Here\u2019s a checklist you should go over\u2014both before and after you start writing!<\/p>\n
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1) We are generally writing about people we don\u2019t know. Your subjects are at \u201carm\u2019s length\u201d. That is to say, friends, siblings, relatives, roommates, partners, employers and so forth should not be in the story unless there\u2019s a really good reason, and then that relationship must be disclosed.<\/p>\n
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2) While the use of I is not forbidden, the story as a whole is not about you and not about your feelings about things. We are passing on the experiences and stories of our interviewees, not our own! Having situated the story in that way, you can then in some cases reveal your reactions and observations. But we don\u2019t want to hear your opinions\u2014lines like, \u201cIt is essential that Mrs. Smith carry on her important work,\u201d or \u201cThe pressing problem of climate change must be immediately addressed\u201d and the like are not what we are looking for for this assignment.<\/p>\n
3) Write in short paragraphs. A new quotation, specifically, should always be introduced in a new paragraph.<\/p>\n
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4) Avoid using kids (under 18) in your story. If you must, we need a consent form from their parents.<\/p>\n
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5) We are not campaigning on a particular issue. Again, we don\u2019t want to hear your opinions. Just talk to people and tell us about their\u00a0thoughts and experiences and feelings.<\/p>\n
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6) Introduce your subjects by first and last name and thereafter refer to them by their last name.\u00a0No first names. (If you are talking to different family members, then first names are of course needed!)<\/p>\n
7) Almost all feature stories should have an \u201coutside voice\u201d.<\/p>\n
If your story is about a guy who turns his Penrith contracting company into a nexus for supplies to flood victims, of course talk to him and his family. But we also want to hear a) from someone he helped and b) from someone like a mayor or other figure testifying to what he had done.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s telling the reader, \u201cHey I\u2019m not taking the guy\u2019s word for things; here\u2019s an outside person testifying to the validity of my story.\u201d<\/p>\n
8) Capitalize the first word of all your sentences. And it is a bit disappointing that we have to even say that!<\/p>\n
9) Please note how quotes are punctuated:<\/p>\n
“Thank you for your service,” he said.<\/p>\n
To be clear: Comma, unquote, space, no caps, he said.<\/p>\n
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These are wrong:<\/p>\n
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“I was lucky enough to move into the business.\u201d Fan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a difficult decision.\u201d He said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
And to be clear, this is not a minor error. This is a construction that is\u00a0simply not seen in written English.<\/p>\n
Employing that construction in your story is a clear message to your editors\/professors that you are not reading English journalism\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u2026\u00a0and it tends to make them peevish.<\/p>\n
10) Some stories I\u2019ve read have a vivid scene of, for example, someone getting out of bed, hitting an alarm clock and then sitting in front of a computer. Did you actually see that? Or did the subject tell you that?\u00a0<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t make things up. Your reader is going to be thinking, \u201cWere you\u00a0in the room when he woke up?\u00a0I don\u2019t think so.\u201d Make it clear if he is the source of that information.<\/p>\n
11) Make text in your paragraphs \u201cflush left\u201d or \u201calign left\u201d, not \u201cjustified\u201d. It’s generally the first option, like the shaded one here, in this series of icons in your word-processing program:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
12) Beware run-on sentences\u2014sentences that are really two, or three, or one-and-a-half sentences.<\/p>\n
The neat living room is so clean that it’s a pleasure to look at, even though there is a space where many toys are piled up, it’s still well organized, and the snow-white floor tiles can even reflect people’s shadows.<\/p>\n
13) Feel free to include a link to, say, the source of a report you are quoting. But include the name of the report in your story. That is, don\u2019t use the link as attribution. Say, \u201c\u2026 according to figures released by the department in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in most cases, cite your data, and then include the attribution. Same with quotes:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it happened to me,\u201d she said, sipping tea at a busy cafe in Sydney\u2019s CBD. \u201cWho could have expected such a thing?\u201d<\/p>\n
14) Give us background on your subjects, and go even deeper if one subject is the main character in your story. Where did they grow up? Where did they attend university, and what did they study? Are they married? Kids? Do they have hobbies?\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a story about, say, a doctor who ended up being a first responder during the Covid epidemic, we want to hear about the life his work disrupted. That adds humanity to your tale.<\/p>\n
And to the extent possible, let us know about the circumstances of the interview, even if it\u2019s over Zoom. Grab what atmosphere you can: \u201c… on the bookcase behind him were family pictures and a dense array of textbooks…” or whatever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
15) If you are writing from overseas, explain carefully local concepts so your Australian readers will understand, whether it be the \u201cDouble Reduction\u201d issue or just RMB amounts. Convert the latter to AUS$.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here\u2019s a checklist you should go over\u2014both before and after you start writing! \u00a0 1) We are generally writing about people we don\u2019t know. Your subjects are at \u201carm\u2019s length\u201d. That is to say, friends, siblings, relatives, roommates, partners, employers and so forth should not be in the story unless there\u2019s a really good reason, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-97914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-paper-writing","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}