reflective writing assignment #1

1: What has been the most successful part of your finished articles? Identify at least one aspect of each article and explain why you think it was successful.

So far I have completed two articles.
For the obituary article, I think I was successful in doing a thorough interview of the person that I was writing about. I wrote about key and interesting points in the person's life and why they were important.

For the Cowling article, I think I was successful in writing the peice in a good structure. I kept the paragraphs fairly short and I used direct quotes from Cowling that he made during his presentation. I also think that my lead okay but maybe it could have been a little shorter.

2.Identify two areas of your reporting that represent improvement opportunities

I think my leads could always be improved. Also I need to improve my expertise on AP style and comma usage. For example, my obituary story had several AP style usage errors. I really need to look through my articles more thoroughly and make sure that my words coincide with AP style. For the Cowling article, I could have written the piece a little more interesting. Unless someone really wanted to know about the presentation, I don't think most people would read the whole article because it is kind of bland. I could have spiced up the article up a little more by detailing more interesting points about Cowling himself.

3. Pick one of the leads you have written so far. Based on the advice in Chapter 7, rewrite it and improve it. Show both versions. Explain how the second lead is better.
Original lead: Edie May, a woman whose life turned the act of selflessness into an art, one that she created and shared with the world, died Friday morning, after being struck by a vehicle near her home. She was 43.

New lead: Edie May, a woman whose life turned the act of selflessness into an art, died Friday morning, after being struck by a vehicle near her home. She was 43.
I think the second lead is better because it is more simplistic and to-the-point.

4. Chapter 8 identifies five characteristics of good writing. Identify two that represent improvement opportunities for you. What can you do in the process of writing future articles for this class to improve in those areas. Are these things what your instructor could do to help?
Correct grammar and punctuation- I often misuse commas and sometimes my grammar is a little off. For example, sometimes in my writing I jump around to several verb tenses. I also need to continue to practice and use AP style. Essentially I think better punctuation and such will only improve with practice and more writing.

Clarity is something very important in a news article and I think that this is something that nearly everybody should work on. Making an article clear, easy to read, and to-the-point is very important to a good story and this is something I need to work on. I have a tendency to structure my stories a little awkward and thus not making the point of my story not entirely clear.