Petit Jean

staff manual

Job Descriptions
Assistant Editor -The Petit Jean assistant editor falls underneath the editor-in-chief. The assistant editor will partner with the editor on several responsibilities including but not limited to: Staying informed about happenings involving students and other university personnel Assigning the appropriate number of pages to sections and developing ladder Keeping a production schedule in Google document form of each sections progress Keeping the staff working ahead and organized rather than waiting until the last minute Preparing and editing pages for submission Helping manage the writing class and editing all stories The assistant editor will have the following responsibilities to oversee: Working with the adviser in setting up/promoting portrait photographs Overseeing the index input, beginning as soon as pages are ready for submission Keeping track of the section editors progress (Google document Did they meet deadlines? What pictures are they missing?) Keeping a printout of all submitted pages in a binder for reference and indexing Being available to help the staff Layout Editor The layout editor of the yearbook is responsible for ensuring consistency and creativity through the book. Specific responsibilities include: Working with the editor and section editors to design every section of the yearbook Supplying the section editors with templates of design for deadline purposes Editing and polishing each design at deadline and proof stages Assisting section editors with the templates Assistant Layout Editor -The assistant layout editor of the yearbook assists the layout editor in ensuring consistency and creativity throughout the book by doing the following: Helping implement the layout editors designs Helping ensure design continuity Helping supply section editors with templates of designs for deadline purposes Helping with editing and design during deadline and proof stages Assisting the layout and section editors with designing and deciding on creative graphic features Copy Editor -The copy editor of the yearbook serves a key role in determining the quality of the publication from a writing standpoint. This person must know the language well and know how to use the language properly for feature and historical presentation. The copy editor must spot errors in grammar, punctuation, style and verbiage that others fail to see. The person who serves in this position guards against inaccuracies and questions anything he/she might find unclear. It is the responsibility of the copy editor to perform these tasks without interfering with the writing style of the author (if possible) and without comprising the journalistic standards of the yearbook. The copy editor, with the assistance of the editor and publisher of the yearbook, must guard against problems with legal issues, fairness and appropriateness. The copy editor must be able to select the key idea of a story and use it to suggest good headlines. The Petit Jean copy editor is specifically responsible to: Receive and edit all copy for grammatical, typographical, structural and stylistic errors Copy edit each story on the hard copy that the writer turned in and pass it to the section editor for additional corrections; the section editor should then pass it along to the editor and adviser for final copy editing notations Make all changes to stories before copy is placed on the spreads Keep a Google document of the progress of each story Copy edit page proofs and assist with index as needed Assist section editors as needed in writing headlines and cutlines for all stories and photos Write stories as needed Assistant Copy Editor -The assistant copy editor serves as the copy editors second pair of eyes, providing a further guard to the yearbooks standard of quality writing and presentation. The assistant copy editors duties include the following: Assisting the copy editor in receiving, organizing and editing all copy for grammatical, typographical, structural and stylistic errors Assisting the copy editor in relaying stories to section editors for additional corrections Assisting the copy editor in making on-screen story corrections and saving stories to their proper folders Assisting the copy editor in editing page proofs and assisting with the index as needed Writing stories as need Head Photographer The Petit Jean head photographer is responsible for shooting, downloading and editing photographs as needed, as well as for serving as an adviser with regard to editing and cropping of photographs. Responsibilities include: Assigning a photographer to all main events on campus Assigning a photographer to all assignments from other staff members Communicating with the section editors to guarantee the best photographs are assigned and taken Working with section editors in the selection progress of photographs for each page Downloading, cropping and editing required photographs to desired specifications on schedule Staying knowledgeable of campus events and being available to shoot photographs as needed Keeping all digital images organized on the server, so the staff can easily identify photos

 Collecting the best photographs to be used on the theme pages (title, opening, closing, division, etc.) Assistant Photographers The assistant photographers are responsible for helping the head photographer and attending all assigned photo shoots. Get names of everyone photographed Provide the section editors with information about photographs and assist with caption writing Section Editors Responsibilities for sections differ from one section to another, but every section editor must Attend pre-school workshops as scheduled Be present and working in the office every Tuesday night from 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. (If you are unable to attend a work night, you must get approval by the editor and set up a time to make up your hours.) Be present in the office until all spreads are completed on deadline nights Sign up and assist the portrait photographer as needed Become familiar with Adobe programs for the Macs Work with the editor/page designer to get layouts approved as soon as possible Use the server to back up all of your work Assign group photos as soon as the groups are in place and be present to write down names of each person in photo Assign candid shots as soon as you know what they should be or select from those already shot. DO NOT USE a photo that was assigned by another section editor unless they notify you that they have decided not to use it. Select photos of students who are not in other sections of the book (Make sure not to use your friends or club members for every photo and quote in your section. Also, staff members are not allowed to be pictured in the book unless approved by the editor ahead of time) Turn in 5 story ideas every Tuesday night by 7 p.m. (Label the stories that you would like written first) Edit and approve the stories for each page of your section. Place them appropriately on the page layout. Create and type the headline on the layout, format according to style sheet. Write captions for each photograph and have them approved by copy editors Have all elements of your spread placed on the InDesign document by midnight the Friday prior to deadline night. (Leave early passes will be awarded for every day early your spread is completed and turned in) When notified that proofs are in, check them carefully for any needed corrections and mark the proofs accordingly. This is the last opportunity to ensure accuracy and, therefore, credibility for your pages of the yearbook. Assist the assistant editor with the index for your section Sign up for times to assist in yearbook distribution and be available as needed