From student government elections to trends in higher education, reporters are the heart of the publication.

Often delivered complex assignments and fast deadlines, they are faced with one of the most difficult jobs at the paper: finding the sources, discovering the story and writing it with enough flair and talent for the front page.

That said, reporting is also one of the most fulfilling parts of the publication. Reporters have their fingers on the pulse of student life, bringing student stories and experiences to a larger audience.

Getting Started

When a reporter has been handed his first assignment and a deadline, the look of bewilderment is sometimes almost laughable. What now?

Fortunately, the answer is obvious. Before typing the first word or scheduling the first interview, reporters should spend a significant amount of time doing background research into the topic, issue, person or event they are covering.

First, do search for background information. Find a Web site that to check for information about the mission or purpose of the organization? Is there a biography of the person online? Does the organization have a Web site or has it issued a press release? Have other media outlets covered this organization or event in the past? (Check past issues of the Technician, the Nubian Message and the Agromeck.) Getting the simple information out of the way early will save time and face.

Next, look for other coverage or stories. Has the person or topic been featured in the news lately? Is there a press release to accompany it? When reporters find something particularly controversial, they should write it down and then ask about it directly during the interview.

Let’s say, for example, that a reporter stumbles across Jon Dickens calling his recently indicted boss Sally Lewis a “Man-hating, whip cracking slavedriver.” A good reporters would sit down with Lewis, read the quote and ask how she would respond. Don’t hesitate to read it to Dickens and ask if he still stands behind that.

Finding Your Sources

Early on in the writing process, it’s also helpful to build a list of contacts, contacts that are accessible, quotable, informed and authoritative. Quoting someone who knows nothing about the situation provides for weak quotes.

With any story, interviews are an absolute necessity. They add color, humanity and expertise. But knowing who to interview will be absolutely vital. There are, however, a number of ways to determine the type of people you should be searching for. With any story, student input is key!

• Event Previews: Talk to organizers, group advisors, beneficiaries and – if an annual event – students that have attended in the past. Coverage in advance of an event always serves the community better than coverage after an event. Both may be newsworthy.
• Event Coverage: Talk to the organizers about post-event feelings or impressions. Talk to students at the event and participants in the program.
• National News: First, find an expert on campus that can talk about the issue or provide background to the news event. Then, try to find an NC State connection like ongoing research that could help or be affected. Students with families that are hurt. Also, get student reactions.
• Campus Reactions: Seems simple enough. Get student and faculty reactions to the topic then try to find an expert to put them into context.
• Trends: Talk to someone in public policy about the trend and how NC State compares. Then, find a member of the administration or faculty that can explain how the trend is particular to NC State.
• Controversial Issues: Get both sides of the story. Plenty for and plenty against. It is also helpful to find a campus expert that can explain why there is so much opposition.
• Polls or Statistics: Go to the source and contact the organization that produced the poll. Talk to them about their observations. Then, take the question and interview students and faculty. Do they agree?
• Meetings: The simple answer is to talk to people at the meeting – during and after. But also look at the issues and what people will be affected. Then, go find those people.
• Legislative or Policy Stories: Talk to legislators and policy makers. Then talk to a third party – a professor or analyst about motivations behind the legislation, history or possible repercussions. Then, get the reactions of those that will be affected.
• Profiles (Faculty or Student): Do more than just an interview with that person. Find their friends, their advisors or their peers. Talk to people they interact with or people that they help.

Getting Answers

No matter if it’s a top administrator, a candidate for president of the United States or a random student in class, doing a thorough interview can be one of the most difficult and harrowing parts of the writing process.

What if they don’t respond? What happens if you can’t get the information you need? What if they talk too fast? Talk too little?

But despite the fears, interviewing can also be one of the most exciting and fulfilling parts of the story. It’s an opportunity for the reporter to connect with other students, faculty and members of the community. More often than not, reporters find that people enjoy talking about the things that interest, irritate or inspire them. And as time goes on, reporters inevitably find that interviewing can be as easy, fun and natural as having an everyday conversation with their best friend.

Questions to consider

No story is alike and few require the same questions. But there are some questions that are relevant and useful for a variety of stories.

