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Feature writing: Crafting research-based stories with characters, development and a structural arc

Semester-long syllabus that teaches students how to write stories with characters, show development and follow a structural arc.

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by The Journalist's Resource, The Journalist's Resource January 22, 2010

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The best journalism engages as it informs. When articles or scripts succeed at this, they often are cast as what is known as features or contain elements of a story. This course will teach students how to write compelling feature articles, substantive non-fiction stories that look to a corner of the news and illuminate it, often in human terms.

Like news, features are built from facts. Nothing in them is made up or embellished. But in features, these facts are imbedded in or interwoven with scenes and small stories that show rather than simply tell the information that is conveyed. Features are grounded in time, in place and in characters who inhabit both. Often features are framed by the specific experiences of those who drive the news or those who are affected by it. They are no less precise than news. But they are less formal and dispassionate in their structure and delivery. This class will foster a workshop environment in which students can build appreciation and skill sets for this particular journalistic craft.

Course objective

To teach students how to interest readers in significant, research-based subjects by writing about them in the context of non-fiction stories that have characters, show development and follow a structural arc from beginning to end.

Learning objectives

Explore the qualities of storytelling and how they differ from news.
Build a vocabulary of storytelling.
Apply that vocabulary to critiquing the work of top-flight journalists.
Introduce a writing process that carries a story from concept to publication.
Introduce tools for finding and framing interesting features.
Sharpen skills at focusing stories along a single, clearly articulated theme.
Evaluate the importance of backgrounding in establishing the context, focus and sources of soundly reported stories.
Analyze the connection between strong information and strong writing.
Evaluate the varied types of such information in feature writing.
Introduce and practice skills of interviewing for story as well as fact.
Explore different models and devices for structuring stories.
Conceive, report, write and revise several types of feature stories.
Teach the value of “listening” to the written word.
Learn to constructively critique and be critiqued.
Examine markets for journalism and learn how stories are sold.

Week 1: What makes feature stories different?

Previous week | Next week | Back to top

Class 1: News reports versus stories

The words “dispassionate,” “factual” and “front-loaded” might best describe the traditional news story. It is written to convey information quickly to the hurried reader. Features, on the other hand, are structured and told so that readers engage in and experience a story — with a beginning, middle and end — even as they absorb new information. It is features that often are the stories emailed to friends or linked on their Facebook pages. Nothing provides more pleasure than a “good read” a story that goes beyond basic information to transport audiences to another place, to engage an audience in others’ lives, to coax a smile or a tear.

This class will begin with a discussion of the differences in how journalists approach both the reporting and writing of features. In news, for example, reporters quote sources. In features, they describe characters, sometimes capturing their interaction through dialogue instead of through disembodied quotes. Other differences between news and story are summarized eloquently in the essays “Writing to Inform, Writing to Engage” and “Writing with ‘Gold Coins'” on pages 302 to 304 of Clark and Scanlan’s America’s Best Newspaper Writing . These two essays will be incorporated in class discussion.

The second part of the introductory class will focus on writing as a continuum that begins with the inception of an idea. In its cover blurb, William Blundell’s book is described as “a step-by-step guide to reporting and writing as a continuous, interrelated process.”

Notes Blundell: “Before flying out the door, a reporter should consider the range of his story, its central message, the approach that appears to best fit the tale, and even the tone he should take as a storyteller.” Such forethought defines not only how a story will be reported and written but the scope of both. This discussion will emphasize that framing and focusing early allows a reporter to report less broadly and more deeply, assuring a livelier and more authoritative story.

READING (assignments always are for the next class unless otherwise noted):

Blundell, Chapter 1
Clark/Scanlan, “The Process of Writing and Reporting,” pages 290-294.

ASSIGNMENT:

Before journalists can capture telling details and create scenes in their feature stories, they need to get these details and scenes in their notebooks. They need, as Blundell says, to be keen observers “of the innocuous.” In reporting news, journalists generally gather specific facts and elucidating quotes from sources. Rarely, however, do they paint a picture of place, or take the time to explore the emotions, the motives and the events that led up to the news. Later this semester, students will discuss and practice interviewing for story. This first assignment is designed to make them more aware of the importance of the senses in feature reporting and, ultimately, writing.

Students should read the lead five paragraphs of Hal Lancaster’s piece on page 56 of Blundell and the lead of Blundell’s own story on page 114. They should come prepared to discuss what each reporter needed to do to cast them, paying close attention to those parts based on pure observation and those based on interviewing.

Finally, they should differentiate between those parts of the lead that likely were based on pure observation and those that required interviewing and research. This can be done in a brief memo.

Class 2: Building observational and listening skills

Writing coach Don Fry, formerly of the Poynter Institute, used the term “gold coins” to describe those shiny nuggets of information or passages within stories that keep readers reading, even through sections based on weighty material. A gold coin can be something as simple as a carefully selected detail that surprises or charms. Or it can be an interior vignette, a small story within a larger story that gives the reader a sense of place or re-engages the reader in the story’s characters.

Given the feature’s propensity to apply the craft of “showing” rather than merely “telling,” reporters need to expand their reporting skill set. They need to become keen observers and listeners, to boil down what they observe to what really matters, and to describe not for description’s sake but to move a story forward. To use all the senses to build a tight, compelling scene takes both practice and restraint. It is neither license to write a prose-poem nor to record everything that’s seen, smelled or heard. Such overwriting serves as a neon exit sign to almost any reader. Yet features that don’t take readers to what Blundell calls “street level” lack vibrancy. They recount events and measure impact in the words of experts instead of in the actions of those either affected by policy, events or discovery of those who propel it.

In this session, students will analyze and then apply the skill sets of the observer, the reporter who takes his place as a fly on the wall to record and recount the scene. First students will discuss the passive observation at the heart of the stories assigned above. Why did the writers select the details they did? Are they the right ones? Why or why not?

Then students will be asked to report for about 30 to 45 minutes, to take a perch someplace — a cafeteria, a pool hall, a skateboard park, a playground, a bus stop — where they can observe and record a small scene that they will be asked to recapture in no more than 150 to 170 words. This vignette should be written in an hour or less and either handed in by the end of class or the following day.

Four fundamental rules apply:

The student reporters can only write what they observe or hear. They can’t ask questions. They certainly can’t make anything up.
The students should avoid all opinion. “I” should not be part of this story, either explicitly or implicitly.
The scene, which may record something as slight as a one-minute exchange, should waste no words. Students should choose words and details that show but to avoid words and details that show off or merely clutter.
Reporters should bring their lens in tight. They should write, for example, not about a playground but about the jockeying between two boys on its jungle gym.

Reading: Blundell, Chapter 1, Stepp, pages 64 to 67. Students will be assigned to read one or more feature articles built on the context of recently released research or data. The story might be told from the perspective of someone who carried out the research, someone representative of its findings or someone affected by those findings. One Pulitzer Prize-winning example is Matt Richtel’s “Dismissing the Risks of a Deadly Habit,” which began a series for which The New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2010. Richtel told of the dangers of cell phones and driving through the experiences of Christopher Hill, a young Oklahoma driver with a clean record who ran a light and killed someone while talking on the phone. Dan Barry’s piece in The Times , “From an Oyster in the Gulf, a Domino Effect,” tells the story of the BP oil spill and its impact from the perspective of one oysterman, placing his livelihood into the context of those who both service and are served by his boat.

