Guidelines for reporting assignment due Feb. 21

Here are some things to keep in mind for your first major reporting assignment, which is due Feb. 21. This should either be coverage of an on-campus event or an off-campus event. Your second reporting assignment should be the opposite of the one you do this time -- either on campus or off campus. The events, according to the syllabus, should relate to city or campus government, policies or social issues.
As I said in class, this is not simply "covering" an event; it should be a bit in-depth, with background information and reaction. You should incorporate quotes from at least two sources other than a main speaker -- so that means approximately three QUOTED sources. That is a minimum requirement, so you are free to have more sources and you should plan on speaking to as many relevant people as possible on your topic to inform your writing.
This should be written in news feature style, so you may incorporate some of your creative ideas but it needs to go by the general rules of a news story -- written in third person with proper use of quotations, style, grammar, etc. The lead should be one sentence.
Your story should be about 1,000 words, double spaced, using the name/slug heading.
Even though you're not writing in inverted pyramid style, you should be sure to have the who, what, where, when, why and how in the upper part of the story.
Keep in mind the standards of accuracy and fairness and question why your story is news by reviewing the news values on p. 6 of your text book. This will help guide your writing.
Ask yourself why your reader should care about this story and write it accordingly.
Remember, you are writing it as if you were submitting it for publication in the Eagle.
Note that outside reporting assignments will receive final grades after one revision.
-DW