• Why?
• Is this a trend?
• How do we compare to other institutions?
• How much does this cost?
• How much are students paying for this?
• When did this begin?
• How has this changed over time?
• What is the outlook for the future?
• Why should students care about this?
• How will this affect the average student?
• What sort of visible changes will we see?
• Where can I go for additional information?
• Who is responsible for this?
• What can students do to get involved?
• Why is this important to the key mission of the university?
• What are some of the consequences of this?
• What are the arguments against this?
• Are there statistics to support that?

Pulling It All Together

By the time the last interview is completed and the final information gathered, the reporter should have a better grasp of the topic and its relevance to students. Before writing, however, it is important to take the time to examine all the information and determine what aspects of the story are the most important to your audience.

For Technician reporters, the primary audience is always the student body. Reporters must review the information and find the most important things that students will want or need to know. Reporters must put themselves in shoes of the readers and ask, “Why should I, as a student, care about this issue?” Or, “How will this affect me as a student?”

For instance, for a reporter covering the state budget, few students will care about how much human and health services were cut. The most important things to students will be tuition increases and cuts to the University. More precisely, students will want to know how much more they will be paying and what effects the budget cuts will have on their education.

Some stories, like those that deal with meetings or research, might not have such a clear cut answer. For these, search for the most intriguing, most controversial or newest tidbit. A professor winning an award might not seem that newsworthy, but the fact that the professor is the first female to ever be nominated could be intriguing.

After determining the most important or interesting aspect of the story, the reporter should develop a specific angle, avoiding generic stories that take up a lot of space and cover nothing. This angle is the peg that the rest of the story will be built around. It will be the central element of the story that all other details will surround or supplement.

Interviewing

Kristin Gilger of The Times Picayune of New Orleans said, “Skillful interviewing is the basis for all good reporting and writing.

“As an objective journalist, one has to develop a story from the information that can be found and what other people have to say.”

Once the reporter has a basis for the interviews he will be conducting, he can sort through the kind of sources that can be interviewed. Always have as many sources as possible – the more sources, the greater the variety of views that will be represented in the story.

Who to interview?

• Those who are central to the story — the person the story is on, someone who is close to the situation being reported on, etc.
• Those who have credibility relative to the story’s topic — high-ranking officials, those who have accomplished something important, or know something important.
• Those who have observed something — especially important for spot news stories, when the observers can tell you what happened.

An interview should be set up at a time and place that is most convenient for the person being interviewed (interviewee). Keeping interviewees in situations and settings that they are comfortable and relaxed in will lead to a better interview. Always allow time to stay with an interview longer than originally planned. If the interviewee opens up and gives  more information than the reporter might have expected, the reporter will want to talk to the interviewee for as long as it takes to get the story.

Interviews via e-mail should be avoided at almost all costs. Interviews by telephone should be avoided when possible. When interviewing is not done face-to-face, messages are missed that may not be transmitted by only words. Expressions, nuances, gestures, etc., help convey points the interviewee may be trying to make or that the reporter can use for the story. E-mail and phone interviews are good for fact checking.

Keys to a good interview

• Relax. The interviewees should be comfortable with the interview being done and the setting it is being done in. A big turn-off for interviewees is an interviewer that is over anxious to get information or is too nervous to relate himself to the situation.
• Be empathetic. The reporter should be interested in everything the interviewee has to say. He should look the interviewee in the eyes and nod, smile and laugh when appropriate.
• Plan ahead. Write down suggested questions. Do research. Know the person’s name and title and be prepared and engaged.
• Be an observer. The reporter should take note of the way the interviewee says things, the faces he makes in reaction to questions or things said, etc. The reporter should take note of the surrounding area the interview is being done in, especially if it tells something about who is being interviewed, e.g., an office.
• Look for further angles. As the interview is being conducted, the reporter should always keep an ear out for more, or even better angles other than the one he had already formed going in to the interview. The interviewee may tell the reporter something that would be a better story than the reporter had originally formed.
• Don’t be afraid to be ignorant. In other words, get the entire story. Reporters who aren’t clear about answers to questions should ask the interviewee to clarify and to expand on an answer until it is clear. That way the reporter can make it clear for the reader.
• Ask for anecdotes or examples of something the sources said, especially in feature stories. Anecdotes lead to more interesting stories, and will give an article more of a human touch. “Tell me about that.”
• At the end of the interview, the reporter should ask the interviewee if anything has been overlooked  pertaining to the topic and if there is something else that the interviewee would like to add.
• The reporter should make arrangements to contact the source after he has had time to write a draft of the story and identify potential holes. Give the source a call back to verify any confusing information, to get clarification or to review controversial information. Copy editors should fact check direct quotes and other information directly with the source.

