Vincent F. Filak (B.A. and M.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison; Ph.D. University of Missouri) is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He teaches writing and editing courses and serves as the adviser to the school’s award-winning newspaper, The Advance-Titan. He has taught journalism courses at the University of Missouri, the University of Wisconsin and Ball State University, where he also advised the Ball State Daily News. He produced the book Convergent Journalism: An Introduction (2005) with Dr. Stephen Quinn and has contributed to the books Media in an American Crisis: Studies of Sept. 11, 2001 and Understanding Media Convergence. He has extensively published research on issues of media convergence, e-learning and student journalism.

1) Brief Table of Contents

2) Full Table of Contents

1) Brief Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Online 

Chapter 2: Online editors

Chapter 3: Online audiences 

Section Two: Generating Content

Chapter 4: Convergent packages 

Chapter 5: Photographs, galleries, slideshows and captions

Chapter 6: Graphics, blurbs and boxes

Chapter 7: Audio, video and the Web

Section Three: Revising and Editing

Chapter 8 : Making copy right

Chapter 9 : Making copy sing

Chapter 10 : Punctuation and usage

Chapter 11: Style

Section Four: Gathering an Audience and Gaining its Attention

Chapter 12 : Headlines

Chapter 13: Social media and linked material

Chapter 14: Design on the Web

Chapter 15: Online marketing

Section Six: Guarding Against Problems

Chapter 16: Online law, copyright and fair use

Chapter 17: Online ethics

Chapter 1: Online 
Online storytelling forms
Shovelware sites
Web-first and Web-only sites
Web-only sites
Hyperlocal and citizens journalism sites
Mobile delivery of content
Social media interaction
Final thoughts

Chapter 2: Online editors
Preparing to be an editor
The job of an editor
The editor as a manager
How to coach writers
The editing process
The first cut
How to criticize effectively
Editing for the bigger picture
Final thoughts

Chapter 3: Online audiences 
Online audiences
Researching your site’s audience
Local focus
Final thoughts

Chapter 4: Convergent packages 
Understanding convergence
Tools of the trade
Approaching the news
Dealing with feedback
Final thoughts

Chapter 5: Photographs, galleries, slideshows and captions
Choosing photographs
Preparing photographs
Presenting photographs
Writing captions
Working with photographers
Final thoughts

Chapter 6: Graphics, blurbs and boxes
Basics of a graphic
The spectrum of graphics
Boxes
Graphics beyond the box
Interactive graphics
Final thoughts

Chapter 7: Audio, video and the Web
Audio
Video
Video quality
Editing basics
Editing the package step by step
Final thoughts

Section Three: Revising and Editing

Chapter 8 : Making copy right
Making copy right with content that speaks to your audience
Making copy right with leads
Making copy right with solid facts
Making copy right with tight writing
Final thoughts

Making copy sing with effective leads
Making copy sing with concrete details
Making copy sing with strong quotes
Final thoughts

Chapter 10 : Punctuation and usage
Commas
Semicolons
Apostrophes
Hyphens
Dashes
Colons
Quotation marks
Question marks
Exclamation points
Parentheses
Irregular verbs
Agreement
Troublesome pronouns
Prepositions
Final thoughts

Chapter 11: Style
Breakout: David Minthorn
Abbreviations and acronyms
Capitalization
Misspelled and misused words
Numbers
Plurals
Final thoughts

Chapter 12 : Headlines
What headlines do
The core of a good headline
Things to do before writing a headline
Key elements to writing a headline
Things to do after writing a headline
SEO and headlines
How is SEO comparable to what I’m already doing?
How is SEO different from what I’m doing?
The dark side of SEO headlines
Final thoughts

Chapter 13: Social media and linked material
Social media defined
Understanding social media approaches
Social networking sites
Social news sites
Reacting tools
Disadvantages of social media
Hyperlinking
Basic rules for linking
Final thoughts

Chapter 14: Design on the Web
Basic principles of design
Color and background
Type
Font selection
Font size
Font color/contrast
Photos, graphics and other visuals
Creating your pages
Sketching out the basics
Modular design
Other design considerations
Final thoughts

Chapter 15: Online marketing
Website marketing goals
Search engine optimization
Reader comments
Email promotion
RSS and Feedburner
Social media marketing
Other marketing techniques
Final thoughts

Chapter 16: Online law, copyright and fair use
Freedom of the press
Libel
Defenses against libel
Communications Decency Act
Libel tourism
Invasion of privacy
Copyright
Online limits to liability
Creative Commons
Final thoughts

Chapter 17: Online ethics
Ethics defined
Models of ethics
Issues regarding editing and ethics
Audience standards and the Breakfast Test
Establishing rules and guidelines
Working with reporters
The balancing act
Visual ethics
An ethical thought process
Final thoughts

Appendix
Chapter 3 — Free polling and survey sites
Chapter 7 — Multimedia news sites
Chapter 8 — Checking math
Chapter 8 — Weak adjectives and adverbs
Chapter 8 — Circumlocutions
Chapter 8 — Redundancies
Chapter 8 — Clichés
Chapter 8 — Euphemisms
Chapter 10 — Conjunctive adverbs
Chapter 10 — Irregular verbs
Chapter 10 — Collective nouns
Chapter 10 — Wordy prepositions

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