As a teacher of English, thoughtful, organized, well-paced, and clear prose are the metrics by which success is measured. However, the bulk of my experience involves academic literary analysis - which is well and good, but it's certainly not, markedly not, and (from this exercise) stylistically not journalistic writing. At the latter, I'm a rookie at best.
However, looking at samples of leads and first paragraphs from several of the participants' coverage of the conversation we had with Dean Callahan yesterday shows me that a few major but doable stylistic tweaks can turn purpose prose into quality journalism.
Reynolds Institute Director Steve Elliot reviews some quality examples of spot stories |
Heftier leads, early attributions and identification of challenges (because "issues" is a squishy word, according to Steve Elliot - an adjective I agree with) will produce articles that are more muscular and direct, unlike more than a few articles in the academic journals.
I look forward to rethinking my own writing and gearing it towards a broader, journalistic audience.
David Andrew Tow
Terra Linda High School
San Rafael, Calif.
I love to write and realize there is always room for improvement. Like you, I know my writing needs work. Today's writing reviews helped me to see the little things I can do to improve my writing. Visually analyzing examples of leads with Steve's commentary was a great help.
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