Out-Of-Class #1: Do Your Own Reporting

A big and common problem with the first out-of-classer is reliance on other media, especially for background information.

Let's say you're doing a story on the Boston Marathon bombing; you may have cited what happened via an article from CNN and then added some everyday people's reactions from interviews you did yourself. Or maybe you do a story about whether college makes you stupid, for which you cite a study you found on CNN and then talk to some random college students.

Those approaches are entirely wrong.

This isn't a term paper; this is journalism. And there's a big difference. With a term paper, you find and cite the reporting and research that others have done, and put that in your paper. But in journalism, YOU do the actual reporting and research YOURSELF.

You don't cite CNN saying there was a bombing in Boston; YOU call the Boston authorities YOURSELF, and do YOUR OWN interviews to get the raw material that makes up your story. You don't cite a study done by Harvard University that you found online; YOU call the person who authored the study and interview him or her YOURSELF.
  
That's why I think the best topics are local. It's probably a lot to ask novice journalists to do a story on American foreign policy and get President Obama on the phone yourself.