Finish passive observational exercise (see above).
Applying Blundell’s criteria in Chapter 1 (extrapolation, synthesis, localization and projection), students should write a short memo that establishes what relationship, if any, exists between the features they were assigned to read and the news or research developments that preceded them. They should consider whether the reporter approached the feature from a particular point of view or perspective. If so, whose? If not, how is the story structured? And what is its main theme? Finally, students should try to identify three other ways feature writers might have framed a story based on the same research.

Week 2: The crucial early stages: Conceiving and backgrounding the story

Class 1: Finding fresh ideas

In the first half of class, several students should be asked to read their observed scenes. Writing is meant to be heard, not merely read. After each student reads a piece, the student should be asked what he or she would do to make it better. Then classmates should be encouraged to make constructive suggestions. All students should be given the opportunity to revise.

In the second half of class, students will analyze the origins of the features they were assigned to read. The class might be asked to form teams and to identify other ways of approaching the material thematically by using Blundell’s methods of looking at an issue.

Feature writers, the author writes, are expected to find and frame their own ideas.

“The feature writer who doesn’t have two or three projects bubbling on his own stove is doing only half a job,” he writes.

Conceiving stories, Blundell notes, involves more than clear and original thought. Reporters need idea files and source files. They need to read prolifically in areas about which they know little. They need to look for areas that are under covered by their publications. They need to walk through their communities with the wonderment of tourists who have just landed in a foreign city.

This degree of organization and engagement assures reporters far greater success in applying some of Blundell’s other tools of analysis.

These include:

Extrapolation — Looking for the “why” or principal cause of a story. After the explosion that killed BP workers and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico, some feature stories likely told the dramatic, but relatively narrow, story of the night things went bad. Others, based on much weightier investigation, traced the series of bad decisions BP made that ultimately led to catastrophe. Both, in their way, would have been considered backgrounders to the news development.
Synthesis — Looking for common threads that can broaden a story’s impact. Blundell offers the example of a series of mishaps in the city of San Diego that made the city ripe for a feature on its dubious claim to being the American capital of civic embarrassment.
Localization — Examining big events or developments in smaller ways — either by taking a national or global event and examining its impact within the writer’s local area or by viewing a broad, thematic problem — post-traumatic stress disorder in the military, for example — through the experiences of an individual whose story represents the more universal experience. (In his book, Writing for Your Readers , Donald Murray writes: “Most good stories say one thing. They tell the story not of a battle, but of a soldier: they talk not about governance, but a deal; they discuss not a socioeconomic group, but reveal a person and a life.” Blundell writes that it is easier for most feature writers to be miniaturists than muralists.)
Projection — Looking beyond the news development by writing a story that considers how the news affects a person or group of people. In Richtel’s story about the dangers of cell phones and driving, he builds the story around one young man whose life was shaken when he ran a stop light and took a life while talking on the phone.

Conceiving a story is only the first step. The reporter must go deep to report and write the story well. “To me,” Blundell writes, “the most important part of reporting is knowing what you need to make the story go.”

Reading: Blundell Chapter 3 and 4

Assignment: Students should either use materials posted on the Journalist’s Resource web site at the Shorenstein Center or developed at a research center at their university to identify and background a news or research development that can serve as the basis for developing a unique feature angle or approach. This feature should not profile, or tell the story of, either of an institution or an individual. Profiles will be assigned later in the semester. Instead students should look for features that either look behind a news development, such as the BP backgrounders described earlier, or features that look at the impact of a news development on those most directly affected by it or those who would be expected to translate it into policy. Students should keep in mind that they are conceiving and finding a thematic thread for a feature, not reporting a policy story filled with expert voices only. For example, if the Department of Defense releases data showing that suicides have increased in the military, the student might propose a feature like one published on page 1 of The New York Times in July 2010. It told the story of those working on a suicide hotline to keep anguished members of the military alive. The stories that grow out of this assignment should be substantial in their research and be worthy of between 1,300 and 1,500 words. They will be due in four weeks (Class 2 or Week 6).

By the second class of Week 3 students will be expected to have identified a topic and a way of approaching it that allows each to:

Craft a single-sentence theme statement establishing its focus.
Identify and obtain research-based material that will provide a specific contextual foundation for the story.
Provide at least four sources, with their contact information, and an explanation of why the student has chosen them.
Provide a brief reporting plan.

Class 2: The importance of backgrounding (starting the reporting process)

Too many students mistake reporting for a journalistic version of a police dragnet: They pull in everything they can find and then try to figure out what the story is. Such an approach results in stories riddled with holes and lacking any dominant focus. Reporting always demands lots of legwork. But that legwork must be informed by forethought, which, in turn, is informed by the process of backgrounding. Backgrounding moves a story from the conceptual stage to the point at which a reporter can draw up a well-established working thesis or plan, a focus which, while it might still change, sets the direction of future reporting and writing.

“The good writers I know always do some kind of planning before they report,” writes Blundell.

Part of that planning means to review what’s been written about the topic before, both to find useful information and to see what hasn’t been broached. It means identifying and locating documents to help establish a line of questioning and lend authority to the story. It means identifying different kinds of sources, from the “rabbis,” who point the way but rarely are quoted to “wise men,” who can offer a big picture overview of the landscape; and from authorities who can give the official version of things to what Blundell calls the “street-level” people who live the story and among whom the reporter likely will find a central character.

In this class, students will begin with a discussion of the steps needed to background a story well and then apply those steps to the individual stories they have begun researching. Among the issues that will be discussed are: Where to look for authoritative sources and digital or print documents, how to distinguish between different kinds of sources, and how to use background material to establish a line of questioning, identify potential sources and narrow the story’s focus.

READING/ASSIGNMENT:

Agree with Blundell’s assessment of the theme of the story as expressed on page 116
Find that the story stays tightly focused on the thematic Blundell describes. In each case, students should explain why the agree or disagree.
Continue background work on first feature.

Week 3: Honing the story’s approach

Class 1: Focus or theme statements

Nearly every effective and interesting story is built around a single, dominant theme, using varied types of material to develop it. Writers who fill stories with exhaustive documentation but fail to establish a clear storyline file copy that reads like a government report. Writers who cobble together a series of colorful scenes that are not connected by a clear story spine run the risk of confusing readers to the point at which they will turn away.

The best features engross or entertain readers as they inform them. They offer content, structure and style, or, as Carl Sessions Stepp writes, “typically … share the following three virtues: 1. storyline: a special idea 2. Surprise: compelling material and 3. Stylishness: engaging writing.

To arrive at 2 and 3, the writer must first establish 1, the storyline. “A limited tale well told has more impact and persuasiveness than a sweeping story that can’t be adequately illustrated,” Blundell writes.

It is difficult to write that limited tale, however, unless the reporter sets out on a course to report it. That usually means narrowing and sharpening the story’s concept to the point at which the writer can express it in a clear and specific theme or focus statement. (For example, on page 116, Blundell gives this theme statement for the profile he deconstructs in the same chapter: “My theme statement for this story was simple — the life and work of a real cowboy in an age of cowboy hype.”)

Most serious storytellers would agree with Blundell that writing such a theme sentence must precede the bulk of reporting. This does not suggest the journalist embarks on his reporting with a bias. It suggests he is reporting with purpose. If the reporter finds a better story along the way, he can recast the theme statement. But entering the reporting process without one is like running through brambles instead of along a clearly marked path. The reporter who chooses the brambles may still get to the end, but only with multiple nicks and cuts.

