Writing/Editing

Remote Form Sources

Adventure WV

• Blue Ridge Outdoors
• West Virginia Tourism
• West Virginia State Parks
• Visit Southern West Virginia
• New River Gorge - National Park Service
• Wonderful West Virginia Magazine
• West Virginia Living
• Spotlight West Virginia
• West Virginia DNR
• Visit Mountaineer Country
• Highland Outdoors
• West Virginia Garden Club
• West Virginia Explorer

Campus Recreation

• Health
• Healthline
• Well and Good

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WVU Brand Guide

• The WVU Style Guide is based around AP Style, and the main thing that pops up with this when you are editing or writing is that we do not use the Oxford Comma. I know - it hurts the soul, but that’s just how it is.
• For questions related to words and their meaning, WVU abides by the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.
• Abbreviation Guide
• Academic and Professional Titles - biggest thing to note with this is that, if you say “Director Smith did this” then Director and Smith are capitalized. However, if you say “The director did this” then it is not capitalized.
• Style and Punctuation - main thing is to keep to active voice whenever you can. Super peppy and active up in here.
• Common Words and Expressions - this one is really useful and fun because you get to see how WVU just makes up their own rules when it comes to the English language sometimes. And we just, like, go with it.
• Personality - I am going to go into the voices of Campus Rec, Adventure WV, and all that jazz, but this is a nice general overview that shows you what is encompassed in the voice of WVU altogether.
• Flexibility - I don’t know why this section is called flexibility, cause, I mean, it doesn’t seem that flexible. Basically just random niche rules to do with language like “go first” or “-ing” verbs.
• Getting It Right - I know this is supposed to be, like, an encouraging title, but it sounds kind of threatening. It is literally just 5 tips on how to write University content.

One-Sheets

Template: I uploaded the template I use to the Drive. Go to the “Reference Tools” folder, then “Writing/Editing,” and you will see the One-Sheet template there. You can download it to have for yourself, if you want.

Research: Make sure you are in contact with the right people, which are usually those included in the project. You need all the information you can get. When is the event happening? How long? Do people need to register? What is the price? You need tons of details that you will, in turn, tone down and frame in an exciting way.

Audience: Technically, with one-sheets, you have five different audiences, as you are producing content for five different outlets (UNews, ENews, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). One thing remains the same for all of them - always have a link to more information. It is what the people want. Here is what to consider for each of them when writing:

• UNews: 2-3 paragraphs. This is students, and it is where they are getting the bulk of the information, often for the first time. If it is an announcement, make it exciting. How will this affect them? Is it free? Why do they want to do it? What details will stick out the most to them?
• ENews: 2-3 paragraphs. This is faculty and staff. Think professors, particularly ones who are truly involved with the University and care about their students. Does the news concern them (as in, can they participate in whatever you are writing about)? If so, make that clear. If not, explain why it would help their students. As stress relief? To further their educational journeys, etc.?
• Facebook: This is where you get to be the longest with your social posts. I usually do 2 smallish paragraphs, but I also, as is obvious with this guide, like to write a lot, so just do whatever feels right. The Facebook posts are basically just a condensed version of UNews, but with more excitement in the tone.
• Twitter: There is a character cap. My advice is that the shorter you can make the post while still making it clear and engaging, the better. Who wants to read a long Twitter post? Not many people. I often do 3 lines. Always make sure to type the tweet out (including the link) in Twitter to make sure you are under the cap before submitting.
• Instagram: Almost the same as Facebook, but try making it a bit shorter, and changing the language up so it is not exactly the same post. You only do one Instagram post (unless otherwise noted) and the rest are Instagram story posts. Links do not work on Instagram. You will have to guide readers through how to access the information (ex: On the Campus Rec website, look under the “Find Your Fit” tab and click on the…)

Submitting: Where and how you submit your finished draft has changed over the years. Usually, there is a to-do made called “One-sheet” in the project it is for, and you will post the link there, tagging Matt and Logan and anyone else who is supposed to be informed. If not there, then often it is in the comments section of the To-Do, or the Campfire of the project. Just make sure you watch your notifications for when edits are requested or when you can submit the U/Enews.

Submitting U/ENews: The respective links in the U and E News sections take you to their submission forms. Always submit at least 48 hours in advance of when the clients or Matt/Logan want it to go out. If not, it may not get posted. The forms themselves are pretty explanatory. For Enews, always try to submit a photo or graphic if you have one since it gives the option, as they may make it front page news.

