Explanatory Story
JOUR200 Assignment 6
What to submit
We don’t have money to award in JOUR200, but in Assignment 6, we are looking for you to explain a subject. You must submit a 500-word explanatory story (plus or minus 50 words) about a topic of your own choosing. You are encouraged to use your story idea from Discussion Post 4 if that is viable. The story is due by 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 7, the last day of class.
You must refer to a primary document and you must use in-person interviews with people on our campus or in our town who are not your close friends. You will want to interview more than two people to get good material, but you must include quotations or paraphrases from two people who are identified by name and their University of Illinois affiliation or other local tie.
At the end of your story, make an informal source list. Include websites and background resources. Include contact information for your interviewees for possible use in verification.
For both direct and indirect quotations, be sure to attribute your information to a primary source document, to your interviewees, or to other sources. Remember that you cannot use information from other news outlets. For example, instead of quoting the Associated Press, track down the sources the AP used and quote those documents or people from your own direct contact, if you want to use the information.
Be sure to answer the who, what, when, where and why of your story. And the how. Explanatory stories tell how. You may use a feature lead or a summary lead.
Possible outline
I. Attention-getting lead that uses an anecdote or sets a scene (one or two paragraph
II. Nut graf. Why this is a story now – some sort of news peg that includes 5 W’s.
III. Quotation from source that backs up the lead or nut graf.
IV. More facts about topic.
V. Quotation that explains the facts or reacts to them.
VI. More facts, reaction, quotations
VII. Strong ending. Telling fact or punchy quotation.
What kind of story
What to submit
We don’t have money to award in JOUR200, but in Assignment 6, we are looking for you to explain a subject. You must submit a 500-word explanatory story (plus or minus 50 words) about a topic of your own choosing. You are encouraged to use your story idea from Discussion Post 4 if that is viable. The story is due by 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 7, the last day of class.
You must refer to a primary document and you must use in-person interviews with people on our campus or in our town who are not your close friends. You will want to interview more than two people to get good material, but you must include quotations or paraphrases from two people who are identified by name and their University of Illinois affiliation or other local tie.
At the end of your story, make an informal source list. Include websites and background resources. Include contact information for your interviewees for possible use in verification.
For both direct and indirect quotations, be sure to attribute your information to a primary source document, to your interviewees, or to other sources. Remember that you cannot use information from other news outlets. For example, instead of quoting the Associated Press, track down the sources the AP used and quote those documents or people from your own direct contact, if you want to use the information.
Be sure to answer the who, what, when, where and why of your story. And the how. Explanatory stories tell how. You may use a feature lead or a summary lead.
Possible outline
I. Attention-getting lead that uses an anecdote or sets a scene (one or two paragraph
II. Nut graf. Why this is a story now – some sort of news peg that includes 5 W’s.
III. Quotation from source that backs up the lead or nut graf.
IV. More facts about topic.
V. Quotation that explains the facts or reacts to them.
VI. More facts, reaction, quotations
VII. Strong ending. Telling fact or punchy quotation.
What kind of story