As students sharpen their stories’ themes, they should consider some of the questions Blundell raises in Chapter 4 (assigned earlier). They also might ask themselves these questions, among others:

Is the story’s scope too broad?
Do I have time to report and write a story of the scale I’m proposing?
Am I getting down to street level in my reporting?
Can I establish an element of suspense or anticipation at the outset of the story that isn’t answered until near the end?
Does something happen in the story? Does something change? (Action often informs character and stories are easier to construct if they arrive at a resolution. In his excellent book on narrative nonfiction, Writing for Story , author Jon Franklin notes that the best stories are built around sympathetic characters forced to confront and resolve a conflict or complication in their lives. “A story,” he writes, “consists of a sequence of actions that occur when a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation that he confronts and solves.”)
Does the story’s contemporary context or its past make it more interesting to tell?

To help internalize the process of writing theme statements, students can be asked to select an article from the Journalist’s Resource web site, to deconstruct it and to craft a single theme sentence that captures its purpose. They then should compare their efforts, either in small groups or a discussion of the entire class.

Class 2: Pitching the story

Students will read their theme or focus statements aloud in class. These will be critiqued by the instructor and class. Using the memos submitted by students, the instructor should work with them to sharpen the focus of their stories and troubleshoot the direction of their reporting.

Reading: Blundell, page 95 (four stages), 126 to 140 and 148 to 152; Zinsser, pages 55 to 58; Stepp, 99 to 101 and 149 to 153.

The first draft of the 1,500-word public affairs feature article described above will be assigned for the second class of Week 5 (in two weeks).
Those students with a weak focus statement will be expected to recast them for the following class.
Students should come prepared to discuss which lead in Appendix 2 of Blundell’s book they consider most effective and why. They also should consider which ending they consider most effective and why.

Week 4: Organizing stories

Class 1: Leads and endings

Journalism textbooks love to categorize lead types. Among the feature leads they’ll list are anecdotal leads , short vignettes that exemplify or show what the main point of the story will tell; scene setters , that paint a picture and create a mood of a place central to a story’s central theme; zingers , short, sharp leads that pull readers in with a quick turn of phrase or sharp contrast; and narrative leads , which foreshadow what’s to come and build suspense without giving away the story’s ending.

Categories aside, though, every lead serves the same purpose and has the same mission: To engage readers immediately and to do so well enough to keep them reading.

Reporters, particularly those writing for newspapers or web sites, don’t have the time or space to luxuriate in the scenes they create. They cannot afford to waste space or words. They must, in the words of E.B. White, “make every word tell.” This is as true in writing features as in writing news. The forms and style change. The mission remains the same.

In his book, On Writing Well , William Zinsser puts it like this: “The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead.”

He notes that leads must not only force the reader to keep reading but that to do so, each sentence must do “real work.” It needs to build on the sentence before, to introduce information even as it entices or draws the reader in.

Leads must do something else: They must be honest. A lead about a shark surfacing a few feet from a swimmer off Cape Cod likely would draw the reader to the next sentence. But if the story had nothing to do with sharks other than they were swimming in the waters near a controversial site where offshore windmills will soon be built, the lead would be deceptive and tangential to the story. A lead must fit the story — in its content, its tone and its direction. Readers will resent the writer who deceives.

The second most important sentence in a good feature is its last. It should leave the reader with a sense of finality or resolution, a strong image, a reminder of the story’s main theme. The best endings both surprise and resonate. This is not the long windup of the college English essay. Students are urged to leave out their editorial opinions and to eschew that dreadful term-paper transition: “in conclusion.” Instead, the best stories stop, sometimes abruptly, often before the reader is quite ready.

When an opening anecdote or scene introduces a broader theme, the writer often circles back or bookends the story to where it began. Stories that return to where they began offer a sense of symmetry, a sense of completion. Other stories end by looking ahead, to the future. Or, in the case of narrative, they reach the solution readers have been seeking since they were enticed into the story in the opening scene.

The best way to learn to write different kinds of leads and endings is to (a) read many writers and take note of their approaches and (b) to try multiple leads and endings to the same story.

In this session, the class should discuss Blundell’s four stages on page 95. The first. “tease me, you devil” is the anecdotal or scene-setter lead of the conventional public affairs feature and, perhaps, the first chapter of the pure narrative. The second stage, “tell me what you’re up to” is the nut graph , the paragraph or two in traditional features that resolves the anecdote before it by telling what it showed and then, by placing it in broader context. The second stage is a theme or focus statement with a bit more muscle on the bone. The third stage, “I’m from Missouri. You’ll have to prove what you just said,” is the story’s middle, its evidence and its story development, often woven together. And the last, “I’ll buy it. Help me remember,” is the ending.

In addition to critiquing the leads and endings in Blundell’s Appendix B, the class, time permitting, might either evaluate how well one piece meets these four stages and/or recast the lead for one of the stories, a means of matching their wits against a master and also, perhaps, proving to themselves that no story has a single right lead.

Reading: Blundell, Chapter 5; Stepp, pages 141 to 149, 182 to 192; 52 to 54

Class 2: Managing the middle

Good organization can’t rectify weak content. That’s why students should start this class by playing close heed to Blundell’s “rule of threes” (page 54), a means of layering strong reporting into story. The author notes that readers need repetition to understand ideas and concepts. But, he adds, that repetition should take different forms. So, for example, if a sentence says the catch of Gulf oystermen has been cut by a third since the BP oil spill, the next sentence should give a specific example, perhaps showing the diminished haul of the story’s main character on a specific day. The third sentence might be a salty quote from that main character on how bad things have become.

Fact, followed by example, followed by quote: That is one application of the rule of threes. Working in tandem, these different kinds of story “proofs” build knowledge and entertain the reader. The rule of threes also can apply to multiple examples from different places. If, for example, new research shows a rise in foreclosures in more states, the reporter might give examples from three of them.

Regardless of their structure, stories work well when like ideas are kept together. Those ideas might be related material, as in the rule of threes, or related themes. A feature about preparations to enforce Arizona’s harsh new immigration law would have one section that looks at the efforts of those interested in enforcing the law and another that examines efforts of opponents to block that enforcement. It would not whipsaw back and forth from one group to the other.

Since we all live by the clock — 24 hours a day, seven days in a week, four weeks in a month, and so forth — writing often works well if at some point it returns to the beginning and progresses to the end. The story, in other words, is organized chronologically . When explanatory passages or sections are needed, writers can step back from this chronological framework by alternating expository “chapters” with the personal narrative ones.

In class, students should analyze Blundell’s story about the loss of farmland in Chapter 5 (it begins on page 103), reviewing not only its structure but the content he musters. Does he apply the rule of threes? In what ways? Does he keep like ideas together? In what way? Contrast this story to the story that begins on page 114. This story relies heavily on chronology for its structure.

Reading: Review Blundell, Chapter 4; Read Stepp, page 72 to 76, 138 to 139

Assignment: Students should come prepared to discuss the following:

William Blundell writes: “The story is happening on streets where there are no PR men strewing palms in the reporter’s path, no computers disgorging blocks of seductive statistics, and a lot of people who have nothing to gain from doing pirouettes for the press. This territory can be tough on strangers, but we have to go there to gather details and direct experiences that show the reader what we’re talking about.”Students should discuss what he means by this. Blundell further suggests that a good half of reporting can be spent seeking the right person to talk to at that street level. Students should discuss how close to that street level they’ve gotten in their reporting and what else they might do to close the gap.
Students also should consider whether and how they’ve used Blundell’s method of planning and execution to inform their reporting and come prepared to discuss this. Has it helped them? Confused them? Have they applied it or ignored it? Why?

Each student should weigh:

What gaps remain in reporting his or her story.
Whether the reporting has unearthed sound, research-based data at the story’s foundation.
Whether or not the data is recent.
Whether sources interviewed carry authority.
Whether they show a range and balance.
Whether they take the story to street level.

