1. Today’s goals Introduce elements of writing style
Discuss our publications and current events for the WTI essay
Begin analyzing our publications to assist in creating our WTIs

2. Informative writing skills
What skills are important for informative writing? How might this be different from reflective writing?
Would we consider most informative writing to be open or closed form prose? Formal or informal?

3. Informative writing skills
Verify your facts and data
Use specific facts, details, and examples
Make the information interesting
Organize information appropriately
Be concise; do not include unnecessary information

4. Closed form prose overview
Introduction
Hook
Thesis
Forecasting
Body
Transition
Topic sentences
Supporting material
(Repeat for several topics/paragraphs)
Conclusion
Clincher

5. Article Vocabulary Closed form prose Thesis Hook Soft lead Hard lead
Buried lead
Inverted pyramid structure:

6. Article Vocabulary
Hook: an attention grabber, usually located in the first few sentences of a piece of writing
Soft lead: A strategy for starting news writing that begins with an attention grabbing strategy to pull the reader in. This is often done with description, narration, or anecdotes. This is the alternative to a hard lead.
Hard lead: A strategy for starting news writing that begins with the thesis or main idea of the article in the first few sentences. This the alternative to a soft lead.
Buried lead: A strategy for news writing that delays stating the thesis until the middle or end of the essay, also called delayed thesis prose. This holds the reader in suspense until the thesis is given
Inverted pyramid: A structure of newspaper writing in which the most important information is given first followed by information of decreasing importance

7. Wti process Select a publication
Analyze the publication in blog entry 4
Select a current event or topic. Find at least 2 sources on this topic
Summarize the sources you have found in Blog Entry 5
Outline your essay. Make sure to identify:
Your thesis and hook
Your organizational strategy for body paragraphs
A works cited page with your sources
You may also wish to consider: what is your angle of vision and degree of advocacy?
WTR Draft 1
250+ words
WTR Draft 2
words
WTR Final Draft
Due 11-5

8. Class discussion- article composition
For the next few class periods, we will be working together to create a web article as a class to guide you as you draft your own web articles
Today we will focus on selecting a topic and writing an outline.
Spend the next 10 minutes looking for a current event online that you find interesting. Each group may propose two current event topics and then the class will take a vote on which topic to write about.
Note: This must be a “big” story that several news companies have written about

9. Group activity- current event research
In your unit 2 groups
Read through your selected article and answer the following questions
What is the thesis or main idea of the article?
What is the article’s hook? How does it grab your attention?
Does the article use a soft lead, hard lead, or buried lead?
What are the three most important pieces of information you find when reading the article? Be specific here with direct quotes or data.

10. homework Read A&B p. 50-52 Blog Entry 5 Focus: WTI Research summary
First, identify the names and publications for each of the web articles that you will use with your WTI essays
Next, provide a brief summary of what you think are the main points of each article or what makes your chosen current event interesting. Explain any differences or similarities you find in the articles’ information
Finally, what is your perspective on this topic? Which side of the issue would you support if writing about it?