- Using quotes liberally and throughout the story. We should be pairing key points and subpoints with quotes that support the point being made and add a more human voice to the reporting.
- Offering attribution throughout with quotes and background information and such, so that readers know how you know what you offer.
- Avoiding using first-person references like I, me, my and us except in quotes. This is one a number of people are struggling with. The rule is simple: in print journalism, if I, me, my or us are NOT inside of someone's quote, just don't use it. Period. I know in broadcast style first-person references are common, but not in print journalism.
- Applying rules we learned from practice stories in our out-of-class stories. The whole point of the ledes exercises is that is how we are supposed to come up with ledes forevermore. The whole point of body of the story exercises is that is how we are supposed to structure stories forevermore. Same stuff with use of quotations practice stories, attribution practice stories, all practice stories. If you're struggling to apply those lessons in your out-of-class stories, please revisit past blog posts and make sure you're doing now what you did then.
- AP style, grammar, punctuation. Let's not forget the basics. Revisit AP style blog posts, the AP style cheat sheet you got earlier this fall and -- of course -- your AP stylebook, as needed. You will be expected to know and use AP style rules in everything you do from here on out at the School of Journalism.
The following examples are pretty representative of the things most people did well, and areas where we are a bit of a work in progress. Please carefully look at each (along with my comments in bold type) and compare it to your own work. What did you do better? What could you have done better? And how?
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