Week 5: Working through the reporting process

Class 1: Reporting at ground level

This class will be run like a newsroom in which the instructor, as editor, coaches students through the latter stages of their reporting process. Students should be challenged to defend their initial theme statement. Does it still stand up? Should it be tweaked in any way? They should be pressed on what data they’ve gathered to support that premise. And they should be asked to explain and, if necessary, defend their choice and breadth of sources.

Reading: Stepp, pages 85-88

Assignment: Each student should craft a two- to three-page memo containing the following:

An updated theme or focus statement
A list of primary points that support that focus, tied, if possible, to Blundell’s six question areas on pages 70-75.
A lead that shows (or, as Blundell says, teases)
A nut graph (or graphs) that establishes the story and summarizes its main point.
A contextual section that places the story into a broader perspective and reinforces its main point
Sections or chapters built around like ideas
Anecdote or scenes interspersed as examples. These support the ideas and reintroduce the main character.
A closing section that circles back to the main character.
An example to support each primary story point.
A summary of research-based evidence that supports the story’s main thesis.
An assessment of what reporting gaps remain and how they might be filled.

Class 2: Outlining the story

Students, working in teams of two, should read each other their revised theme statements (and consult the instructor on an as-needed basis). Teammates should listen as readers and coach as editors. Each should ask his or her teammate to talk through the story. What did he/she find most interesting? What alternative leads has he/she attempted? What gaps does the story have?

After finishing the critiques, each student should:

Read through notes and mark key facts, key quotes and key examples
Fast-draft a rough lead through the nut graph
Identify contextual material that would enhance the story
Order key points/facts that should be in the story
Identify interior scenes that belong in the story
Highlight any information that needs to be verified or double-checked.

In organizing key points, students should remember to keep like ideas together. They should seek examples that support all general statements. Some long-form feature writers work with a master chronology that sets all facts and scenes in a timeline of when they took place. This helps with fact checking and with chronological organization.

Reading: Blundell, Chapter 7; Stepp, 51-57 and 176-192

Week 6: The roots of good writing

Class 1: Using language with style and precision

This class will review the elements of good journalistic writing, from active, right-branching sentences to specificity and simplicity of language. Among the issues instructors might touch on and model are:

The cadence, pace and rhythm of good writing. It should become second nature for students to read their work aloud.
Selective detail and its use. (Using Journalist’s Resource or news web sites, students might look for examples of selective detail that are enhanced by features and examples that detract because they don’t reinforce storyline.)
Specificity versus generality. How does Blundell’s rule of threes ensure specificity?
The use of analogy in translation and definition. (The value of comparing the unfamiliar to what we know.)
The importance of consistency of tone, person, tense and style.

After the discussion, students should draft either a lead anecdote or an interior scene from their stories. Some of these will be critiqued in class.

DUE: First draft of 1,500-word backgrounder or impact feature. Selected stories will be due the night before class so they can be distributed to the entire class in advance.

Class 2: Workshopping first drafts

Selected students should read their stories aloud, discuss obstacles they faced in drafting them, explain how they tried to overcome these obstacles, and identify what they liked best about their stories and what they lacked confidence in. Classmates then will weigh in with their critiques.

Reading: pages 76 and 77 (Blundell’s profile outline) and these stories in his book: pages 44 to 47 and 242 to 248 (personal profiles), 248 to 254 (institutional profile) and 114 to 119 (occupational profile).

Assignment: Students weigh the differences between a profile, a depth interview with a subject and story about their background. What does Blundell mean when he says that profiles, like other stories, need a clear theme? Students also should try to determine some of the ways that Blundell’s outline on page 76 and 77 helped define the structure of his own work.

Week 7: The profile (personal and institutional)

Class 1: Finding a subject, finding a theme, finding out information

Few aspects of journalism are more interesting and challenging than to write about someone else, — to capture what motivates that individual, what makes that person “tick.” Profiles can be written as well about organizations and about what makes them distinctive or unusual. Good profiles demand backgrounding, patience, legwork, independent engagement and curiosity.

First, however, the reporter has to answer the questions, “Whom should I profile and why?” Sometimes those answers can be found in the news: Who has surfaced as an interesting figure? Sometimes the answers can be found in something interesting that a subject does, or doesn’t do (note the profiles in Blundell’s book of the Disney corporation, still living in the shadow of its deceased founder.) Or the answers can be found by looking for someone who exemplifies a larger group or population in the news, a veteran with PTSD, for example. Whomever or whatever the subject, writers don’t merely want to catalogue that individual’s or company’s accomplishments. Corporate biographies and resumes serve that purpose. Profiles dig beneath the surface, capture the subject complete with quirks and blemishes. They help readers understand what makes someone “tick” and what lies behind that person’s passions.

As with other features, backgrounding plays a central role in establishing the profile’s theme. Backgrounding can help the reporter identify how a subject has changed and uncover inherent contradictions between the subject’s words and actions. It allows the writer to separate what has been written about someone from what hasn’t. And it can open doors. For example, when Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Breton of The Providence Journal interviewed two actresses co-starring in a theatrical performance, she had done “her homework.” She knew that decades earlier one had understudied for the other, a fact the actresses had forgotten until reminded and one that helped Breton break the ice.

The patience to gather information in varied ways often comes into play in reporting. Profiles require multiple interviews with a subject, preferably in a setting that shows who the person is.

Profiles also benefit from the times the reporter can simply observe. Author Gay Talese, one of the most respected of a generation in the 1960s that experimented with forms of narrative nonfiction storytelling, has written and spoken about “the art of hanging out,” of observing a subject and capturing the scenes that reflect that person’s manner and personality.

To learn about subjects, reporters don’t only interview them and read what they’ve written or what has been written about them. Reporters also interview others who can provide insight — family and friends, competitors and former employees, customers and patients. That’s legwork. Whom they seek out depends largely on what the story’s focus is. A profile of a Las Vegas card shark might lead to the subject’s high school or college math teacher, his mother and his competitors around the table. It likely wouldn’t call for an interview with his former piano teacher or swim coach.

To win a subject’s trust, reporters must show sincere interest in that individual. At the same time, the reporter has to maintain his or her independence. Good profiles reveal some aspect of a subject’s life. They are neither intended to promote nor diminish, simply show the subject as he or she really is.

Finally, reporters must be curious enough to delve beneath the surface. Most people have a public persona and a more private one. The profile writer wants to tap into both.

During this class, students will critique the profiles published in Blundell’s book and the elements of framing, reporting and writing interesting, informative profiles.

Assignment: In teams of three or four, students should research their professor, then draft a tentative focus or theme statement for a profile. It might focus on the professor’s research, a hobby or passion, his or her teaching style, some recent notable achievement (a book, for example) or something else. Teams should prepare to interview the professor “for story” during the next class, developing whatever themes their focus statements outline.

Class 2: Carrying out and critiquing an interview with the professor

A member of each team should read that team’s theme statement and other members should explain how the team decided on its focus. After all teams have finished, students will vote on which story offers the most promise. (Team members cannot vote for their own idea.) When the vote and subsequent discussion are finished, the winning team will interview the professor. Certain rules apply.

Questions cannot be read.
Team members should listen closely to the answer and try to build on each question in their subsequent question.
Students on the other teams, meanwhile, should observe, take notes, and evaluate the content and quality of their classmates’ interview. (They might consider, for example, how well each questioner engages, whether they are asking “open-ended” or “close-ended” questions, whether they are probing for emotion and insight as well as fact, and whether they appeared to be listening and taking cues for follow-up.)

