Blog 18: Third Answer

EQ: How can an editorial publisher produce a quality yearbook?
Answer 3: Incorporate copy that reflects students' memories of the school year. 

1. "Copy" is the term for the type of writing that yearbooks use in order to accurately portray people's memories and quotes, without sounding too formal or informal. 
• Example: Pep rally is a really upbeat, exciting, and busy event. The copy should reflect that, by using students' accounts and direct words. 
2. The copy that goes in the yearbook should compliment the respective photographs used on each spread.
• Example: A spread on pep rally has a dominant photo of Bryan Posada getting wrapped in toilet paper. The copy should compliment the photo by explaining what is happening, what Posada thought about the activity, the point of view from someone watching, and more of that context.
3. Copy should be written in a relatable way to the audience, in order to make it more interesting and make them want to read it.
• Example: Teenagers 14-18 are the audience in this case, and the way they speak and write are specific. Therefore, the copy should be written how a teenager would like it, instead of sounding too much like an essay, or even too much like text message.

Resources: 

• Patterson, Benton Rain and Coleman E.P. Patterson. The Editor in Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors. Second Edition. Ames: Iowa State, 2003. Print.
• Interview #3 with Rebecca Chai, advisor of Walnut High School's Cayuse Publication

Concluding Sentence: Incorporating copy that reflects students' memories of the school year will best portray people's accounts of various events, compliment photographs that will be in the yearbook, and relate to the audience's age group, school culture, and individual interests.

Blog 11: Mentorship Hours

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

• In Strand's class whenever Mimi drops by to help us on the production of the yearbook, to teach myself and the other editors, or to work with Strand and I on the computers. The tasks vary each day.

2. Who is your contact?

• My contact is Mimi Orth, a Herff Jones Sales Representative.

3. How many total hours have you done?

• In total, I have done 30.5 hours (including summer mentorship). Not including the 10 hours of summer mentorship, it's been 20.5 hours working with Mimi. The hours varied daily when Mimi was here for different purposes, such as setting up the computers, designing certain pages, or organizing programs, which took longer than the hour and a half allotted for elective.

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did. 

• I have done more than 10 hours, because mentorship takes place every other Tuesday each month. The most that I had done was working with, assisting, and directing the editorial team, Strand, and staff on the progress of first deadline. Majority of the time I taught design team on yearbook design, edited design layouts, helped brainstorm ideas for stories, assigned staffers their assignments, scheduled out events to cover, and look over photo submissions. I also held meetings with design, photo, and copy teams during school and on weekends, and work on spreads at home (Skyping with editors and whatnot). Because I am the "Book Editor-in-Chief," I am solely responsible for the production of the yearbook itself, while Stacy handles funds, elective management, and logistics, so during mentorship I focus on the creative aspects of yearbook elective. 

5. Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number confirming who they should call to verify it.

• Okay.

Blog 10: Senior Project - The Holiday

1. What did you do over break with your senior project?

• Over break, I continued looking at research to help conceive a few ideas, angles, and answers regarding my new essential question. I visited my local library to check out potential articles and books to use for the upcoming research checks, and spent time reading over these materials. I also spent some time working on my independent component, where I contacted yearbook design team members and turned in the remainder of our proof spreads.

2. What is the most important thing you learned from what you did and why? What was the source of what you learned?

• The most important thing I learned is how to manage time while working on a product which involves heavy investment of teamwork. What I mean by this is that deadlines are a huge concern in working on any type of project, in my case, the first deadline of the yearbook. Managing your own deadlines within a major deadline is something that an editor must know how to do. Every assignment given should not only be of high quality, but must be turned in on time, or else it won't be in the final copy of the yearbook. In order to make sure it is, there are steps along the way in which I will have to schedule certain times where a component of a spread is due, before the final due date. For example, a complete spread may be due January 27. It is part of my duties to manage how the spread will be completed. An outline may be due January 1; then, photos for that spread should be due January 7. The source from where I learned this is from the book titled, "The Editor-in-Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors," by Benton Rain Patterson and E.P. Patterson. This book had a whole chapter dedicated to time management, which I personally think was the most important part that I have read so far.

3. If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

• I would talk to the Class of 2012's Editor-in-Chief, Elissa Fultz, who has more than five years of experience in Yearbook, and also worked on other independent projects of editorial publication. If I am unable to be able to interview Elissa, I would interview a fellow Yearbook advisor, Rebecca Chai. Rebecca Chai works at Walnut High School, and has prior experience working as  an editor for a newspaper as well as being a representative for Herff Jones.

Blog 9: EQ

1.   I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

2.  Review the following EQs:

 a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?

• Yes, I think this is an appropriate EQ, but it is quite vague. If it was restated so that it would not have just one specific answer, or had a more detailed word choice besides "healthy weight loss", I think then it would be much more valid.

 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?

• Yes, this is an EQ, but like the previous one, it is also vague. It should be more specific so that it addresses the type of conviction or criminal investigation.

 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?

• Yes, this is a better EQ. It points out what they're EQ is trying to answer, with "...that best satisfies a customer." It also makes it more specific since what the EQ is answering, is not too broad.

 d.  How can an Anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?

• Yes, this is the best EQ out of the previous ones. It starts with "wow" instead of "what," allowing more flexibility in answers. It also addresses the topic that this person is presenting on, and a specific issue that they want to answer.

3.  Based on your review of the rule of 3 and your experience with assessing four EQs, please write another draft EQ for your senior project.

• How can an Editor-In-Chief best direct a publication in order to ensure a quality product?

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1.  What is your working EQ?

• How can an editor best direct a publication to ensure a quality product?

2.  What is a possible answer to your working EQ?

• Organize the staff in an effective and communicative way. This allows for the editor to monitor the progress, problems, and other situations that may occur within a publication's staff members.

