Reporting what you have seen... From Reading to Writing In “A Running Brook of Horror,” Daniel Mannix provides an exciting eyewitness account of Grace Wiley’s last encounter with a cobra. He uses sensory details and vivid language to make the incident realistic for his readers. Eyewitness Report

Reporting what you have seen... Eyewitness Report An eyewitness report is a firsthand description of an event. Writers of compelling eyewitness reports can make you feel like you were there, too.

B a s i c s i n a B o x Eyewitness Report at a Glance RUBRIC STANDARDS FOR WRITING A successful eyewitness report should focus on an event that is important to the writer or that is historically important answer the five W’s: who, what, when, where and why explain how the event occurred use sensory details, dialogue, and action verbs to show exactly what the writer observed present events in a clear, logical order capture the mood of the event Re-creation of Event What? the event Who? people involved How? the details When? date, time, year Where? the place Why? cause

 Write down some important incidents that you have witnessed.  Jot down the details you remember.  Attend interesting events listed in school and community bulletins and newspapers. Finding ideas for your eyewitness report: 1 Prewriting Writing Your Eyewitness Report

Planning Your Eyewitness Report 1.Choose a focus. If the event that you have chosen seems too large and complicated, focus on the part that stands out the most.

Planning Your Eyewitness Report 2. Get the facts. Use questions beginning with who, what, when, where, why, and how to gather the facts about the event. Put your facts into a chart so that you can easily keep track of what you know and what you need to find out.

Planning Your Eyewitness Report 3. Re-create the sensations. What were the sights, sounds, smells of the experience? Write down sensory details and vivid images that will express the mood of the event to your readers.

Planning Your Eyewitness Report 4. Record what is said. When interviewing people who witnessed the event, try using a tape recorder to record what they say accurately. Which quotations most clearly give a sense of time, place, and action? 5. Show the importance of the event. Why is this event important to you? How can you communicate its importance to your readers?

Writing Your Eyewitness Report As you write your draft, try to keep the image of the scene in your mind. Focus on recreating the event, and remember that you can revise your draft later. To structure your essay, try using chronological order—presenting events in the order they happened. 2 Drafting

Writing Your Eyewitness Report Show what happened; don’t tell. Use words and phrases that show rather than tell what happened. Instead of saying, The horse race was exciting, give details that show the excitement: As the horses thundered past us, my heart pounded with excitement. 2 Drafting

Writing Your Eyewitness Report Include dialogue. A direct quotation can be more effective than several sentences of description. Find quotations that capture the moment: One onlooker exclaimed, “I don’t think I took a breath from the start to the finish of the race!” 2 Drafting

TARGET SKILL USING ACTION VERBS Action verbs will help your readers see, hear, feel, smell, taste, and experience the events in your report. Instead of using passive verbs, insert action verbs to show the movement and energy of the scene. Writing Your Eyewitness Report 3 Revising

TARGET SKILL PLACEMENT OF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES Prepositional phrases can function as adjectives or adverbs. However, if the phrases are misplaced, they will be confusing rather than helpful. 4 Editing and Proofreading Writing Your Eyewitness Report

FOR YOUR WORKING PORTFOLIO What did you discover about the importance of the event from writing your report? How did writing the report help you to become a better observer? 5 Reflecting Writing Your Eyewitness Report