After the interview and discussion about its effectiveness, the class should reflect on what steps would be needed to finish the profile.

Assignment: During the second class of next week, students will be expected to propose a profile subject and submit a theme or focus statement that identifies their approach. They should contact the subjects before preparing their pitches. They should also thoroughly background their subjects and identify at least two other people whom they can interview to develop the story further.

Reading: Article, “The Power of Listening,” Scanlan, Poynter Institute; “Rules to Interview By,” Rubinkowski, Poynter; Zinsser, pages 100 to 116; Stepp, 68 to 72; “Frank Sinatra has a Cold,” a Gay Talese profile, published in Esquire and available in full online. Finally, students should read Anna Quindlen’s essay from The New York Times “Hers” column on April 10, 1986. It begins with the words, “For most of my adult life, I have been a emotional hit-and-run driver, that is, a reporter.” The essay is an excellent starting point for a discussion of the ethics of depth reporting and interviewing.

Week 8: Interviewing for story

Class 1: Logistical and ethical considerations in interviewing for story

Successful interviews start with strong preparation and curiosity. Reporters who know next to nothing about their subject, who seem bored or hurried, who work off a set list of questions instead of listening to answers, who seek facts rather than knowledge or understanding, will leave with little.

Jacqui Banaszynski, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and now a Knight professor at the University of Missouri, says at times the most effective question can be a sympathetic nod or an interjection, such as “really.” This keeps the subject talking. Granted. It is not wise to start an interview this way. But often reporters are so intent on their questions that they don’t hear the answers and don’t encourage subjects to say more, to elaborate.

The first step in interviewing for story is to choose the right setting, a place that shows something about the subject and a place in which the subject feels comfortable. Then, says Banaszynski, the reporter’s job is to “peel back the layers of the onion,” to get to the story behind the story, to engage the real subject not the public persona. This takes time, patience, lots of directed yet open-ended questions, and genuine interest in what the subject has to say. Bored reporters conduct boring interviews.

It’s no small matter for a green reporter to park the jitters before knocking on the door. Several things help:

Know as much as possible about the subject beforehand.
Prepare questions in advance, but never read them. Preparation helps the reporter think through the interview’s purpose. Their questions shouldn’t be obvious — or left sitting on the table.
Ask permission to tape as well as take notes. It can ease the anxiety of keeping up. But do take notes, listening for details and quotes and hints that bear follow-up.
Ease in with questions that relax the subject and establish rapport. The props of setting can help. Ask why the subject has chosen a particular meeting place. Comment on pictures on the wall.
Listen. The reporter’s job is not to ask brilliant questions but to get brilliant answers.

This class discussion should focus on the techniques and pitfalls of interviewing for story. It is a skill that requires instinct and humanity as well as thoughtful preparation. (Banaszynski describes it as a dance in which the reporter must lead, but the interview subject gets to choose the music.)

At times reporters don’t get the opportunity to interview a profile’s central character. Such was the case in Talese’s “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold.” Students should discuss how Talese compensated for this.

This session should end with a discussion of Quindlen’s essay. What are the ethical dilemmas raised by interviewing for story and emotion as well as for information? What are the ethical responsibilities of the reporter in setting out on a project that will involve considerable revelation on the part of the subject (for example, a profile of a family caring for an Alzheimer’s patient)?

Assignment: Students should prepare a memo for pitching their profiles, which should be roughly 1,500 words in length. The memo should include:

A theme or focus statement
Key background information about the subject.
Key contacts and contact information for the subject and other people the student will interview to gain insight.
A few reflective paragraphs considering the story’s approach in the context of Blundell’s story development criteria on pages 76 and 77.

Class 2: Pitching profile ideas

Students will read their theme statements aloud and explain why they’ve proposed specific profile approaches. Students and instructor should react to each theme statement and offer constructive criticism. Those students lacking clear themes will be expected to recast their theme statements for the following class.

Week 9: The writer’s voice

Class 1: How voice emerges

Inexperienced writers frequently make the mistake of approaching “voice” as something that can be superimposed. They overwrite, laboring to create something that neither sounds like them nor reflects their style. In On Writing Well , Zinsser cautions that his students seem determined to “create an act of literature,” only relaxing paragraphs into a story to emerge as themselves.

Students should rest assured. For the writer who reads widely and writes frequently, voice emerges naturally over time. It is not a construct of big words and fancy phrases, nor is it an affected effort to sound carefree and breezy. It is not a celebration of the writer’s opinion. It comes from within, something akin to a slightly more polished version of the writer’s spoken voice.

Writes Stepp: “Voice probably comes more naturally than most writers believe. Many writers describe the struggle to ‘find’ their voice, but most writers’ voices will emerge spontaneously if they just clear away some of the obstructing professional underbrush: the artificial constraints, expectations, and hobgoblins that haunt many newsrooms, writing studios, and writer-editor collaborations. Writers who are steeped in good material, relaxed and enthusiastic about their assignment, comfortable in their surroundings, and encouraged to be original and inventive do not have to find a voice It rings out intuitively.”

In this class, students should discuss what concerns they have about voice and how they believe they should and have gone about developing it. They should then take a scene or section of their revised first features and write through it as they might tell a friend. The class should listen to a few of these and critique them.

Class 2: Workshopping the revised first feature

The instructor should identify two or three students who will be asked in advance to distribute their work to the class. They should read their stories aloud in class, be given the opportunity to discuss what worked for them and where they struggled. Then classmates should weigh in with a discussion of these stories, starting with what they liked best and then making suggestions for improvement.

Week 10: Working through the reporting process

Class 1: Sharpening the story’s angle and content

Both classes in this week largely replicate the critiquing and outlining goals set in Week 5, with the instructor acting as coach to shepherd students through the latter stages of their reporting process.

Students should be asked whether their initial focus holds up; what facts, examples, quotes and scenes they have to support it; who they’ve interviewed (in addition to their profile subject) and what these individuals have to add. Much class time will be spent troubleshooting obstacles to reporting.

Each student should craft a two- to three-page memo containing the following:

A brief summary of key details, anecdotes and examples that give support to the theme.
A structural design for the story (at some point within most profiles, the writer moves chronologically through at least a portion of the subject’s life)
A summary of key insights into the subject provided by other sources.

Class 2: Building an outline

Week 11: Workshop profile drafts

The instructor should keep a list throughout the semester of which students have read their work in front of the class. All students should have their work subjected to class-wide critique before any individual is given a second opportunity.

Class 1: Workshop profile drafts

Assignment: Bring a local newspaper and The New York Times to the next class.

Class 2: Finding stories off the news

Reporters need to be nimble. The best, it is said, can “speed” as well as “bleed.” The feature writer often does not have the luxury to report and write depth public affairs stories. She’s given a day to find, report and write a story, not a week or two. This places even more weight on the challenge of conceiving something interesting and narrowing its scope. Writing stories on deadline can be a high-wire act. The reporter must gather fact and push for scene, show patience and interest in interview subjects yet race the clock, write and revise, but on the same afternoon.

Next week, the class will be expected to pitch and then write a feature off the news in the two to three days between classes. This class is designed to help students identify stories off the news.

Asking a number of questions of the news can help:

Who is left out?
Who is affected? How?
What’s behind the news? (An 85-year-old becomes a citizen or graduates. Why?)
How does the past inform the story? (The calendar and unusual anniversaries suggest stories daily.)
What led up to the news?
What’s the reaction to the news? (Blundell’s moves and counter-moves.)
Who is the person behind the newsmaker?
How can the reporter localize a national or international event?
Do a number of similar actions — beaches closed for a high bacteria count — constitute a trend?
Can the reporter show this, or other developments, by taking readers to a place?

