to go dancing which I don’t get to do often enough, and hanging out at home watching shows with my family or as they always say “Are we cleaning again?”

My goal after I get my Bachelor’s Degree is to find a job that I enjoy going to everyday. I was in the dental field for about 13 years and was bored and wanted a change. I thought to myself is this what I’m going to do for the rest of my life? I ended up quitting and decided it’s time for school because well, I am not getting any younger here. At times, it seems overwhelming just like this week has been, but I must pace myself and take a deep breath and believe that everything will work out.

Although writing is not my strongest suit I hope to improve a lot in this class. I’m both excited and nervous at the same time but you don’t learn if you don’t try. I do enjoy talking, especially if it’s something I’m interested in. I know sometimes people are not into hearing about Hollywood or me rambling about my kids all the time but it’s my life it’s what I love. My husband has learned to cope with my infatuation of celebrity news and goes along for the ride.

Overall, I am open to opportunities that come my way whether it be internships, or jobs. I have lots of ideas but I just need to get my foot in the door to the right place so that my dreams can be reality.

                     Good luck to everyone this semester!

Hello Editing 3220 Online Class.

My name is Jake Halter. I am currently majoring in public relations here at WSU and have just a little over a year left of school. Although my end goal is not to become an editor, writing has a very large role in public relations and I realize that it is something I must master if I want to be successful in my career.

Writing is not something that comes easy to me, but I do enjoy well written literature. My hope is to one day control social media platforms for a company, which would include me writing and posting advertisements in a public relations job position. I have learned that 64% of all public relations specialists will spend almost half of their time on social media. Whether that is posting for the company, watching for news, or finding the best way to reach clients. Needless to say, I very much could use this class to better my writing skills.

A little about myself, I grew up in Clinton, Utah. I went to Syracuse High School and later moved to Roy with my wife. We are both currently students, and my wife is going into nursing school. I have worked in a few different job fields, ranging from a warehouse manager to sales. One thing that I have learned about myself with these jobs is that I love public speaking and interacting with others. This realization eventually led me to the path of wanting to major in public relations.

Some of my daily joys and hobbies are simply hanging out with my wife and watching The Office on Netflix, going out for some exercise, and spending time sifting through news articles. I had a class my sophomore year that required me to check the news almost daily and that habit has stuck. I look for interesting stories about foreign affairs, military news, as well as local. One of my all-time favorite things to do is read the comment sections on social media. I just pull out a bowl of pop-corn and I'll be entertained for hours reading different point of views and hilarious comments.

But in all seriousness, I have come to appreciate different point of views and I rather enjoy learning new concepts. I have been told to seek wisdom from the best of books and gain more knowledge wherever applicable. Other than my love for the comment section, I am a pretty regular WSU student just trying to grind my through and finally get that piece of paper that we are all after.

I am looking forward to working with the class and hope for a great semester.

Welcome to Dr. J's online editing class at Weber State

Welcome to Comm. 3220 Online!

I hope this class will help you become the best writer and editor you can be whether your writing will appear online, on paper on on the air. As the textbook points out, it is more important than ever to know how to communicate clearly, crisply and powerfully in the dynamic, evolving, cross-platform multimedia environment in which today's writers function.

In this class, we will review some of the basics, plus focus on grammar and style rules you may have never understood or even thought about. I know you'll be a better writer and editor at the end if you put some time and attention toward this class. I promise a fun and educational experience.

To help you through the class, I will post modules complete with a weekly to-do list every Monday at 8 a.m. You will have until midnight Sunday to complete your work for the week. I have supplemented materials with narrated PowerPoint slides. I hope you will listen and learn. I also commit to three in-person test reviews so mark your calendars and try to attend. It's not required, but you'll likely do better on the tests if you attend. 

Even though this is an online class, I am also willing to answer your questions in person. As you may know, I am chair of the Department of Communication at Weber State so I am in my office most days Monday through Fridays. The best way to reach me is through email. Occasionally, I take a weekend off from email so make sure you get your questions answered by Friday afternoon. 

If you encounter any issues with something in Canvas, please let me know right away so I can fix the problem for everyone, but I am usually pretty careful. Read the syllabus carefully so that you understand the plan for the semester. Take a look at how I have things organized in Canvas, but your best bet is to use Modules so you can see the weekly to-do list. Items are generally located in multiple places. 

Thank you for taking my class and here's a little about me.

Before coming to teach at Weber State University 23 years ago, I worked for 18 years as a print journalist. I worked for three daily newspapers—the Standard-Examiner, The Herald Journal and the Colorado Springs Sun—two different times each. A few of the job titles I held were reporter, news editor, assistant city editor, graphics editor and weekend editor. I also taught briefly at the University of Utah and in Westminster College’s graduate program. At WSU, I primarily teach classes required in the journalism and public relations concentrations. I also teach in the Honors Department and advised the student newspaper, The Signpost, for six years. I served as the first director of the new Master of Professional Communication program for two years. Two years ago I was named chair of the Department of Communication. Since becoming a college professor, I have taken frequent jobs as a freelance editor. I have published one book (“Visualizing Web Design”), edited a book about Hot Rod Hundley, numerous websites for high-tech clients, news releases and media packets for public relations firms and print advertisements. A part of my life is also spent as a communication researcher. I have published a number of academic journal articles and book chapters since coming to WSU. I am also about to begin writing and editing the second edition of the major scholarly book in my field of visual communication. 

I consider editing my strength and am always excited to teach this class. I look forward to working with you.