Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 384 Journalism: Publishing Across Media Writers’ Workshop Chapter Twelve Chapter Twelve In these Writers’ Workshops you will: • Create a chart to discover a pattern in a favorite columnist’s work. • Analyze the balance of first-person observations, interviews (including interviews with experts), other reporting, the columnist’s personal experiences and the columnist’s statements of opinion. • Create a chart to discover the patterns in a strong opinion piece. • Analyze the balance of first-person observations, interviews (including interviews with experts), other reporting, the writer’s personal experiences and the writer’s statements of opinion. WORKSHOP 12.1 W ORKSHOP 12.1 How Do They Do That? How Do They Do That? Mini-Lesson: Following Your Leader Mini-Lesson: Following Your Leader You’ve seen and perhaps used writing maps for breaking news, general news, features editorials, reviews and sports. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a map to write a really great column? Too bad. You probably won’t find one because columns follow many patterns and extend too many different lengths. Two columns by one journalist may vary from each other almost as much as they do from the work of another columnist. The freedom is part of the joy—and terror—of writing a regular column. But you can learn from columnists you enjoy or admire. In this workshop you will chart one or more columns. After you have analyzed your results, you will know more about what goes into a strong column, and you will be able to use your chart as a map for writing your own column. Charting a Column Charting a Column 1. Print out or clip a column 20 to 30 paragraphs long—about 50 sentences. 2. Create a chart similar to the one on the next page, but skip the last column. (Yours will be only three columns wide, not four.) 3. Number each paragraph and put the numbers in column one. 4. In column two write a statement of the paragraph’s mission, that is, what the columnist wants to accomplish in the paragraph or what point is made. 5. In column three mark the source of the information in the paragraph: OB = observation QI = quotation from interview R = reporting Ex = expert source Col = columnist’s opinion PE = personal experience (apart from the columnist’s reporting). Discuss with your group any other sources—or abbreviations—you need and adjust the categories. (You do not need to copy the words of the column as in the example on the next page. Quotations from the column, by Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times, are included on this chart only to show you how to identify the paragraph’s mission.) Tallying and Analyzing the Results Tallying and Analyzing the Results 1. In the chart you have created, count the number of paragraphs that come from each source. For example, your chart might list Observation: 12 Reporting: 5 and so on. 2. What can you conclude about how columns are reported? What percent of your column could have been written without leaving the newsroom? 3. What can you conclude from your tally about the way columnists communicate their opinions? How often does the columnist tell you what to think? Comparing Results Comparing Results Compare your results with those of others in your group. 1. Do you see a pattern in the mix of observations, quotations, expert sources, the columnist’s personal experience and statements of the columnist’s opinion? 2. Do columns share certain patterns about what comes first, second, third and at the end? 3. What advice would you, as a group, give to someone who wants to write a column for your publication or broadcast? Apply It! Apply It! On an appropriate topic of your choice, write a 500- to 1,000-word column using what you learned from this mini-lesson.