In teams, reporters should scour the day’s paper, drawing up and prioritizing a list of possible features that might be turned quickly. The class will critique and respond to each team’s ideas.

Assignment: Background and write theme statements for two stories off the news. Students will be assigned one during the next class to turn in 48 hours.

Week 12: Pouring it on

Class 1: Pitching the feature off the news

In this class, the instructor should coach students toward features they can reasonably report and write in a day or two. This discussion should reinforce the importance of ingenuity and scope in turning features fast.

Class 2: Workshop features off the news

This class should begin with a discussion of the challenges of turning features fast. As time permits, students should workshop these efforts.

Week 13: Finding a niche

Class 1: Researching publications, framing queries

The topsy-turvy pace of technological changes makes this an extraordinary time to start a career in journalism. In some ways, it has never been easier to be published: Register for a blog at WordPress or Blogspot and write. It’s that easy. In other ways, it’s rarely been harder to get noticed and paid. Students interested in doing serious journalism should pursue a few parallel paths. Even in college, they can begin building their “brand,” a word that still makes older journalists shudder (their job was to cover the news, not market themselves or be the news). Students can build brand by building a website, preferably one named after them. This should be linked to blogs, a Facebook account, Twitter accounts, a resume and examples of their writing that they hope someone significant in the world will visit and read.

If today’s journalism students should act aggressively in asserting a voice and marketing their work, they also should be smart and circumspect about what they post. Too many horror stories circulate today about students denied jobs because of ill-advised party pictures posted on social media accounts. As a rule of thumb, students should sleep on anything they are tempted to post in the glow of the moment.

Marketing freelance work has been streamlined in the digital age. Most newspapers and some magazines today prefer emailed query letters pitching an article to letters sent by post.

Again, however, speed can kill rather than enhance. Sizable percentages of pitches never make it past the first gatekeeper (often an intern) for a variety of reasons:

A misspelled name
A letter sent to the wrong editor
A letter sent to the right editor at the wrong publication
Grammatical errors
Spelling errors
Ill-conceived or boastful ideas
Efforts to negotiate price before a piece is sold
Offers to write for free

Once again in journalism, the query begins with research. Reporters need to research not only stories and story ideas but which publications serve an audience that would read them. They can learn a great deal about publications, their freelance guidelines and their freelance rates in the library’s most recent edition of Writer’s Market or by subscribing online to WritersMarket.com.

As a rule, query letters should be a single page long. At their best, they show a writer’s talent and sell a clearly conceived and substantive story that fits the publication’s style and audience.

The query’s first paragraph tries to hook the reader very much like the first sentence of a feature does. This, however, is not the place for elegant anecdotes. It is best to settle for a quick turn lead, one that grabs the reader’s attention. The second paragraph pitches the story’s particulars. How long is the piece the writer is proposing? How will it develop? What’s its purpose? The third paragraph introduces the writer and answers the question “why me — why this writer?” This is where writers talk about special qualities — expertise, access to the subject, experience. The final or closing paragraph makes clear that the writer will follow up.

The entire letter should be businesslike. Pleading or begging editors for a chance does not work. One more tip: Always call the publication before sending a query to check whether an editor still works there, what the editor’s title is, and how to spell his or her name.

In addition to discussing queries, instructors should consider inviting in a local newspaper or magazine editor to talk about the queries they’ve received, which queries they liked and which ones they discarded immediately. Such visits give students a chance to network, a significant aspect of building a niche.

Assignment: Students should research a publication to which they will pitch one of their articles from the semester. They should come to the next class knowing the appropriate editor’s name and title, the submission guidelines of the publication, and the nature of the articles it publishes.

Class 2: Writing and revising the query

Students will spend this class crafting and revising query letters for one of their stories from the semester. In most cases, these should be ready to email to the publication by the end of class.

Exam week: Revised profiles are due

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6.1: The Purpose of Feature Writing

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Jasmine Roberts
The Ohio State University

In the previous chapter, we touched on using the news media as an informational tool to achieve your organization’s communication goals. One useful writing material is a feature article. Features are more in-depth than traditional news stories and go beyond providing the most important facts. The purpose of these stories is to provide a detailed description of a place, person, idea, or organization.

Although reporters and editors classify features as news stories, they are not necessarily structured using the inverted pyramid style. Instead, features use storytelling devices to help the reader connect with the overall narrative and its central characters. Features are particularly common in magazine writing, although they frequently appear in other mediums.

Profiles or personality features that give insight into a person’s role, experience, or background are one type of feature. Among the most common subjects of profiles are celebrities, athletes, individuals who overcome challenges, and high-profile executives.

Click here for more information on the different types of features.

It is important to understand the circumstances that warrant a feature piece from a strategic communication perspective. Communication professionals write feature articles to provide in-depth exposure for their client or organization. A feature can increase a client or company’s visibility and even help find new key audiences.

If you need to quickly get information about your client or organization to the media, a feature article may not be the best tool because it typically is longer than a traditional news story. However, you could write a feature article on, for example, your company’s new CEO to provide more background information to key audiences. Feature stories are also used in an organization’s internal communications, such as newsletters and magazines.

Overall, feature articles use an informative tone while incorporating creative and descriptive devices in order to increase audience appeal. Here is an example of a feature article from the New York Times.

DPI-840M: Feature Writing

In this section.

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James Geary

This intensive module provides a thorough grounding in the techniques of journalistic feature writing: researching, reporting, interviewing, writing — and revising. We investigate where good feature ideas come from; we explore how to conceptualize, organize, and structure those ideas through journalistic narrative; and we experiment in a collaborative workshop environment with several journalistic forms — the profile, the reported essay, the “trend” piece. Students will gain proficiency in the techniques of journalistic feature writing, skills that are relevant to other forms of writing, too, including academic and policy writing.

Each course in the DPI communications series assumes fluency with the English language. Attendance at first class mandatory.

1. Researching, Writing and Presenting Information - A How To Guide: Writing a Feature Article

Brainstorming and Planning
Effective Research
Note-taking
Writing an Essay
Writing a Discussion
Writing an Exposition
Writing a Rationale
Years 11 & 12
Writing a Blog Post
Writing a Feature Article
Preparing Oral Presentations
Creating a Podcast
Technologies
Effective Proofreading Skills
Glossary of Common Instruction Terms
Glossary of Literary Terms
How to use Appendices
How to paraphrase

Writing an Article

Feature articles explore issues, experiences, opinions and ideas. They present research in an engaging and detailed piece of writing. Features articles are written using language and content tailored to their chosen audience. Always refer to your task guidelines for specific instructions from your teacher.

A Step by Step Guide To Planning Your Article

1. Topic - what is the idea, issue or experience that you intend to explore?

2. Audience - who is the target audience of the publication that will contain your feature article?

3. Purpose - why are you exploring this issue, idea or experience?

4. Research the publication. Remember that each publication has a specific target audience and a distinct style of writing. If you’re writing for a well-known magazine, journal or newspaper, find some examples of feature articles to get an idea of the layout, structure and style.

5. Research your topic. Research will ground your article in fact. Good details to include in your article are statistics, quotes, definitions, anecdotes, references to other media (print, film, television, radio) or references to local venues or events (if for a regional/local publication).

Draws attention to the main idea of the article
Encourages the reader to engage with the article

Introduction - the first paragraph

Establishes tone
Provides necessary background information
Includes a hook or unusual statement
Heightens drama or importance of topic to increase appeal
May include subheadings
Personal viewpoints
Quotes, interviews, expert opinions
Specific names, places and dates
Photographs, diagrams, tables and graphs
Suggests an appropriate course of action
Encourages reader to change attitude or opinion
Reinforces article's main idea

Language features of an Article

The language features of an article will depend upon the purpose and audience; usually, the vocabulary of the article will fit the topic content, and who it is targeted at.

