“

2. surviving staff
1. how to write
HELLO!

Your writing coaches for

the year:
Grace Xu
Michelle Lu

2
— Part One —
how to write.
the writing process
▹ Story ideas
▹ Contacting sources
▹ Research/Drafting questions
4

▹ Interviewing/Transcribing
▹ Begin writing
▹ Editing
AKA the “SCRIBE” method ٩(ˊ ˋ*)‫و‬
 1.
story ideas
the issue of the issue
 WHERE TO FIND IDEAS
▹ What have people been talking about at
CHS?
▹ Local news 6

￭ Youarecurrent.com, CHS calendar

▹ National news; research studies
￭ Email subscriptions (NYT,
theSkimm, Daily Pnut)
▹ Holidays…
 EXTRA TIDBIT
▹ Topic - what do they want?
▹ Angle
￭ What do you want readers to think after reading 7

about this?
▹ Timeliness + Proximity
▹ Impact
￭ Must be relevant to all...you should be able to
challenge/entertain/inform them
▹ Conflict/human interest
 2.
contacting sources
social interaction…? what?
GETTING CONTACT INFO

▹ Instagram DMs
▹ Ask around for phone numbers 9

▹ You can find SRT room numbers

on hilite.org/reference
▹ Email (best for teachers)
WHAT TO MENTION

▹ Introduce yourself as a HiLite staff

member 10

▹ Explain the angle of the story

▹ Provide available dates and times
Dear [],

Hello, I'm [], a member of the HiLite newspaper staff. In our

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
upcoming [date] issue, we are hoping to publish an article
about [angle of the article].

Since [discuss source’s relevance to article], I was wondering

if you would be up for an interview about this topic sometime
next week? It will likely take around [estimated time], and I’m 11
available [times and days of the week].

I'd really appreciate it if you could reply as soon as possible

with an interview time convenient for you!

If you have any questions, please email me or my adviser, Jim

Streisel (jstreise@ccs.k12.in.us).

Thank you in advance!

 Hi []! I’m [], a hilite reporter. For our
[month] issue, we wanted to talk about
[angle]. Since you’re [discuss source’s
relevance], would you be ok with being
interviewed for the story?

12

I’m good with any time [available times

and dates]! I’d rly appreciate it if you could
reply with a good time as soon as possible,
thanks!
 3.
research + questions
“are you ready for it?”
UNDERSTANDING CONTEXT
▹ Know your intended angle!
▹ Know your topic well enough to
14

explain it
▹ Make sure you know your sources’
relevance to article
Having sufficient research will help
you draft good interview questions.
 DRAFTING QUESTIONS
1. Spell name; what is your title and grade?
~Required every interview!

2. Can you give a brief description of []?

15
~Eases your sources into the interview with a factual question

3. Body questions relevant to angle; try to draw out

opinions with objective questions
4. Elaborate off of their answers
5. “Is there anything I haven’t asked that you’d like readers
to know?”
 4.
interviewing + transcribing
the heart of journalism
TIPS
▹ Plan for roughly a minute of interview
for every 100 words you have to write
￭ i.e., ≈7 min. interview for 700 word
17
article
▹ Bring sources to elaborate on
thoughts
▹ Contact sources after you’ve written
1st article draft to fact-check quotes
INTERVIEW OPTIONS
▹ In person
￭ Highly preferable!
▹ Over phone 18

￭ Best for non-CHS sources

▹ Through email
￭ ONLY for when teachers are just
not available in-person
 TRANSCRIBING

▹ Don’t transcribe word tics

￭ i.e., if they start every sentence
with “so” 19

▹ Online transcribing resources are

available if you’re in a time crunch
￭ but MUST check over since online
transcriptions are never 100% right
 5.
begin writing
aka what this workshop is all about but
took forever to actually talk about…
HOW TO START
1. Determine your best quotes from
interview transcriptions
21
2. Outline! based on angle and quotes
a. Know writing style for your section
(inverted triangle for news, etc.)
3. Write! :-)
INTRODUCTION
1. Hook! Get creative :-)
a. Great place for descriptive writing
22
2. Lead
a. Timeliness/relevance factor
3. Provide context
a. Answer the 5 W’s
 BODY aka THE MEAT
1. Start by placing quotes accordingly
2. Add transitions between quotes
a. Summarize their ideas, add context
23

b. Great place for descriptive gold

coins!
c. No bias. Seriously.
3. Provide research
4. Think like your reader
CONCLUSION

1. Rounds off the article

2. Gives reader something to think about
3. Last sentence is usually an insightful 24

quote
a. Often a quote you get from the last
interview question
4. But don’t be scared to get creative!
 6.
editing
finding out just how fun
style is!
STYLE, GRAMMAR, ETC.
▹ Check entire article against style
manual - consistency is important!
▹ Use programs to your advantage! 26

￭ Grammarly (catches basic mistakes)

￭ Hemingway App (keeps writing concise)
▹ Slang, conjunctions, passive voice,
length, etc.
▹ Factual errors
DURING EDITING
▹ Read story out loud!
￭ Does it read fluently?
27
▹ Get to the point (active vs passive,
adverbs)
▹ Avoid confusing readers
￭ Answer outstanding questions
SOME GENERAL TIPS
▹ “Know yourself”
￭ Make sure you can identify the
objective in your article 28

▹ Ask for help!

￭ Fellow reporters
￭ Us
￭ Streisel
— Part Two —
HiLite life hacks.
BEATS
▹ Some new stuff to remember as a
staff member
￭ Need to always have photo and 30

caption!
￭ Must add hyperlink(s)!
￭ Have a concise tweet!
GRAPHICS
▹ For representations of data:
￭ Mr. Wernke’s presentation in Canvas
▹ Don’t be decorative 31
￭ Elements must serve a purpose by enhancing
each other
▹ Information
￭ Can’t be common sense
￭ Either to entertain, inform (rarely used for
persuasion)
PHOTO CAPTIONS
▹ Clearly identify the people and location
▹ Include the date and day
▹ Provide some context or background
▹ Should be written in complete sentences and in 32

the present tense

▹ Be brief
▹ If it is a submitted photo, mention it and give
credits!
 DEADLINES
▹ Get everything together as early as
possible
￭ Interviews, drafting, editing
￭ Time gets shorter later in the year
▹ Extensions 33

￭ Ask AT LEAST 2 days beforehand with a valid

reason
￭ Remember that First Page and PDF A/B are NOT
flexible deadlines for editors!
▹ Keep in mind when source/content
deadline, first page, PDFs are
RESOURCES
▹ hilite.org
￭ References (for inspo only!!)
￭ Rubrics
￭ Teacher schedule/Student SRT lists 34

▹ Canvas
￭ Handpicked examples
￭ Tutorials/advice
▹ Other staff members
￭ Ask in person, slack, or email!
EQUIPMENT
▹ Laptops
▹ Cameras
￭ Tripods, chargers, etc. 35

▹ One for is for checkout and the other

is for return
▹ Be on time
DISTRIBUTION
▹ Dates posted on whiteboard and in
Pathways
▹ Show up as close to 9:30 as you can 36

￭ Sign out with SRT teacher

▹ Certain rooms assigned to each
group
▹ Light clothes? We think not
▹ Work out beforehand (??)
 Any questions?
A PICTURE IS
WORTH A
Contact us!
THOUSAND WORDS
37

Emails:
gxu@hilite.org
mlu@hilite.org
or just slack one of us!