Good questions

Open-ended questions (Why, how, etc.) are better than close ended questions (yes or no, when, etc.), unless you need clarification on facts. The clarification is especially important for spot news coverage. Open-ended questions allow interviewees to express their opinions, allow reporters to gather quotes they can use to flush out their stories and may give them more information than anticipated which can be used for further questioning.

Quotations

Quotes are a key element of any story. The job of the journalist is to report the stories of importance and interest to the readers through the use of authoritative and informed sources. Such sources add credibility to complex issues, give voice and life to the people represented and add color and drama to straight news. For that reason, it is important to integrate quotations throughout any news or feature story.

Too many quotes lose the reader, jumble the flow and confuse the general focus of the story. Too few quotes leave the story bland, monotonous and boring. Therefore, it’s best not to quote everything but to use quotes to provide emphasis, emotion and drama. Do not quote facts, but do attribute the source. Avoid quoting anything that can be made easier to understand by using an indirect quote and rephrasing the statement.

BAD: “As director of the new computer science department, I’ll be in charge of three undergraduate programs and a graduate program in cyberdefense,” Hawkins said.

BETTER: Hawkins said his new position will put him in charge of three undergraduate programs and a graduate program in cyberdefense. He’s ready to delve deeper into his passion.

“There are few things in life that excite me like a good batch of HTML,” Hawkins said. “My pulse quickens, I start to sweat – Man, I am a computer nerd.”

BAD: “It’s just so easy to sign up,” Mallette said. “You can go online, visit our booth or just stop by the office.”

BETTER: And Mallette says that it’s simple to get involved. Sign-up is available online, at the center’s booth at the orientation fair or in the office.

It’s also important to avoid repetition. Quotes should not repeat previous information or simply restate something you already said. Instead, they should provide a different insight or passionate opinion.

BAD: While campus crime is on the rise, Lt. Harris says that students have no reason to be concerned.

“Students shouldn’t be worried even though there are increases in the numbers,” he said.

BETTER: Despite the increases, Lt. Harris said that students have no reason to be concerned.

“Campus Police are out and out in full force, we will leave no brick unturned on this campus,” he said.

Attribution

• Direct quotes: Exactly what a person said. They appear inside quotation marks. When questioned, a reporter should be able to produce written notes documenting exactly what the interviewee said. Never alter quotations, even to correct minor grammatical errors or word usage.
• Indirect quotes: Retain the exact meaning of what a person said, but not the exact wording. They do not appear in quotation marks.
• Periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks: “Learning how to copyedit is fun,” Tyler Dukes said.
• Identify all students by grade and major.
• It is generally not necessary to quote facts.
• When taking words out of a direct quote, indicate the missing words with an ellipsis (option + colon). There are spaces on both sides of the ellipsis. Make sure the omission doesn’t distort the meaning of the direct quote.
• When adding words to a direct quote for clarification, put them in brackets: “[The building] fell down after the ox ran into it,” Police Chief Tom Younce said.
• Always attribute opinion to the source.

The use of ‘said’

Using “said” puts the emphasis on what the person said, not how they said. Only rarely, such as when something is attributed to an official statement, is it necessary to say “stated.”

Following up

No matter how detailed the questions or thorough the background research, the need may arise to ask additional questions after the initial interview. It is acceptable to call a source back later in the day to clarify or verify information. Make arrangements to do so during the initial interview. Most people do not mind giving a little extra time to ensure that the story is detailed and accurate.

When covering complex or confusing issues, it is a good idea to call sources back to reconfirm details or doublecheck facts and figures. A reporter writing a story on students fees, for instance, might want to call the Student Senate president to go over how fees are set and who has the final jurisdiction. For a story on budget cuts, a reporter might want to call a dean and read the figures used in the story or side bar to make sure they are correct. For highly technical articles, including articles giving any advice (especially medical advice), keep the language simple for readers but will need to verify the accuracy of the paraphrased statements with the expert sources.