Direct quotes - personalises the topic
Imagery and description - engage reader's imagination
Facts & research - validate the viewpoints being presented
Anecdotes - personalise & maintain interest
Relevant jargon - increases authenticity
Personal tone - created using informal, colloquial language and first person narrative where relevant to purpose and audience
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Feature Writing

[ Hard News and Soft News ] [ Types of Features ] [ Writing and Organizing Feature Stories ] [ Links ]

Features are not meant to deliver the news firsthand. They do contain elements of news, but their main function is to humanize, to add colour, to educate, to entertain, to illuminate. They often recap major news that was reported in a previous news cycle. Features often:

Profile people who make the news
Explain events that move or shape the news
Analyze what is happening in the world, nation or community
Teach an audience how to do something
Suggest better ways to live
Examine trends

Hard News and Soft News

A news story can be hard, chronicling as concisely as possible the who, what, where, when, why and how of an event. Or it can be soft, standing back to examine the people, places and things that shape the world, nation or community. Hard news events--such as the death of a famous public figure or the plans of city council to raise taxes--affect many people, and the primary job of the media is to report them as they happen. Soft news, such as the widespread popularity of tattooing among athletes or the resurgence of interest in perennial gardening, is also reported by the media. Feature stories are often written on these soft news events.

There is no firm line between a news story and a feature, particularly in contemporary media when many news stories are "featurized." For instance, the results of an Olympic competition may be hard news: "Canadian diver Anne Montmigny claimed her second medal in synchronized diving today." A featurized story might begin: "As a girl jumping off a log into the stream running behind her house, Anne Montmigny never dreamed she would leap into the spotlight of Olympic diving competition." One approach emphasizes the facts of the event, while the feature displaces the facts to accommodate the human interest of the story. Most news broadcasts or publications combine the two to reach a wider audience.

Today’s media use many factors to determine what events they will report, including

consequence
the perceived interest of the audience
competition
editorial goals
and the influence of advertisers.

All these factors put pressure on the media to give their audiences both news and features. In a version of featurizing, pressure from advertisers or lobbyists often result in writing that appears at first blush to be news when it is, in fact, promotion for a product, idea, or policy.

When a hard news story breaks--for example, the sinking of a ferry in the Greek islands--it should be reported with a hard news lead. Soft leads and stories are more appropriate when a major news event is not being reported for the first time: a profile of the Canadian couple who had their vacation cut short when the Greek ferry struck a reef and sunk while the crew was watching television. Some editors dispute the emphasis on soft writing and refer to it as jell-o journalism.

Feature writing can stand alone, or it can be a sidebar to the main story, the mainbar . A sidebar runs next to the main story or elsewhere in the same edition, providing an audience with additional information on the same topic.

Types of Features

Personality profiles : A personality profile is written to bring an audience closer to a person in or out of the news. Interviews and observations, as well as creative writing, are used to paint a vivid picture of the person. The CBC’s recent profile of Pierre Elliot Trudeau is a classic example of the genre and makes use of archival film footage, interviews, testimonials, and fair degree of editorializing by the voice-over commentary.

Human interest stories : A human interest story is written to show a subject’s oddity or its practical, emotional, or entertainment value.

Trend stories : A trend story examines people, things or organizations that are having an impact on society. Trend stories are popular because people are excited to read or hear about the latest fads.

In-depth stories : Through extensive research and interviews, in-depth stories provide a detailed account well beyond a basic news story or feature.

Backgrounders : A backgrounder--also called an analysis piec--adds meaning to current issues in the news by explaining them further. These articles bring an audience up-to-date, explaining how this country, this organization, this person happens to be where it is now.

Writing and Organizing Feature Stories

Feature writers seldom use the inverted-pyramid form. Instead, they may write a chronology that builds to a climax at the end, a narrative, a first-person article about one of their own experiences or a combination of these. Their stories are held together by a thread, and they often end where the lead started, with a single person or event. Here are the steps typically followed in organizing a feature story:

Choose the theme. The theme is similar to the thesis of a scholarly paper and provides unity and coherence to the piece. It should not be too broad or too narrow. Several factors come into play when choosing a theme: Has the story been done before? Is the story of interest to the audience? Does the story have holding power (emotional appeal)? What makes the story worthy of being reported? The theme answers the question, "So what?"

Write a lead that invites an audience into the story. A summary may not be the best lead for a feature. A lead block of one or two paragraphs often begins a feature. Rather than put the news elements of the story in the lead, the feature writer uses the first two or three paragraphs to set a mood, to arouse readers, to invite them inside. Then the news peg or the significance of the story is provided in the third or fourth paragraph, the nut graph . Because it explains the reason the story is being written, the nut graph--also called the "so what" graph--is a vital paragraph in every feature. The nut graph should be high in the story. Do not make readers wait until the 10th or 11th paragraph before telling them what the story is about.

The body provides vital information while it educates, entertains, and emotionally ties an audience to the subject. The ending will wrap up the story and come back to the lead, often with a quotation or a surprising climax. Important components of the body of a feature story are background information, the thread of the story, transition, dialogue, and voice.

Provide vital background information. If appropriate, a paragraph or two of background should be placed high in the story to bring the audience up to date.

Write clear, concise sentences. Sprinkle direct quotations, observations and additional background throughout the story. Paragraphs can be written chronologically or in order of importance.

Use a thread. Connect the beginning, body and conclusion of the story. Because a feature generally runs longer than a news story, it is effective to weave a thread throughout the story, which connects the lead to the body and to the conclusion. This thread can be a single person, an event or a thing, and it usually highlights the theme.

Use transition. Connect paragraphs with transitional words, paraphrases, and direct quotations. Transition is particularly important in a long feature examining several people or events because it is the tool writers use to move subtly from one person or topic to the next. Transition keeps readers from being jarred by the writing.

Use dialogue when possible. Feature writers, like fiction writers, often use dialogue to keep a story moving. Of course, feature writers cannot make up dialogue; they listen for it during the reporting process. Good dialogue is like good observation in a story; it gives readers strong mental images and keeps them attached to the writing and to the story’s key players.

Establish a voice. Another key element that holds a feature together is voice, the "signature" or personal style of each writer. Voice is the personality of the writer and can be used to inject colour, tone, and subtle emotional commentary into the story. Voice should be used subtly (unless you’re able to make a fetish of it like Hunter S. Thompson!). The blatant intrusion of a distinctive voice into news writing has been called gonzo journalism --an irresponsible, if entertaining, trend in contemporary writing according to traditionalists.

Conclude with a quotation or another part of the thread. A feature can trail off like a news story or it can be concluded with a climax. Often, a feature ends where the lead started, with a single person or event.

[Summarized from Bruce Itule & Douglas Anderson, News Writing and Reporting for Today’s Media , 3rd. Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994.]

Books on Journalism and News Reporting Bruce Itule : Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Communication at Arizona State University. Crossing Over : 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing

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Chapter 6: Feature Writing

24 The purpose of feature writing

Click here for more information on the different types of features.

Writing for Strategic Communication Industries Copyright © 2016 by Jasmine Roberts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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11.1 The Purpose of Research Writing

Learning objectives.

Identify reasons to research writing projects.
Outline the steps of the research writing process.

Why was the Great Wall of China built? What have scientists learned about the possibility of life on Mars? What roles did women play in the American Revolution? How does the human brain create, store, and retrieve memories? Who invented the game of football, and how has it changed over the years?

