Assignment 3
Assignment 3: Analyze a News Story
Write a short essay (1-2 pages) describing and analyzing a news story (hard news or feature) from any textual source in print or online. If posting the essay on your blog, be sure to include the link to the story you’re analyzing. If turning in a hard copy in class, be sure to include the clipping or a photocopy of the story, including the entire text and any accompanying photos or other graphic elements.
In addition to briefly summarizing the content of the story, your essay should address the following questions, but not necessarily in this order:
1. What sort of story is it? A hard news story? Breaking or developing? A feature? A profile? Do you think much research went into it?
2. Does the headline accurately summarize the story? Does it grab the reader’s attention?
3. How many sources (people) are mentioned in the story? How effectively does the writer use quotations? Give an example of at least one quotation and discuss whether it is a good one or not. (See handout from class on quotes.)
4. Do you detect any biases or unfair assumptions in the story? Are there any passages that reveal the writer’s personal opinion?
5. What, if anything, about the piece is especially entertaining or interesting?
6. Does the writer use any unusual stylistic devices that catch your attention? If so, describe them.
7. Does the story leave any key questions unanswered? Are any perspectives ignored that might have been relevant to the story (i.e., is a facet of the story left untold)?
Note: Your essay should not be a mere list of answers to these questions, but a carefully constructed analysis written in the third person.
Your essay is due online by noon on Thursday, July 13, or in hard-copy form at the start of class that evening.
Write a short essay (1-2 pages) describing and analyzing a news story (hard news or feature) from any textual source in print or online. If posting the essay on your blog, be sure to include the link to the story you’re analyzing. If turning in a hard copy in class, be sure to include the clipping or a photocopy of the story, including the entire text and any accompanying photos or other graphic elements.
In addition to briefly summarizing the content of the story, your essay should address the following questions, but not necessarily in this order:
1. What sort of story is it? A hard news story? Breaking or developing? A feature? A profile? Do you think much research went into it?
2. Does the headline accurately summarize the story? Does it grab the reader’s attention?
3. How many sources (people) are mentioned in the story? How effectively does the writer use quotations? Give an example of at least one quotation and discuss whether it is a good one or not. (See handout from class on quotes.)
4. Do you detect any biases or unfair assumptions in the story? Are there any passages that reveal the writer’s personal opinion?
5. What, if anything, about the piece is especially entertaining or interesting?
6. Does the writer use any unusual stylistic devices that catch your attention? If so, describe them.
7. Does the story leave any key questions unanswered? Are any perspectives ignored that might have been relevant to the story (i.e., is a facet of the story left untold)?
Note: Your essay should not be a mere list of answers to these questions, but a carefully constructed analysis written in the third person.
Your essay is due online by noon on Thursday, July 13, or in hard-copy form at the start of class that evening.
posted by The Bentwood Rockers at 8:46 PM
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