Just because it’s important to verify and clarify information does not imply that a reporter should ever give a story to a source to read in advance of publication. This gives control of the content over to the source and is not acceptable. A reporter might, instead, offer to doublecheck information and read the quotes attributed to that source in the story. A reporter should explain to the source that he cannot change a quote to make it “sound better” but can correct any misinformation.

Reporters may find themselves contacting the same source numerous times while writing follow-up stories. For that reason, it’s important not only to be accurate but also to be polite and to establish a professional working relationship with all sources and potential sources.

The Lead

The lead, or opening paragraphs of a story, is the most important part of the story. It must, at some level, both summarize and grab the reader’s attention.

When writing a lead, assume that the average reader does not have the time or patience to read the entire story and therefore, the writer must give them all the pertinent information in as little space as possible. On the flip side, writers should also engage the reader so that they want to read more.

Leads should be kept short and to the point, leaving all background information and detailed explanation for the body of the story. Unlike telling a story where the storyteller uses suspense to lead up to the climax or point of the story, a news writer must tell the most important facts first in the lead and fill in the details later.

In a news story, the main objective of the lead is to answer the questions who, what, when and where, as least, maybe going into why. In a feature story, the main objective of the lead is to grab the reader’s attention.

Types of leads

Hard news leads should hit the ground running with no extra or wasted wording. A news lead should rarely surpass 35-40 words in length (with 25 words as the standard). It is permissible for a lead to be more than one sentence. The news lead should answer the questions who, what, when and where and the story should then quickly move in to why and how.

Pick one of the five W’s to highlight the lead. For example, a reporter might highlight the lead using the “where” element of the incident. “In front of a record crowd of 57,329 people, the football team won its fourth game of the season in a 21-17 win over Virginia on Saturday.”

Rarely, however, should the story lead with “when.” While, by definition, news stories have to be timely, rarely is when something happened most important.

The hard news lead

Stories about crime, breaking news, facts or figures, announcements and events often follow the standard, hard news lead. This type of writing addresses the who, what, when, where and how – delivering the main facts and giving a clear picture of what happened. The first sentence often addresses the who and what, leaving the second to provide additional information about the when, where and how. Further explanation and detail is left to the body of the story.

Campus Police apprehended two burglary suspects on Tuesday in connection to what they call “the heist of the century.”

John Roberts, 21, and Glen Thomas, 45, were later charged with 28 counts of felony burglary for the theft of diamond jewelry and laptop computers from Harrelson Hall.

Following the lead, it is usually easiest to add a quote or statistic to supplement the information.

“It was a lucky catch but we are sure to have these fellas off the streets,” said Campus Police Lt. Jon Barnwell, who arrested the men at their home at 43 Broad Street.

The several-element news lead

A reporter may be faced with an event that has many different elements involved. Take this example: A car crashes into a restaurant on Hillsborough Street. The driver and a waiter both die. The accident stops all traffic on Hillsborough Street for five hours. The police say they found an open bottle of whisky in the car. When faced with a story that has so many different elements, follow these steps:

1. Separate the various newsworthy elements.
2. Decide what the most important element is. What element of the total event caused everything else to happen? Which element, if taken away, would make all the other elements impossible?
3. Write a lead that features the most important element.
4. Follow the lead with a story – using quotes and transitions – that connects all the other elements of the event to the most important element.

Soft leads

While inappropriate for hard news stories, a soft or features lead can be a compelling and engaging way to begin stories about people or events, stories that have little newsworthiness or that may be outdated. A soft lead gives the writer more freedom and creativity since the point is not to deliver all the straightforward news, but to engage and captivate the reader.

For example, a hard news lead about a shooting might begin like this:

Two local boys were found dead in their front yard this morning, victims of what police suspect was a gang-related initiation.

Samuel Jackson, 5, and Thomas Jackson, 7, were playing in a sandbox when, according to police reports, a shooter emerged from a passing van and fired four shots at the boys.

