1. Find a process that works for you

2.  Think of an idea that will be relevant to your assigned page  Think about an idea that is relevant and interesting to the demographics of your paper  Work with your editor to find the right angle

3.  Gather information from a variety of sources: Human and Physical  Primary sources  Secondary sources  Physical Sources

4.  Read through your notes  Highlight most important details  Ask yourself questions to guide you to an angle  What’s this story about?  What’s my main point going to be?  What’s news worthy about this story?  Create a sentence that summarizes your story

5.  Strike out details that do not directly relate to your story sentence:  Who?  What?  Where?  When?  Why?  How?

6.  Put your answers to the questions in inverted pyramid order: most-least important.  Read through your primary source interviews. Highlight useable quotes. Label as who, what, where, when, why, how.

7.  Immediately after organizing, create a first draft, while your main idea and details are fresh in your mind. Don’t wait!  Don’t worry about the length unless you have been given a strict length limit.

8.  Write your Lead (nut graf).  Who and/or what is this story about?  The lead has to hook your reader.  Make the read WANT to read the rest of the story.  Begin with the most compelling idea or one that has prominence or proximity.  Which detail will attract the MOST readers!  Do not try to use all the 5W’s and H.

9.  Look carefully at all the different leads.  Read the text explanations for each example  Concentrate on the first few words. Note how the WHEN is not a detail of significance in this lead.  The WHO is more significant, but not as significant as the WHAT. Why????  Always ask yourself: Which lead would students and parents most likely read?

10.  Your target audience is WHS students 9-12.  Key details:  Who? Three senior boys’ basketball players  What? Were arrested for under-aged drinking at a bonfire  When? Midnight after Friday-night game  Where? Board member’s house  Why? Celebrating winning the conference title  How? Losing team’s cheerleader at bonfire texted her boyfriend who texted a friend who bought a Trackphone and called 911.

11.  Create a one-two sentence lead that begins with the most compelling detail.  Remember: Do not need to include all the details  Keep sentence(s) to 16-17 words.  Be ready to defend your lead-in detail.

12.  Keep your paragraphs to 1-3 sentences.  Keep your sentences to 16-17, unless it is a very important quote.  You can always break the quote down into two sentences, even if your speaker said it in one.

13.  P. 96. Why did this writer begin with the word ambulance?

14.  Proofread quickly for careless errors.  Check that all quotes are accurate and correctly attributed.  Read the whole piece aloud, listening to the way the story flows and the sentences sound when read.  Reread to correct awkward or wordy sentences.  Look at your notes to see if there is anything else you may want to include

15.  P. 106 Chapter 6

16.  Keep your paragraphs short: Three- sentence maximum!  Keep your sentences structures to simple, compound, and complex. Avoid long, literary compound-complex sentences.