Obituary

Obituary

Write your own 200-300 word obituary.
Use the information in the textbook and look at various obituaries, even those in your local newspaper or online, to help you get started. (PAGE 333)
You can fictionalize the obituary, but make sure the content is appropriate to this genre of journalism.
Consider including a photo of yourself.
Don’t forget to include a headline.
Use the Wire Service Style for writing located in Appendix 2, page 500.
Wire-Service Style Summary

Most publications adhere to rules of style to avoid annoying inconsistencies. Without a stylebook to provide guidance in such matters, writers would not know whether the word president should be capitalized when preceding or fol- lowing a name, whether the correct spelling is employee or employe (dictionaries list both), or whether a street name should be Twelfth or 12th.
Newspapers use the wire-service stylebooks to provide such guidance. For consistency, most newspapers follow rules in The Associated Press Stylebook. Many also list their own exceptions to AP style in a separate style sheet. There often are good reasons for local excep- tions. For example, AP style calls for spelling out First Street through Ninth Street but using numerals for 10th Street and above. But if a city has only 10 numbered streets, for consis- tency it might make sense to use Tenth Street.
This appendix is an abbreviated summary of the primary rules of wire-service style. This summary should be helpful even for those without a stylebook, but we provide it assuming that most users of this book have one. Why? Because this section includes only the rules used most frequently, arranged by topic to make them easier to learn. Only about 10 percent of the rules in a stylebook account for 90 percent of the wire-service style you will use regularly. You will use the rest of the rules about 10 percent of the time. It makes sense, therefore, to learn first those rules you will use most often.

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMSI
Punctuation of Abbreviation
–    Generally speaking, abbreviations of two letters or fewer have periods: 600 B.C., A.D. 1066 8 a.m., 7 p.m. U.N., U.S., R.I., N.Y.
8151 Yosemite St. EXCEPTIONS: AM radio, FM radio, 35 mm camera, the AP Stylebook, “LA smog,” D-Mass., R-Kan., IQ, TV, EU
–    Most abbreviations of three letters or more do not have periods: CIA, FBI, NATO mpg, mph EXCEPTION: c.o.d. for cash on delivery or collect on delivery
Symbol
–    Always write out % as percent in a story, but you may use the symbol in a headline.
–    Always write out & as and unless it is part of a company’s formal name.
–    Always write out ¢ as cent or cent.

Wire-Service Style Summary

–    Always use the symbol $ rather than the word dollar with any actual figure, and put the symbol before the figure. Write out dollar only if you are speaking of, say, the value of the dollar on the world market.
Date
–    Never abbreviate days of the week except in a table. G    Don’t abbreviate a month unless it has a date of the month with it:
August 2011; Aug. 17; Aug. 17, 2011. G    The five months spelled with five letters or fewer are never abbreviated:
March; April 20; May 13, 2011; June 1956; July of that year.
–    Never abbreviate Christmas as Xmas, even in a headline.
–    Fourth of July is written out.
People and Titlesi
–    Some publications still use courtesy titles (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss) on second reference in stories, although most seem to have moved away from them as sexist. Many publica- tions use them only in quotations from sources. Others use them only in obituaries and editorials, or on second reference in stories mentioning a husband and wife. In the last case, some newspapers prefer to repeat the person’s whole name or, especially in features, use the person’s first name. The Associated Press suggests using a courtesy title when someone requests it, but most journalists don’t bother to ask.
–    Use the abbreviations Dr. (for a medical doctor, not someone with a Ph.D. degree), Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., Sen. and the Rev., as well as abbreviations of military titles, on first reference; then drop the title on subsequent references. Some titles you might expect to see abbreviated before a name are not abbreviated in AP style: Attorney General, District Attorney, President, Professor, Superintendent.
–    Use the abbreviations Jr. and Sr. after a name on first reference if appropriate, but do not set them off by commas as you learned to do in English class.