A soft lead, however, would focus less on the facts and more on the victims:

Sharon Jackson had just kissed her two youngest boys on the forehead when she walked inside to answer a ringing telephone. In the few seconds it took to enter the home and retrieve the cordless phone, Samuel, 5, and Thomas, 7, were murdered – shot in their own front yard.

Like a hard news lead, a soft lead is always followed by a nut graf, which gives a brief explanation of the story, answering the who, what, when, where and how. After a soft lead, however, the nut graf is usually delayed but not for more than four or five paragraphs.

There are a number of creative and compelling ways to use a soft or features lead. Always remember, however, to make sure that the lead matches the general purpose and point of the story and that it is still concise and clear. While there is more creative license with a soft lead, it should not be awkward, condescending, long or too clever. As always, avoid clichés or overly sentimental beginnings.

Anecdotal leads

Such leads are common in feature stories and use a short story to demonstrate an aspect of a story.

Standing behind the counter at the local Dairy Queen, Justin Forsythe balances an ice cream scoop in one hand and his Calculus textbook in the other. Between churning shakes and changing twenty dollar bills, he pours over the text, desperately cramming for his 8 a.m. exam.

He knows he should be at home or in the library. But since legislators tacked on an additional five percent increase for his in-state tuition, he’s had to take all the hours he can get, digging out scoop after scoop to make sure he can afford to stay in school for his last semester.

Descriptive leads

Descriptive leads, also common in feature stories, use vivid detail and color to describe a person, place or process.

Dan Strother doesn’t do handshakes.

Enter his second story office in Pullen Hall and the burly, former college football star will immediately envelope you in a bear hug, waving aside any attempts at formality and insisting that while you’ve just met, you’re already friends.

With kind eyes, a booming laugh and a bald spot that he jokes “distracts low flying planes,” he looks like the last person that anyone would expect to be running one of the nation’s top universities. But as N.C. State chancellor, he does just that. In between giving hugs, of course.

Narrative leads

Using drama and suspense to put readers in the middle of the action, with little attention given to detail or explanation, narrative leads are like the beginning of a good novel, enticing the reader to read more.

Panting, sweating and gasping for air, Natalie Lewis digs her fingers into the chainlink fence, using every ounce of her energy to pull herself up and over, landing squarely – and hard – on the burnt clay below.

After a seconds rest, she hurtles across an empty field, frantically trying to outrun an invisible enemy.

She’s 22, a chemistry major and just encountering her first day of basic training in the ROTC.

Quote leads

Begin with a quote, often telling a story, giving background or expressing strong emotion. Avoid “famous quotes” if possible, using testimony from real people or experts. This type of lead rarely works since it is hard to find the “perfect” quote that really grabs the reader’s attention for the feature story. However, when such a quote exists, it can be very effective.

“Scared doesn’t even begin to describe it,” recalls Anna Thomas, as she reclines in her comfy chair in her Student Health office, miles away from the harrowing mountain climb that nearly claimed her life two weeks ago and catapulted the generally reserved nurse to national notoriety.

Here’s another.

“Oh, I never believed in love at first sight,” Sally Thomas said, flipping her honey colored mane over her back. “That is, until I logged on and saw his handsome face.”

Thomas, who claims she’s never considered herself romantic, found true love on an Internet message board. Six months and several clicks later, she’s getting married in June.

Statistical leads

Numbers can be boring. But, when used right, the right numbers, such as startling statistics can draw people into the story.

Take a look at five of your closes females friends. By the time they graduate, statistics say one of them will be sexually assaulted according to the National Health Office, which just released “The Female Plight,” detailing the major problems facing American women today.

Audience-identification leads

Put readers in the story to make it more realistic.

It’s two hours until John’s big date and all he wants to hear is some Barry White.

He rummages through his CDs and then, unsatisfied, starts clicking away at his laptop. Within minutes, he has downloaded “Love’s theme” broadcasting it as he sways to Barry’s rhythmic baritone.

But downloading that one, seemingly harmless song could add up to thousands of dollars in fines and serious jail time if the National Recording Artists Industry has its way.

Starting July 6, the music industry will be hunting down and suing everyone from downloading DJs to the occasional college CD burner for illegally sharing music files.