KAITLIN REYNOLDS
student journalist
RePORTING & WRITING
As a journalist my first and most vital role is telling the stories of my community, and throughout my time on various publications I have learned from every single story that I have written. Each had a unique set of lessons to teach me and challenges to overcome. I will admit that none of the stories below are 100% perfect, but they are the stories that have shown me the ins and outs of AP Style, progressed my interviewing skills, taught me the importance of fact checking and shaped me into the journalist I am today. Take a look at each section to read my work and see the progress that I have made throughout three years of reporting:
My Writing Process
For every story that I write I go through a long process to make sure that the facts, information and details are shared in the most effective way. During my time as a student journalist I have streamlined this process and have become more efficient when it comes to writing. Below are the steps I take before publishing and how I implemented them in a news story that I wrote over the State Thespian Festival.
1
Background research
The first step that I take when I am writing a story is making sure that I have some general information so that I know who to interview and what types of questions to be asking. To get this I often look at social media accounts or websites that pertain to the story. Below are some preliminary interview questions that I came up with based off of the festival's website. Researching beforehand led to me find that a student from my school won an award and was asked to perform on the main stage during the festival. Without this step I most likely would not have interviewed her and would have left out a crucial part of the event.
1
What was the process that you went through in oder to be selected to perform on the main stage at the festival?
2
What kind of feedback did you receive from your performance and how will you implement it in the future?
3
How do you think you benefited from performing in the main stage showcase?
2
Sources
When I am interviewing I take with me a few questions and then build on them throughout the interview. I make sure to listen to the interviewees' responses and use the information that they give me to ask new questions. During the interview I take notes on what they say in order to add facts and quotes into my story.
rough draft
3
After I have collected my background information I write a rough draft. In this I include my lead, transitions, quotes and information. This serves as a jumping off point for me to develop the story. The majority of the information and elements are included, but there is still significant room for improvement.
4
edit
Getting edits is a crucial step that I take in order to correct mistakes that I have read over too many times to notice and
get other journalists opinions on how to improve the story. My first edit is anyone on staff, the second is from the section editor, the third is from the Catalyst Editor-in-Chief and the final edit is from my adviser. In between each edit I make adjustments and adapt the story. Below are a few of the edits that I made and how they improved the story.
ORIGINAL
FROM THE ROUGH DRAFT: During the event participants stayed in downtown Omaha at the DoubleTree Hotel and each day they were just steps away from workshops to help them improve in various areas including rendering media, stage makeup, audition etiquette and showing emotion on stage. When they were not attending workshops they were watching other schools perform and interacting with professionals from within the field of theatre, all while building upon their knowledge of the performing arts.
REVISED
FROM THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE: From Thursday, Jan. 6 to Saturday, Jan. 8, participants stayed in downtown Omaha at the DoubleTree Hotel, and each day they were just steps away from 16 different workshops taught by actors, directors, acting coaches and professors to help them improve in various areas including rendering media, stage makeup, audition etiquette and showing emotion on stage. When they were not attending workshops they were watching schools from across the state perform, competing against other troupes and interacting with professionals in the field of theatre, all while building upon their knowledge of the performing arts.
The main thing I adjusted in the nut graf of the story was adding more details. I did additional research to find how many workshops were available to the students in attendance and who taught them. I also included when the event happened.
In my rough draft I included how a student from my school received an award, however I didn't implement it early on in the story and it didn't come into play until the seventh and eighth paragraphs.
In the published version of my story I moved the paragraphs up to the fourth and fifth so that readers could find out about one of the most important parts of the event sooner.
FROM THE ROUGH DRAFT: Thespians and the theatre
FROM THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE: Taking a statewide stage
The original headline included some details but it was vague. Since it was a news story I wanted it to be more straightforward so I included the word "statewide" to show that it was a state event, and the word "stage" to show that they performed.
5
Publish
The final step I take when writing my stories is publishing them on our online website. Click the news section at the top of this page or the photo below to read the final product of "Taking a statewide stage."