3.  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ? 

• My most informative source would be a book titled The Editor In Chief: A Management for Magazine Editors, by Benton Rain Patterson and Coleman E.P. Patterson. A lot of chapters in this book really emphasized the importance of team-oriented work and establishing effective methods of communication and relationships with a staff. Building up a strong foundation of trust and responsibility between staff members and the editor is essential to creating a successful product.

4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you volunteering, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

• My mentor is Mimi Orth of Herff Jones Publishing. I work alongside her in elective, after school, and often on weekends to create assignments,manage a staff, organize the progress of the yearbook, offer insight to spreads, teach lessons to the class, and manage other business regarding the creation, printing, and distribution of the yearbook. What I do relates to my EQ because it is taking my position as Co-Editor In Chief and allowing for me to justify it with experiences from directing an entire publication.

Blog 5: Project Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon: 

(1) Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you have completed so far?

• So far, a positive thing that has happened is starting off the yearbook on a good note, by using what I've learned during mentorship as a guide. For instance, I have been constantly planning and changing what the elective will be doing for the next two months, and how it will be executed onto visual spreads. I've begun to add elements of how an actual newspaper publication is run, so that yearbook can be modeled after it and allow for a better way to cover stories. 

(2) EQ Content:  Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic?

• A piece of research that has definitely improved my understanding of editorial publishing would be an article called "So You Want to Be an Editor: Information about a Career in Editing." This article solidified the meaning of being an editor and running an editorial-oriented publication. It also had a lot of information about what qualities and work habits an editor should keep in mind while working in a publication. I like to refer to it often when I find myself looking for ways to turn the yearbook staff into a much more organized and balanced team.

(3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?

• What has worked so far, would be the ease of getting research and information on my topic. I was able to find a lot of information about what editorial publishing is. I was also able to connect it to the Yearbook elective, making it easier on me, time-wise. I can use my experience in Yearbook and running it as a publication during the year to refer back to. 

(4) What hasn't worked so far?  

• What hasn't really worked so far is contacting my mentor. Because she is required to visit every school, every two weeks, in almost every city in Southern California in a slotted amount of time, I have yet to really sit down and talk with her about my topic or get an interview. I do plan to interview her next week or possibly this weekend.

(5) Finding Value:  

•  What is a potential question you would like to study this year?  (working EQ)
• How can an editor best direct a publication to ensure a quality product?

•  What do you plan to do for mentorship?  If you haven't found a mentor yet, then discuss where you are currently looking and who you are talking to to find it.  
• I plan to work with my mentor at school during elective to teach, direct, and advise the staff while the content of the yearbook (product) is being produced. 

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship Component

1. Mentorship Log
2. Mentor: Mimi Orth - (626)798-1680
3. What questions did I have during the mentorship?

• How do the various elements from the professionals (advertisements and magazines) impact the way a yearbook looks?
• How does today's print and electronic trends influence a yearbook theme?
• How can a yearbook theme be visually represented by its' spreads?
• How can the audience/student body of a school be best represented by a yearbook theme and its' design?

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

• The most important thing I've gained from my mentorship is that no matter what a yearbook staff likes or doesn't like, their opinion should not ultimately affect the final theme of a yearbook. Throughout the entire experience, my staff and I were adamant on creating a theme that solely reflected the school and its' students, and not just our personal likes and dislikes. This is crucial in creating a yearbook, mainly because it is the theme that influences the rest of the decisions that are to come; for example, what tone of voice our stories would use, what design elements we would utilize, and how we deliver it all into a single spread. Because our school is so unique, our design and coverage should visually represent the characteristics that make I-Poly and its' students what it is. 

5. How did what you did help choose a topic? Explain.

• At first I wanted to do Graphic Design. But because my position and duties in Yearbook has changed, I now want to do Editorial Publishing. Also, what I did under my mentor did not only cover Graphic Design, but the influences that it has on visually representing a school. I learned a lot about what goes into guiding and editing what my staff does. I also got the opportunity to learn more about the backbone of a successful yearbook theme, with trends and inspiration from professionals being the first priority.

Blog 1: 2013 2-Hour Presentation Reflections

Literal:

1. (Know) What presentations did you see?  Name the topic and the person's first name.

1. JorgeE - Electronic Dance Music
2. JessicaB - Making an Album
3. MarilynG - OBGYN
4. DominicZ - All Star Cheerlead (Safety)
5. NicholasG - Automotive Repair
6. AlyssaS - Yoga
7. ArianaK - Machine Programming
8. EmmaS - Yearbook
9. RachelH - Deaf Culture
10. DarleneD - Cancer Survivors
11. DanielL - Car Audio
12. CherylW - Veterinarian Oncology
13. AlexM - Running a Bike Shop
14. JeanetteD - Wedding Dress Design

2. (Need to know) What questions do you have that haven't been answered about the senior project? 

• How much does talking time count for your overall presentation grade?
• How much information is required to be put in the presentation slide show?
• Do the activities have to be group-oriented?
• Is it possible to include more than 3 important sources in a senior presentation?

Interpretive:

3. What has the most important part of the senior project based on what you are seeing in the 2-hour presentations?

• The most important part is essentially making sure that the three answers to an individual’s EQ is clearly explained with in-depth detail and activities supporting them. In order to ensure a successful EQ, the three answers must correlate to a person’s entire senior topic, and showcase the individual’s progress of learning and understanding of their topic. 

Applied:

4. What topic are you considering doing and why?

• I am considering doing Graphic Design as my topic because I am currently the Design Editor of the Yearbook elective, and I am also due to become next year’s Editor-in-Chief along with another student. I will be responsible for the artistic aspect of next year’s book and thus choosing Graphic Design is ideal.