Organization
G Write out the first reference to most organizations in full rather than using an acronym: National Organization for Women. For CIA and FBI, however, the acronym may be used on the first reference.
G You may use well-known abbreviations such as FCC and NOW in a headline even though they would not be acceptable on first reference in the story.
–    Do not put the abbreviation of an organization in parentheses after the full name on first reference. If an abbreviation is that confusing, don’t use it at all but rather call the organization something like “the gay rights group” or “the bureau” on second reference.
–    Use the abbreviations Co., Cos., Corp., Inc. and Ltd. at the end of a company’s name even if the company spells out the word; do not abbreviate these words if followed by other words such as “of America.” The abbreviations Co., Cos. and Corp. are used, how- ever, if followed by Inc. or Ltd. (These latter two abbreviations are not set off by com- mas even if the company uses commas.)

Appendix 2
–    Abbreviate political affiliations after a name in the following way: Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said . . .
Note the use of a single letter without a period for the party and the use of commas around the party and state.
–    Never abbreviate the word association, even as part of a name. Placesi
–    Don’t abbreviate a state name unless it follows the name of a city in that state: Nevada; Brown City, Mich.
–    Never abbreviate the six states spelled with five or fewer letters or the two noncontigu- ous states: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, Utah
–    Use the traditional state abbreviations, not the Postal Service’s two-letter ones: Miss., not MS
EXCEPTION: Use the two-letter postal abbreviations when a full address is given that includes a ZIP code.
Here are the abbreviations used in normal copy:
Ala.    Fla. Ariz.    Ga. Ark.    Ill. Calif.    Ind. Colo.    Kan. Conn.    Ky. Del.    La.
Md. Mass. Mich. Minn. Miss. Mo. Mont.
Neb.    N.D. Nev.    Okla. N.H.    Ore. N.J.    Pa. N.M.    R.I. N.Y.    S.C. N.C.    S.D.
Tenn. Vt. Va. Wash. W. Va. Wis. Wyo.

Use state abbreviations with domestic towns and cities unless they appear in the wire- service dateline list of cities that stand alone. Many publications add to the wire-service list their own list of towns well-known in the state or region. Use a nation’s full name with foreign towns and cities unless they appear in the wire-service dateline list of cities that stand alone. Once a state or nation has been identified in a story, it is unnec- essary to repeat the name unless clarity demands it. The lists of cities in the U.S. and the rest of the world that the wire services say may stand alone without a state abbre- viation or nation are too lengthy to include here. Consult the appropriate stylebook. A handy rule of thumb is if it’s an American city that has a major sports franchise, it probably stands alone. Likewise, if it’s a foreign city most people have heard of, it prob- ably stands alone.
–    Don’t abbreviate the names of thoroughfares if there is no street address with them: Main Street, Century Boulevard West.
–    If the thoroughfare’s name has the word avenue, boulevard, street or any of the direc- tions on a map, such as north or southeast, abbreviate those words with a street address: 1044 W. Maple St., 1424 Lee Blvd. S., 999 Jackson Ave.
–    In a highway’s name, always abbreviate U.S. but never abbreviate a state’s name. In the case of an interstate highway, the name is written in full on first reference, abbreviated on subsequent ones:

Wire-Service Style Summary

U.S. 63 or U.S. Highway 63, Massachusetts 2
Interstate 70 (first reference), I-70 (second reference) G    Never abbreviate Fort or Mount.
–    Always use the abbreviation St. for Saint in place names. Exceptions: Saint John in NewBrunswick, Ste. Genevieve in Missouri, Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan and Ontario.
–    Abbreviate U.S., U.K. and U.N. as both nouns and adjectives.
Miscellaneousi
–    Use the abbreviation IQ (no periods) in all references to intelligence quotient. –    Abbreviate and capitalize the word number when followed by a numeral: No. 1.
–    Use the abbreviation TV (no periods) as an adjective or noun as an abbreviated form
of television.
–    Use the abbreviation UFO in all references to an unidentified flying object.
–    Spell out versus, except in court cases, which use v followed by a period.

