Ms. Neha thirani, Chair
n-thirani@northwestern.edu

1. Get the idea - Know the question you want to answer with your story, and formulate research and interviews around it. Organize your information by important and relevance to the story.
2. Get the information - Go out and talk to delegates and other sources. Read drafts of bills and use the Internet for background information. Be comprehensive and complete so you don’t have to revisit any sources later.
3. Get organized - Organize your notes so that they support an answer to your question from step one. Outline what you want to say in the beginning, middle and end of your story. Have your direct quotes ready to go right in the article.
4. Get it Down - Write a draft from your notes without being too concerned with sounding great. Get all the information you want in the story on paper/ on the computer screen to work with.
5. Get it Right - Rework your draft so it has a clear lead and is well-written. Try to make it as grammatically correct as possible, vary your sentence structure, intersperse your quotes throughout the piece. Make it you own and make it great!

• Every news story has a strong lead, or first paragraph. The lead should contain your Who, What, Where, When, Why and How.
• Strive for fairness and accuracy in reporting. Talk to people on both sides of an issue or situation. Talk to a mix of boys, girls, people from different schools. Balance your information.
• All quotes should be attributed to the person. For every person you talk to, make sure to get their name (always ask for the correct spelling!); if it is a student, get their hometown, high school and committee; for an adult, get their position. It’s a good idea to have a quote every three paragraphs or so.
• Good stories are written in active voice. Not “The squirrel was chased by the dog” but “The dog chased the squirrel.” Not “The session was attended by 85 people” but “85 people attended the session.”
• Be accurate, and never make something up! It is unacceptable to fabricate anything in a story. If you’re not sure about something, look it up, ask a source, or ask someone else on the IPC, they may know!
• While it’s great to write with your own style, avoid the use of “I.” You want to be an onlooker of the story, not become a part of it.
• Good Writing! We know you can do it!

Basic Stories use the Inverted Pyramid Structure. This means that the most important parts go in the first few paragraphs, and the information gets less and less essential as the story goes on.

1. Define the purpose of the interview at the very beginning. Make sure your source knows what you want them to talk about!
2. Have some background knowledge on what you’re interviewing on. Maybe you’ve already read a particular bill or are familiar with a situation. Your interviewer will provide better information if they don’t have to explain everything first.
3. Ask short questions.
4. Avoid questions which can be answered with “yes” or “no.”
5. Try to keep eye contact with the person. Let them know you care about the story!
6. If you don’t understand something, ask again. There’s no such thing as a dumb question!
7. You can tell a lot by what’s not said. Watch body language, expressions, hesitations.
8. Never, ever, ever make up a quote!

This year on IPC, we will be following AP Style. This includes AP rules on grammar and various reporting details. If you’d like to get familiar with AP style before the conference, take a look at the book or go online. We’ll have AP Style books available for you at the conference!

Journalism can be challenging but it’s also fun! It’s going be a great weekend and if you have any questions, ask us. We’re both journalism students who have learned way more about journalism than we need and can help you with story ideas, leads, organization, grammar… you name it. Good luck!

We can be reached by e-mail anytime before the conference:

Neha thirani, Chair: n-thirani@northwestern.edu