Putting it together…a news story• Take about 5 minutes with your

interview notes

• Make a list of the “facts” from your interview

News story: Inverted Pyramid

News story: Examples

• Pick an example to read through—don’t just pick the shortest

• Look at:• Leads• Paragraphs• Quotes

Prioritizing your facts

• Now, look back at your list of facts from your interview person

• Take about 5 minutes to prioritize them—what’s the most important, and what’s the least important? Number them

Before we start writing…

Boring-but-important advice every reporter should memorize.

The Rest of the Story

Vary your sentence lengths.

Remember that short paragraphs encourage readers to continue reading.

Limit paragraphs to: 60 words or fewer No more than 10 typeset lines, or One to three sentences.

The Rest of the Story

Paragraphs should generally only contain one idea.

Quotes stand alone as their own paragraphs. Do not start a quote ½ way through a paragraph.

Avoid introducing new information at the end of a story.

Carefully placed transitions guide the reader from one thought to another.

Editing and Style

Eliminate words such as when asked and concluded.

Omit the word that whenever possible.

On first reference, use the person’s first and last name (and title if necessary).

On second reference use last name only (no titles).

Rules of Grammar

KNOW THEM!

Know the difference between: It’s/its; who’s/whose;

their/there/they’re

Word Choices

Use simple words. Don’t send readers to the dictionary.

Word Choices

Avoid words that reinforce ethnic, racial, gender or ageist stereotypes.

Avoid referring to someone’s ethnicity, race, gender or age unless it is essential for the story.

Respect people with disabilities.

Punctuation

When in doubt about using a comma, leave it out.

Use an exclamation mark only after brief expletives. Fire! Run! Goal!

If you ever catch yourself overusing a set of punctuation marks, force yourself to stop.

Simple sentence structures are always the best.

Putting it together…

• By class tomorrow, you need a story about your interview partner. Type in Google Docs

• Follow inverted pyramid

• Use example stories to guide you

• Story should be 250-350words long, and include at least 3 quotes