CAPITALIZATION
–    Proper nouns are capitalized; common nouns are not. Unfortunately, this rule is not always easy to apply when the noun is the name of an animal, food or plant or when it is a trademark that has become so well-known that people mistakenly use it generically.
–    Regions are capitalized; directions are not: We drove east two miles to catch the interstate out West.
–    Adjectives and nouns pertaining to a region are capitalized: Southern accent, a South- erner, a Western.
–    A region combined with a country’s name is not capitalized unless the region is part of the name of a divided country: eastern U.S., North Korea.
–    A region combined with a state name is capitalized only if it is famous: Southern Cali- fornia, southern Colorado.
–    When two or more compound proper nouns are combined to share a word in com- mon made plural, the shared plural is lowercased: Missouri and Mississippi rivers, Chrisman and Truman high schools
–    Government and college terms are not always consistent.
•    College departments follow the animal, food and plant rule: Capitalize only wordsthat are already proper nouns in themselves: Spanish department, sociology depart- ment. By contrast, always capitalize a specific government department, even without the city, state or federal designator, and even if it’s turned around with of deleted: Police Department, Fire Department, State Department, Department of Commerce.
•    College and government committees are capitalized if the formal name is given rather than a shorter, descriptive designation: Special Senate Select Committee to Investigate Improper Labor-Management Practices; rackets committee.
• Academic degrees are spelled out and lowercased: bachelor of arts degree, master’s degree. Avoid the abbreviations Ph.D., M.A., B.A., etc., except in lists.
• Always capitalize (unless plural or generic) City Council and County Commission (but alone, council and commission are lowercased). Cabinet is capitalized when referring to advisers. Legislature is capitalized if the state’s body is formally named that. Capitol, the building, is capitalized, but capital, the city, is not. Capitalize City Hall even without the city name but not county courthouse without the name of the county.
•  Nevercapitalizeboardofdirectorsorboardoftrustees( (but formal governing bodies, such as Board of Curators and Board of Education, are capitalized). Federal, govern- ment and administration are not capitalized. President and vice president are capital- ized only before a name and only when not set off with a comma:
President Barack Obama Vice President Joe Biden the president, Barack Obama,
•    Military titles (Sgt., Maj., Gen.) are capitalized before a name, as are Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy if referring to U.S. forces.
•    Political parties are capitalized, including the word party : Democratic Party, Socialist Party. Be sure, however, to capitalize words such as communist, democratic, fascist and socialist only if they refer to a formal party rather than a philosophy.
–    Some Internet and electronics terms are capitalized; some are not:
–    •    Internet and the Net (acceptable in later references) are capitalized.
–     •    World Wide Web, the Web and Web page are capitalized. But website, webcam, webcastand webmaster are lowercased.
–    •    E-mail and other similar terms (e-book, e-commerce, e-business) are lowercased.
–    Some religious terms are capitalized; some are not:
–    •Pope is lowercased except before a name: the pope, Pope Benedict XIV.
–    •    Mass is always capitalized.
–    • Pronouns for God and Jesus are lower cased.

Names of religious figures are capitalized: Prophet Muhammad, Buddha.
• Names of holy books are capitalized :Talmud, Quran(preferred to Koran); Bible is capitalized when meaning the Holy Scriptures and lowercased when referring to
another book: a hunter’s bible.
• SacramentsarecapitalizediftheycommemorateeventsinthelifeofJesusorsignifyhis presence: Holy Communion but baptism, communion. G    Actual names of races and nationalities are capitalized, but color descriptions are not:
African-American or black (for a black person of African descent who is from the U.S.), American Indian or Native American (but using the name of a specific tribe is prefer- able), Arab, Asian (preferred to Oriental for nations and people), Caucasian, Cherokee, Chinese (singular and plural), French Canadian, Negro (used only in names of organi- zations and quotations), Japanese (singular and plural), white.
–    Formal titles of people are capitalized before a name, but occupational names are not: President Barack Obama, Mayor Laura Miller, Coach Roy Williams, Dean Jaime Lopez, astronaut Ellen Ochoa, journalist Fred Francis, plumber Phil Sanders, pharmacist Roger Wheaton.
Some titles are not easy to recognize: managing editor, chief executive officer. When in doubt, put the title behind the name, set off with commas, and use lowercase.
–    Formal titles that are capitalized before a name are lowercased after a name: Barack Obama, president of the U.S.; Tom Leppert, mayor of Dallas Roy Williams, coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels; Fred Wilson, dean of students.

