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Campus Weekly Newspapers

Advice and suggestions on betternews gathering and writing

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Generating Ideas Observe the people and places around you

Talk with people and listen to theirconversations

Examine local and national stories Divide broader topics into smaller

components

Pay attention to new and established

programs Read personal and classified ads

Create an interesting article ideas folder

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Getting Started Write a focused statement that succinctly

explains the point of your story

Use specific facts

Conduct any necessary backgroundresearch to be sure you understand whatyoure writing about

Conduct interviews and be ready withspecific questions

Dont interview without doing your homeworkfirst literally

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Gathering Information Understand the difference between fact and

opinion Fact: information about an issue you can verify

is correct (or incorrect) Opinion: someones view of an issue

Info can be gathered through your ownobservation, interviews, backgroundresearch, public records research

This should be the hardest part of your job;but if you do this well writing the articlewill be easy well, easier.

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Before You Write ANYTHING Make sure youve done all the work you

need to do and that youve presented allsides of an issue accurately

Create an outline of what youve learned starting with the most important piece ofinformation and ending with the leastimportant

Provide answers to the 5 Ws and H: Who?What? Where? When? Why? How? If you cant answer these, you arent ready to

write your article

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Writing an effective lead Start with the most important piece of

information Make it relevant to readers immediately

Dont say the budget came out Say the new budget if approved will cost

taxpayers $300 more a year

Keep the first sentence to under 30 words Include as many of the 5 Ws and H as

appropriate Use active voice verbs Write in the present tense

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The Inverted Pyramid A journalism standard

Lede sentence

Opening paragraph that presents themost significant information in the story

Present information in descending orderof importance (and that support the lede

and opening paragraph) Least important information appears at

the bottom of the story.

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Remember Your English lessons Avoid cliches like the plague

Dont start sentences with There is,

There are state the facts Use as few words as possible be

concise, accurate and specific

Keep sentences short

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A Word About Plagiarism If you use a sources specific word or

words, you must place those words

within quotation marksand

you mustcredit the source.

if you obtained the information orideas you are presenting from a

source, you must attribute the source

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News Gathering The homework of news reporters

Collect as much relative information as you can aboutyour subject

Contact any agencies or associations with interest orexpertise in the area

Create a list of people you want to interview; coverboth sides of the story by interviewing people on bothsides of the issue

Collect government statistics and reports on the

subject, if relevant Get old press releases or reports to use as

background

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Interviews Be prepared

Write out a set of questions

Consider taping interviews Be ready to adapt your story based

on what you hear

Be courteous and respectful Take good notes quotes and

background

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Interviewing Tips Develop a positive, polite, but still objective,

relationship with the person you are interviewing.

Explain the ground rules of the interview, and mindyour subject's reactions to your questions.

Pace the difficulty of your questions according to yoursubject's responsiveness.

Maintain control over the interview. Don't let themstray away from the topic.

Don't try to predetermine what quotes or information

you will come away with. Remember: your subject isthe expert on your topic, not you.

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Note taking Create your own shorthand

No vowels

Make sure they are legible Hold on to them for a period of time

Be consistent in how you handle

notes Dont share your notes with anyone

but your editor

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Quoting Sources Know when to paraphrase and when to quote

Quotes should add emphasis or support yourwords

Think of what "your own words" would be if you weretelling someone who's unfamiliar with your subject

what the original source said Don't simply drop quotations into your article and

leave it to the reader to make connections

Be sure you use exact quotes

Use ellipsis points (. . .) to indicate an omission within

a quotation Within quotations, use square brackets [ ] to add your

own clarification

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Now What? Gather your notes, interviews and

research into a file

Review your notes Look for a common theme

Search your notes for good quotes orinteresting facts

Develop a focus Write the focus of the article down in

two or three sentences

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Essentials Write what you know

Interview at least three people for

any given article Dont plagiarize or fictionalize

Use quotes to emphasize, not to

explain Communicate with your editor

Meet your deadlines

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Suggested Activities Watch All The Presidents Men and

Shattered Glass

Check out online news training sites Newsu.org

Poynter.org

SPJ

Read good newspaper writing