Editorial Outline

Journalism I

Once you’ve carefully read the entire chapter on editorials in your textbook, consider how you want to approach this type of article before you begin writing.

Recall from the textbook that editorials are/can be:

§  Opinionated

§  Well-researched and supported

§  Do not necessarily need to include interviews & quotes as in your previous articles

Types of editorials include:

§  Interpretive, meaning that the editorial you write may seek to explain something complicated in your own terms/words

OR

§  Persuasive, meaning that you choose to take a stance on an issue and attempt to get readers to see your side of the story

OR

§  Entertaining, meaning that the piece is humorous or witty, but still is ultimately opinionated about something (think The Onion or articles by someone like Dave Barry)

Once you’ve thought about the type of editorial you’d like to write, come up with a topic and, more importantly, an angle for the article. Do you want to interpret a recent policy change, perhaps? Maybe you want to rant or rave about something within FHS? Or, maybe you want to take a tongue-in-cheek approach and get people laughing? Whatever you do, remember that you want to keep the angle in line with the elements of news judgment (keep it timely, relevant, local, unique, etc…)

Note: You may want to peruse publications online to get an idea of what an editorial might look like. Look for a link to editorials under a heading like “Opinion”, “Editorial”, “Viewpoints”, etc…

Once you have your angle, type up a brief summary and outline for it. Having an outline completed before you begin writing this more difficult type of article will be very beneficial to the writing process later. Your outline should looks something like this:

I.  Summary of idea/angle in 1-2 sentences

II.  Importance of idea to you (why do you want to write about this?)

III.  Importance of idea to your potential readers (who else would care about this and why?)

IV.  Key points/arguments/back-up for argument or angle (list at least 3-4 key points you’ll discuss in the body of the editorial).

a.  Key point #1

b.  Key point #2

c.  Key point #3

  1. Key point #4

Be prepared with your outline when we return from Mid-Winter Break on Monday, 2/28. We will discuss them all as a class and analyze ideas and arguments. I will also have the editorial assignment ready for you that day as well.