Formal titles that are abbreviated before a name are written out and lowercased if they follow a name: Gov. David Paterson; David Paterson, governor of New York Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; Lindsey Graham, senator from South Carolina
–    The first word in a direct quotation is capitalized only if the quote meets both of these criteria:
• It is a complete sentence. Don’t capitalize a partial quote.
• It stands alone as a separate sentence or paragraph, or it is set off from it’s source by a comma or colon.
–    A question within a sentence is capitalized:
My only question is, When do we start?

NUMBERS
–    Cardinal numbers (numerals) are used in:
–    • Addresses.Alwaysusenumeralsforstreetaddresses:1322N.17thSt.
• Ages.Alwaysusenumerals,evenfordaysormonths:3daysold;JohnBurnside,56.
• Aircraftandspacecraft:F-4,DC-10,Apollo11.Exception:AirForceOne.
• Clothessizes:size6.
• Dates. Always use the numeral alone —nost,nd,rdorthafterit:March20.
• Decades:the1980s,the’80s.
• Dimensions: 5-foot-6-inch guard (but no hyphen when the word modified is one
associated with size: 3 feet tall, 10 feet long).
• Highways:U.S.63.
• Millions,billions and trillions: 1.2billion,6million.
• Money. Always use numerals, but starting with a million, write like this:$1.4million.
• Numbers: No.1,No.2.
• Percentages.Alwaysusenumeralsexceptatthebeginningofasentence:4percent.
• Recipes. All numbers for amounts take numerals: 2 tea spoons.
• Speeds:55mph,4knots. • Sports. Use numerals for just about everything: 8-6 score, 2 yards, 3-under-par, 2 strokes.
• Temperatures. Use numerals for all except zero. Below zero, spell out minus:minus6, not -6 (except in tabular data).
• Times:4a.m.,6:32p.m.,noon,midnight,fiveminutes,threehours.
• Weights:7pounds,11ounces.
• Years: Use numerals without commas. A year is the only numeral that can start a
sentence: 1988 was a good year.
–    Numerals with the suffixes st, nd, rd and th are used for:
• Political divisions (precincts, wards, districts ):3rdCongressionalDistrict.
• Military sequences: 1stLt., 2ndDivision, 7thFleet.
• Courts: 2ndDistrictCourt; 10thCircuit Court of Appeals.
• Streets after Ninth. For First through Ninth, use words: Fifth Avenue,13thStreet.
• Amendments to the Constitution after Ninth. For First through Ninth, use words:
First Amendment, 16th Amendment.

–    Words are used for:
• Numbers less than 10, with the exceptions noted above: five people, four rules.
• Any number at the start of a sentence except for a year: Sixteen years ago…
• Casual numbers: about a hundred or so.
• Fractions less than one: one-half.
–    Mixed numerals are used for fractions greater than one: 11/2. G    Roman numerals are used for a man who is the third or later in his family to bear a name and for a king, queen, pope or world war: John D. Rockefeller III, Queen Elizabeth II, Pope John Paul II, World War I.
Eng 219 – Week 2 Rubric
Writing Assignment: Write an Obituary

Category    Points    Weighting    Description
Ideas & Content    30 pts    43%    All key elements of the assignment are covered in a substantive way.  Style of writing and content are appropriate to assignment. (For example, news articles report on the news, obituaries are short and only have relevant information, etc.)  The style and content are clearly established and fit the genre of the article and are suitable for inclusion in the class newspaper.
Grammar and Spelling    10 pts    14%    Paper is well written and is college level writing.  Rules of grammar, usage, and punctuation are followed. Spelling is correct. Little or no need for editing.
Organization     30 pts    43%    Clear article lead (introduction) to set up the story and the student touched on who, what, when and where within the article. Included a headline that was strong and concise.  Sentences are complete and clear. Variation in pacing, sentence structure and length adds interest. Demonstrates effective journalistic style of writing.
Total    70 Pts    100%    A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the above requirements.

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