Guide to Writing for High School Journalists
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University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1988 Guide to writing for high school journalists Janet Blank-Libra The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Blank-Libra, Janet, "Guide to writing for high school journalists" (1988). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 7653. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/7653 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1976 Th i s is a n unpublished m a n u s c r i p t in w h i c h c o p y r i g h t SUBSISTS. An y f u r t h e r r e p r i n t i n g o f i t s c o n t e n t s m u s t b e APPROVED BY THE AUTHOR. Ma n s f i e l d L i b r a r y Un i v e r s i t y o f Mo n t a n a Date :____ 1988_ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A GUIDE TO WRITING FOR HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISTS B) Janet BlanK-Libra B.A., South Dakota State University, Stockings, 19SÎ Presented in partial fulfillment for the requirement; for the degree of Master of Arts in Journalism University of Montana 1988 Approved by t-lôo I) ----- Chairman, Board of Examinera Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number; EP38454 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI Oissartstion Publishing UMI EP38454 Published by ProQuest LLC (2013). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor. Ml 48106 -1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © 1988 Janet Blank-Libra ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Blank-Libra, Janet D., M.A., May 1988 A Guide to Writing for High School Journalists (145 pp.) Director: Warren J. Brier P — This thesis is a high school journalism writing text that addresses the educational needs of a high school journalist. One of its major strengths is that it speaks directly to high school journalists. The author has taken into consideration their u- nique circumstances in the world of journalism, using her experi ence as a high school journalism teacher and books written about writing and journalism as resources. Many high school texts ad dress journalism as a skill, a trade. Those texts work to ensure that young journalists know the skills and language of the trade. Writing, however, is more than a skill used in a trade. At its best, it is an art. This guide assumes that young journalists need more than reporting and information-gathering skills. They need to worry about the ingredients of good writing, including grammar. This book, therefore, addresses ways in which a high school journalism student can learn to write well. The ingredients of good writing are stressed--sometimes more than once. For example, writers should obviously know that strong writing combines an or ganized message with sentences containing strong nouns and verbs. They must learn to use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. The need to write concisely is stressed in many books, but the issue often is not dealt with in depth. The book is organized so that students will immediately enter the task of writing. They first will learn how to write leads, then how to organize a story. In chapter four, they slow down to consider the need to be honest, ethical journalists. The strate gies involved in gathering the news and the various types of stories, including the headlines that top them, are discussed in the remainder of the book. The list of writing tips on pages 26 and 27 focuses on problems the author has seen high school journalists struggle with. Stu dents are encouraged to return to the list and use it as a check list for their work. The articles of high school journalists from across the country are used as examples. Most of the stories are award-winning Quill and Scroll entries. Students are able to examine these stories and see what made them winners. Also included are comments about each story— negative and positive. Students might glean ideas for their own publications from the examples in the book. The theme of the book is simple: young people must learn the basics of good writing before they can become good journalists. II Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract.................................................... II Introduction ...................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Journalism and Y o u ...................................... 4 2. The L e a d ............ 7 The Lead's Length ...................................... 7 Gaining Interest through the Lead ...................... 7 The 5 W's--Which of Them Belongs in the L e a d ........... 8 Lead Variations........................................ 13 3. Putting a Story Together ................................ 18 The Inverted P y r a m i d .............................. 18 Writing the S t o r y ...................................... 18 What Are Other Students Writing? ...................... 21 Tips for W r i t e r s ...................................... 26 4. Truth— the Ultimate G o a l ................................ 28 Your Rights and Responsibilities ...................... 29 Libel and Slander ................................ 29 Avoiding Libel ........................................ 29 Public Figures and Officials Vs. Private Figures .... 31 Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta C h i ...................................... 32 5. Attribution and Editorializing .......................... 35 Attribution .......................................... 35 Words to Use in Attribution............................ 37 Editorializing........................................ 39 III Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 6. Information Catherine, Getting Ideas— Part I ............ 42 Beginning the News Gathering Process ................... 43 7. Information Gathering, the Interview--Part II ........... 46 Making a Contact...................................... 47 Interviewing the Source .............................. 47 Taking N o t e s .............................. 49 Keeping up by Using Abbreviations and T a c t ............ 50 Catching Quotations .................................. 51 Be Observant ..... ................................ 51 Tape Recorders and Note P a d s .......................... 52 In Conclusion ........................................ 53 8. Information Gathering, the Query List--Part III ......... 54 Preparing a Question L i s t ............................. 55 Formulas to Boost Your Interviewing Skills ............ 56 The GOSS Formula...................................... 57 The Yak-Yak F o r m u l a .................................. 58 9. An Approach to Editing .............. 60 Chart of Editing Symbols.............................. 61 What the Editing/Rewriting Phase Requires ............ 62 10. The Mechanics of Writing .............................. 66 Factual Errors ........................................ 66 Capitalization Errors ................................ 66 Spelling E r r o r s .................... 67 Punctuation.......................................... 68 The Power of Punctuation........... 68 The C o m m a ........................................... 69 The C o l o n .......................................... 73 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Hyphen.......................................... 74 The Apostrophe...................................... 75 The D a s h ............................................ 75 In Conclusion for Punctuation ...................... 75 Format.......... 76 Set Standards for Yourself.......................... 77 11. Breaking into Feature Writing ........................ 79 What is a Feature S t o r y ? ............................ 79 Elements of a F e a t u r e ............................ 80 The Lead . .................................... 80 The B o d y .......................... 81 The Conclusion.................................. 84 Narrow Your F o c u s ................ 85 Types of Feature Stories .............. 86 L ength.............................................. 90 A Three-Point Checklist ............................ 90 Closing T i p s ........................................ 91 What Are Other Students