Some final thoughts for your final projects

Why do I care?

Make it relevant. Connect this story into the life of the average person.

Ask yourself as many questions as you can about the subject.

Teach me something I didn’t know before.

Get specifics

Look for the exclusive moment. Find the core, the center of the story and write the lede there and work out from that moment.

Find the small, simple unique fact that captures the essence of the story theme.

Step back to see the big picture on what your story was about.

If it is central to the story, get the fun stuff into the lede.

Think about how many possible ways you can report this on the Web. Think about factoids, infographics, maps, video refers, links to related information, ect.

The three source rule is a minimum, but not a restriction. You should talk to anyone who could be relevant to the story. Do the reporting first. Be as complete as possible in the reporting. Then decide what and how much to write. But the writing should encompass and reflect the diversity of sources that you encountered.

Get off campus!

Make sure the video and the written word are unique.

Make sure the subjects in the video are ID’d. Give me complete information on your sources, not just names but background and relevant info: ages, occupation, home town, etc.

For the written story especially think about the future; tell us what’s next. What is likely to happen according to the experts and why.

Attribution needed for any opinion or challengeable fact. No cheerleading.

MAKE SURE YOUR WORK IS ONLINE BY DEADLINE! CHECK IT THE NEXT DAY!

Word count: Aim for 750 to 1250 words


Good luck!