Triggers

Making triggers for staff articles: I don’t know if you will be in charge of this, but part of my job for a while has been creating the triggers for our own staff articles. This means checking the article submissions board each time I am clocked in to see if anyone has recently been published to the site (including my own articles), and if so, creating a trigger for them under Campus Rec’s social, as follows:

1. Open the published article link. Read it fully if you want/have time. If not, skim it to get the list
2. Copy the link
3. Go to “WVUGo: Writing, Editing and Social Media” team
4. Go to “To-Dos”
5. Scroll down to Remote Forms-Campus Rec
6. If the article is on a time constraint (needs to be published quickly) add it before all other existing triggers there. If not, click the three lines next to the last trigger listed
7. Click “Insert a to-do”
8. Make the section that says “Describe this to-do…” something short that describes this article followed by the author’s initials
9. Make a Facebook and Twitter post giving the briefest of engaging summaries about what the author is talking about, making sure to mention “one of our writers, _____, …” and link the article.
10. Note: If there are a lot of staff articles, they can be next to each other, but if there are only a few without necessary deadlines, try dispersing them so it is a staff article, a regular trigger, a staff article, etc.

Finding triggers: There are some tips I always follow when locating triggers:

• Use the links provided in the To-Do. The links provided in the To-Do each week for finding stuff for Campus Rec (like Healthline, Well & Good, etc.) and Adventure WV (WV Tourism, Blue Ridge Outdoors, etc.) are super helpful. You can also find things on other websites though, so don’t be afraid to look.
• Look at what is already added to the trigger section. This is a biggie, because I often see people posting the same article since no one looks. Don’t just post the newest article on REI, because chances are, someone already has. Just take a quick glance.
• Make a Facebook and Twitter post, unless there isn’t enough content in the article (like if it is just a recipe). Keep in mind that Facebook allows for longer captions, and Twitter is just a quick line or two. Make the content different; think about the audiences.

Editing Triggers: I also don’t know if you’ll be in charge of this, but if so, these are the tips I follow:

• Make them interesting: Often, people will just submit the link and half a sentence about the article. Read the article, or at least skim it, and come up with a short summary that is engaging to students. Try to make a Facebook and Twitter post! We want to look involved on all our platforms.
• Check for doubles: If you notice two different people have submitted the same article, delete one of them. It doesn’t matter which. If you feel like you have seen that article submitted before, look back through posted triggers to see if you can find it. If you do, delete the one not posted.
• Keep some of the language: If it is obvious someone actually tried to put effort into creating the captions, don’t just change it to fit your aesthetics. If it needs a little boost, try to keep as much of their language as you can while making it more suitable to be posted.

Weekly Articles

Template - I uploaded the template to the Reference Tools folder inside the Writing/Editing folder. This has some clear instructions, although some things, like the article type, are outdated.

Creativity is Key - This is where you get to be the most creative. If you are not covering current events, choose a topic that students find interesting! What does someone following Campus Rec or Adventure WV want to know about? Do some quick research; write about it! Make it creative or funny or outgoing.

WVUGo Photos - Get some inspiration from the photography photos on Smugmug or Google Drive, or just use them to accompany your article.

No plagiarizing please - Don’t forget to cite your sources and photos!

Upload - Make sure to upload your article link to the “Article Submissions” Message Board under the WVUGo: Writing, Editing and Social Media team.

Adventure WV First-Year Trip Emails

Overview: These are the emails sent out to incoming first-year students and their parents, encouraging them to register for an Adventure WV First-Year trip. They are one of the most important marketing tools for these trips, and have a large audience. As a writer, you create the content for each email, and then they are built and sent out through Mailchimp.

Audiences: There are two audiences for these emails. While the number of emails for each month could vary from 1-3, each one has two versions: parents and students.

• Incoming students: For this audience, you are stressing the fun and diversity of activities (ranging from bonding around a campfire to whitewater rafting and other such adventure activities), the building of friendships, earning a college credit, and, for some trips, moving in before everyone else. All the things that would appeal to an incoming first-year student.
• Parents: For this audience, you are stressing all of the above, but specifically how it would help the students of loving and worried guardians acclimate to college life by making friends and learning what it means to be a Mountaineer. Stress more here the cost as well ($95 or less), and the details important to parents (where their children will be, what they will be doing, no requirement of experience, etc.)
• Style: While the directors of these trips will give you an idea to base each email around, you should log in to Mailchimp to copy and paste previous years’ templates so you have the correct style (type, color, headings, subsections, even language).
• Social: Usually, each month, you will be creating a set of 4-6 social posts that distill the information from your emails into smaller, bite-sized chunks, always including a link to the website. You can just work with the content you have already created.

WVUGo Newsletter

Overview: These are the newsletters we try to send out at least once a semester, sometimes more or monthly, to a large audience of email subscribers. They detail information about upcoming events and things of note for Campus Rec, Adventure WV and sometimes Collegiate Recovery. Usually, the writer creates the blurbs for the different events outlined.

The blurbs: These are small, bite-sized paragraphs (really like 2-3 sentences) describing the event (there will probably already be a list of events you have to create these for). You probably have already written for most of these things in the past, so you could even pull content from social posts and reword it for the newsletter. The link to more information will be embedded in the accompanying image, so you do not have to worry about that.

Format: Really, the only rule of thumb to try to follow with these is to keep the blurbs the same length as the accompanying photo or slightly shorter so that it does not create gaps in the newsletter content. This creates a more uniform look.