Congratulations!  You’re a free-lance writer and photographer!

Now what?

You have been hired as a freelancer to develop a two-page spread for the hottest news magazine for high school students… JFK Today.  You have 2 goals; you have to write an intriguing article that is relevant to your audience AND you have to provide eye-catching photographs to accompany your article.

Step 1:  Brainstorm.

• Write down everything that you can think of that interests you.
  • Art, music, sports, food, friendships, etc.
  • You can use any format you like; typed, handwritten, graphic, lists, bulleted, drawn, etc.  You should at least have 1 full page of info.
  • Mrs. Capalbo’s Brainstorm

Step 2:  Develop.

• Create 10 good questions you have surrounding these topics.
  • Look at your brainstormed list and think about what things truly interest you and what you would like to learn more about.
• Be sure you are writing questions that require you to find out something NEW! You will be required to research even if it is a topic that you know a lot about.
• Questions worth asking require you to make a decision of some kind, develop a course of action or both!
  •  Decision making:
    • Is it acceptable…
    • Which _____________ has had the greatest impact on…
    • Who/what/where/when was/is the greatest…
    • Which ____________ is best for…
    • What is the most significant…
    • Would you be willing to…
    • Should…
  • Course of Action:
    • What is the best plan for…
    • How would you…
  • Examples:
    • Which cell phone is best for you?
    • Should people be judged by their appearance?
    • What has been the most significant app ever created?
    • Would you be willing to give up technology for a month?
• Of course once you have determined which question you want to pursue, you are going to have to back it up and justify your answer.

Step 3:  Choose.

• Think about which of these things interests you the most. Be sure it would be relevant for the magazine.  Tweak whatever you think needs to be adjusted in order to make it more appealing to your audience.
• Also be sure it satisfies the criteria of a GOOD question… one that is worth spending the time trying to answer.

Step 4:  Research.

• Use this chart to help organize your ideas:  KWL Chart
• Know: Start with what you know.
  • Write down your experiences and knowledge of your topic.
• Want to know: Write down all the questions you have about your topic.
  • These will be more specific than your topic question.
• Learned: Then google it.
  • Learn about your topic more in depth and try to answer the questions that you had on your topic.
• Poll, Survey & Interview
  • You can never go wrong with conducting your own research that is specific to the population that you are talking about and to.
  • Figure out which questions you still do not have answers to after researching online.  Create a way to find answers to these questions for your article.
  • Bonus points will be given for choosing a population to poll, survey or interview other than your friends and family.

HOMEWORK:

• Carry out your active research
• Take at least 5 photos for your magazine article that support your content

At this point you should have the following things to turn in:

1. Brainstorm sheet all about YOU (at least 1-2 pages)
2. List of GOOD questions (at least 10 q’s)
3. K, W, L:  What you know. Want to know, What you learned (at least 2 pages in total)
4. Copy of your poll, survey or interview with who your participants are and how many you will be using.

Step 5:  Write.

• Organize all of the information that you have gathered. You will need an introduction, a first supporting topic, a second supporting topic, your active research and your conclusion/summary of what you learned.  (5 paragraphs total)
• Use the Hamburger graphic organizer to figure out the flow of your article.  Due today 3/30/15.
  • Each section should have a main idea!
• Type out your article and submit a final copy to Turn It In by the end of class Thursday April 2nd.
  • If you have not yet logged in to Turn It In… DO IT NOW so that you know what to do when you are ready to submit.
  • Here are the directions if you have never created an account:  TurnItIn Directions
  • Here is the grading criteria to make sure you have everything you need:  Magazine Article Grading

Step 6:  Photograph.

• Take photos of things that correlate to your article. Take a bunch so that you have a good base to choose from.
• Edit your photos in order to make them stornger.  Pay special attention to composition, contrast, and saturation.

Key:

Red = Homework

Blue = Things that are turned in for a grade