Key Concepts

Attribution:

• Giving credit to the source that gave information to the story
• Adds context to the story
• Shows the reader your research
• Adds credibility to your story
• Vital to the creation of your story
• USE ONLY THE WORD "SAID"

Caption: 

• The description under a photo
• Includes three sentences:
• 1) What's happening in the photo (present tense)
• 2) Background information--why what happened in the photo occured (past tense)
• 3) The person's quote (see quote entry below)

Credibility:

• Trusted, dependable, reliable
• Integrity

Deadline:

• When your story is due
• Typically given with enough time to complete a rough draft and a revision
• Missed deadlines result in the lack of employment, for both journalists AND employees of other companies
• Do NOT miss your deadline

Features: 

• Longer stories in journalism
• Eye-catching stories 
• Interesting to readers
• Include different topics of interest
• Not used for breaking news stories

Feature Circles:

• Used to break down a feature story
• Outer circle used for "feature" topics--pieces of the story that are interesting to readers or viewers.
• Inner circle contains the Nut Graf (see nut graf entry)

Headline:

• The title of your story
• Should be exciting
• Meant to sell publications
• Bold words, large font size
• Remove unnecessary words including, "the, and, a, etc."  

Interviewing: 

• Find the most credible source to the story
• Get their name--have them spell out first and last name
• Get their title--or their relation to the story, ie. witness
• Ask open-ended questions
• Your questions should lead you to a conversation
• Your conversation should generate more questions
• Limit your closed/one-word questions
• You should keep these to the end of your interview
• End your interview with the following:
• Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Inverted Pyramid:

• The basic news story structure. 
• Start with the lede (see lede entry)
• Continuing paragraphs should fall in order of importance, with the least useful information at the end of the story.
• This type of information can be cut, typically due to space.

Lede:

• The first sentence in a news story that tells the reader the Who, What, When, Where, Why, How. Written in past tense, and never begins with "When."
• Types of Ledes:
• News
• Anecdotal
• Question
• Quote

Localization:

• To make local; fix in, or assign or restrict to, a particular place, locality, etc.

Nut Graf:

• The heart of a feature story
• The reason WHY the feature is being written
• Contains the 5W's and the H, typically in 3-5 paragraphs
• Contains the vital numbers of the story.

Research:

• Finding PERTINENT information
• Credible sources from credible places (doctors, professors, CEO's, etc.)
• Can be from credible websites

Story Structure:

• See Inverted Pyramid entry for news stories
• Make sure your story flows correctly
• This means sticking with one point for however many paragraphs, before going to the next. 
• Don't jump around, it confuses the reader
• For feature stories, it's always good to go back to the original idea/anecdote

Subheadline:

• Smaller font size 
• More words added
• Explains or gives more information to the headline

Quote:

• What the person said
• Word for word
• Attribution given (see attribution entry)
• Use ONLY the word said
• Use quote marks
• Examples:
• "Today we'll be going over your final," Publications Adviser James Bourland said.
• "This is going to be tough," Bourland said. "But I think you can do well on it."
• "Good luck on your finals," Bourland said.