Writing Department Schedule
Stories assigned
Wednesday, Week 1.
By the end of the
1st meeting:
- Sign up for a story
- Exchange contact information with your photographer and
production staffer
- Brainstorm with story team about how to handle your
assignment
By Thursday, Week 1:
- Do initial research (internet, library, etc.)
- Decide on possible sources.
By Friday, Week 1:
Send emails to your sources to set up interviews (be
polite/professional—suggest several
possible times, and be as flexible as possible). As soon as you hear back, make
sure your photographer knows about the meeting.
Forward your emailed interview request to the wisconsinengineer Gmail account, and send us an email updating us on
your progress.
By Friday, Week 2:
- Have your interviews finished. Make sure you read back all
exact quotes (or make arrangements to email the quotes later for quick
confirmation).
- Keep in touch with your story team.
By Wednesday, Week 3
(Second class meeting):
Have your rough draft finished (send it to your story team
whenever you do).
Before handing it in, double check (see story writing sheet):
- Remove
serial commas
- Use
“UW-Madison”
- Use
“professor of civil engineering Fred Jones”
- Use “Fred
Jones says” for quotes
- Use
appropriate formatting (font, paragraphs, etc.)
- Include
headlines, author, author bio, story blurb
- Make sure
you have a lead
- Make sure
you have sufficient quotes (at least
3 or 4)
- Make sure
you spoke to at least two sources (one can
be student response)
- Make sure
your quotes are verbatim
- Check
spelling of names
By Friday, Week 3:
- Meet with editor for one-on-one feedback (sign up at second
meeting).
By Wednesday, Week 4
(off week from general meeting):
Email final draft (including sufficient changes based on
one-on-one session) to wisconsinengineer Gmail account by 5:00 p.m. We must have the stories by then because we must have them edited and
to production a week later.
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