Oehler,+Charlotte+M.

For the Unfamiliar Genre Project, I propose to work with news writing. Although I have been in contact with many newspapers and general news articles in my lifetime, I have never been directly instructed in this style. In general, my writing is much wordier and less to-the-point than news writing tends to be, meaning that I will need to learn more about this genre in order to succeed. Through this process, I will also learn more about the writing process, as I will be looking more at sentence structure and revision.

Dear Charlotte: This is a perfectly fine genre, but it will be more authentic if you actually have news or a current topic to write about. Consider some local newspapers and what you could write for them, maybe something about college students. Then find a good story. . . it may not be a current event, but it could be.

Bill

For my project, I would like to look into a news story relating several topics that have been in the public eye lately: suicide, bullying, homosexuality, and the freedom of speech. I believe with my location and perspective, an interesting story could be told.

The End of Bullying Begins With Me! News Article

__**A User's Guide to News Writing & Reporting**__

The general purpose of news writing is to inform a particular audience of an event, either physical, political, theological, ideological, or otherwise. Articles are written in a timely manner and are released to an audience that is related to the incident in some form, whether by proximity, interest, or impact. Stories can inspire, entertain, or create new streams of thought. They report recent trends, issues, happenings, conflicts, and/or unusual occurrences.

Beyond the qualities found in news writing and reporting, there are several components of news writing and reporting that carry great significance. The language of a journalist is very different from that of other writers in vocabulary, syntax, perspective, content, and structure.

Vocabulary is of news writing is precise. Nouns are exact and verbs are strong. Writers typically do not skirt around an issue by using euphemisms or slang. This is because articles are kept short and to the point. Extra wordage skews meaning and can have negative effects on the impact of a piece. Several rules must be followed, including how to write dollar amounts, numbers, and other such stylistic disputes.

Journalistic writing should try to be free of bias. To do this, one must work to be objective, not using first person or discussing opinion in a factual manner. It is possible for opinion to be interjected, but only under the umbrella of evidence. Journalists should understand the audience to which they write and publish their work, meaning that they can predict any objections and/or praises and respond in a knowledgeable manner.

The structure of a basic news story is very much unlike the structure for other forms of writing, such as a five paragraph essay or formal poetry. For the specific genre of reporting that I hope to study, one should write using what is called the five box form. The five box form begins with a lead - a 25 word summary of the article. The lead should be intriguing and will entice the reader to read further. The following paragraph, referred to as the nut graph by some, will be short and will summarize any important information that was not included in the lead. The body of the news story holds the meat and flesh, the organs and excitement that covers the skeletal formation of the piece. The body is where details and interviews are located. After the body, one will find the boring but important information, or the vital statistics. Placing all of the stats in one location will keep the reader from feeling overwhelmed throughout the piece, but well-informed nonetheless. Lastly, the author of a news story will conclude all findings.


 * __Annotated Bibliography__**

Verdi, Benjamin. "Who Is Jesus? Most Graffiti Responses Miss the Point." //Ann Arbor News, Blogs, Events & Discussion//. 10 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

Verdi, Benjamin. "Where Are You Going, America? You Can't Build Heaven on Earth." //Ann Arbor News, Blogs, Events & Discussion//. 17 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

I really love Verdi's voice in his articles and the distinct way that he articulates his point of view. Verdi does not push his position on his audience, but gives plausible reasoning in beautiful language while discussing his topic at large.

MacDonald, G. Jeffrey. "In US, Atheists Know Religion Better than Believers. Is That Bad? - NewsTrust.net." //The Christian Science Monitor//. 28 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

I like that this article discussed a recent research study in both the positive and negative aspects. Informative articles should try to remain bias free.

McKinley, Jesse. "Suicides Put Light on Pressures of Gay Teenagers." //The New York Times//. 3 Oct. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

McKinley does an excellent job of discussing the tragedies that the country has seen this week in an informative manner. Several cases were cited and quickly explained. Experts, such as Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, brought light on the situation as well. Discussed opportunities and hardships facing communities, making for a well-rounded article.

Morello, Carol. "Census: 1 in 7 Americans Live in Poverty." //The Washington Post//. 16 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

CBS. "Mammograms' Usefulness Limited, Study Indicates." //The Early Show//. 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

Both Morello and the CBS reporters discuss their issues in a reasonable manner, accurately citing experts and bringing in key evidence. I would like the articles I write to be more complete than these, as I was left with questions, but was satisfied with the information given.