You may know the answers to these questions off the top of your head. If you are like most people, however, you find answers to tough questions like these by searching the Internet, visiting the library, or asking others for information. To put it simply, you perform research.

Whether you are a scientist, an artist, a paralegal, or a parent, you probably perform research in your everyday life. When your boss, your instructor, or a family member asks you a question that you do not know the answer to, you locate relevant information, analyze your findings, and share your results. Locating, analyzing, and sharing information are key steps in the research process, and in this chapter, you will learn more about each step. By developing your research writing skills, you will prepare yourself to answer any question no matter how challenging.

Reasons for Research

When you perform research, you are essentially trying to solve a mystery—you want to know how something works or why something happened. In other words, you want to answer a question that you (and other people) have about the world. This is one of the most basic reasons for performing research.

But the research process does not end when you have solved your mystery. Imagine what would happen if a detective collected enough evidence to solve a criminal case, but she never shared her solution with the authorities. Presenting what you have learned from research can be just as important as performing the research. Research results can be presented in a variety of ways, but one of the most popular—and effective—presentation forms is the research paper . A research paper presents an original thesis, or purpose statement, about a topic and develops that thesis with information gathered from a variety of sources.

If you are curious about the possibility of life on Mars, for example, you might choose to research the topic. What will you do, though, when your research is complete? You will need a way to put your thoughts together in a logical, coherent manner. You may want to use the facts you have learned to create a narrative or to support an argument. And you may want to show the results of your research to your friends, your teachers, or even the editors of magazines and journals. Writing a research paper is an ideal way to organize thoughts, craft narratives or make arguments based on research, and share your newfound knowledge with the world.

Write a paragraph about a time when you used research in your everyday life. Did you look for the cheapest way to travel from Houston to Denver? Did you search for a way to remove gum from the bottom of your shoe? In your paragraph, explain what you wanted to research, how you performed the research, and what you learned as a result.

Research Writing and the Academic Paper

No matter what field of study you are interested in, you will most likely be asked to write a research paper during your academic career. For example, a student in an art history course might write a research paper about an artist’s work. Similarly, a student in a psychology course might write a research paper about current findings in childhood development.

Having to write a research paper may feel intimidating at first. After all, researching and writing a long paper requires a lot of time, effort, and organization. However, writing a research paper can also be a great opportunity to explore a topic that is particularly interesting to you. The research process allows you to gain expertise on a topic of your choice, and the writing process helps you remember what you have learned and understand it on a deeper level.

Research Writing at Work

Knowing how to write a good research paper is a valuable skill that will serve you well throughout your career. Whether you are developing a new product, studying the best way to perform a procedure, or learning about challenges and opportunities in your field of employment, you will use research techniques to guide your exploration. You may even need to create a written report of your findings. And because effective communication is essential to any company, employers seek to hire people who can write clearly and professionally.

Writing at Work

Take a few minutes to think about each of the following careers. How might each of these professionals use researching and research writing skills on the job?

Medical laboratory technician
Small business owner
Information technology professional
Freelance magazine writer

A medical laboratory technician or information technology professional might do research to learn about the latest technological developments in either of these fields. A small business owner might conduct research to learn about the latest trends in his or her industry. A freelance magazine writer may need to research a given topic to write an informed, up-to-date article.

Think about the job of your dreams. How might you use research writing skills to perform that job? Create a list of ways in which strong researching, organizing, writing, and critical thinking skills could help you succeed at your dream job. How might these skills help you obtain that job?

Steps of the Research Writing Process

How does a research paper grow from a folder of brainstormed notes to a polished final draft? No two projects are identical, but most projects follow a series of six basic steps.

These are the steps in the research writing process:

Choose a topic.
Plan and schedule time to research and write.
Conduct research.
Organize research and ideas.
Draft your paper.
Revise and edit your paper.

Each of these steps will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter. For now, though, we will take a brief look at what each step involves.

Step 1: Choosing a Topic

As you may recall from Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , to narrow the focus of your topic, you may try freewriting exercises, such as brainstorming. You may also need to ask a specific research question —a broad, open-ended question that will guide your research—as well as propose a possible answer, or a working thesis . You may use your research question and your working thesis to create a research proposal . In a research proposal, you present your main research question, any related subquestions you plan to explore, and your working thesis.

Step 2: Planning and Scheduling

Before you start researching your topic, take time to plan your researching and writing schedule. Research projects can take days, weeks, or even months to complete. Creating a schedule is a good way to ensure that you do not end up being overwhelmed by all the work you have to do as the deadline approaches.

During this step of the process, it is also a good idea to plan the resources and organizational tools you will use to keep yourself on track throughout the project. Flowcharts, calendars, and checklists can all help you stick to your schedule. See Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” , Section 11.2 “Steps in Developing a Research Proposal” for an example of a research schedule.

Step 3: Conducting Research

When going about your research, you will likely use a variety of sources—anything from books and periodicals to video presentations and in-person interviews.

Your sources will include both primary sources and secondary sources . Primary sources provide firsthand information or raw data. For example, surveys, in-person interviews, and historical documents are primary sources. Secondary sources, such as biographies, literary reviews, or magazine articles, include some analysis or interpretation of the information presented. As you conduct research, you will take detailed, careful notes about your discoveries. You will also evaluate the reliability of each source you find.

Step 4: Organizing Research and the Writer’s Ideas

When your research is complete, you will organize your findings and decide which sources to cite in your paper. You will also have an opportunity to evaluate the evidence you have collected and determine whether it supports your thesis, or the focus of your paper. You may decide to adjust your thesis or conduct additional research to ensure that your thesis is well supported.

Remember, your working thesis is not set in stone. You can and should change your working thesis throughout the research writing process if the evidence you find does not support your original thesis. Never try to force evidence to fit your argument. For example, your working thesis is “Mars cannot support life-forms.” Yet, a week into researching your topic, you find an article in the New York Times detailing new findings of bacteria under the Martian surface. Instead of trying to argue that bacteria are not life forms, you might instead alter your thesis to “Mars cannot support complex life-forms.”

Step 5: Drafting Your Paper

Now you are ready to combine your research findings with your critical analysis of the results in a rough draft. You will incorporate source materials into your paper and discuss each source thoughtfully in relation to your thesis or purpose statement.

When you cite your reference sources, it is important to pay close attention to standard conventions for citing sources in order to avoid plagiarism , or the practice of using someone else’s words without acknowledging the source. Later in this chapter, you will learn how to incorporate sources in your paper and avoid some of the most common pitfalls of attributing information.

Step 6: Revising and Editing Your Paper

In the final step of the research writing process, you will revise and polish your paper. You might reorganize your paper’s structure or revise for unity and cohesion, ensuring that each element in your paper flows into the next logically and naturally. You will also make sure that your paper uses an appropriate and consistent tone.

Once you feel confident in the strength of your writing, you will edit your paper for proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and formatting. When you complete this final step, you will have transformed a simple idea or question into a thoroughly researched and well-written paper you can be proud of!

Review the steps of the research writing process. Then answer the questions on your own sheet of paper.

In which steps of the research writing process are you allowed to change your thesis?
In step 2, which types of information should you include in your project schedule?
What might happen if you eliminated step 4 from the research writing process?

Key Takeaways

People undertake research projects throughout their academic and professional careers in order to answer specific questions, share their findings with others, increase their understanding of challenging topics, and strengthen their researching, writing, and analytical skills.
The research writing process generally comprises six steps: choosing a topic, scheduling and planning time for research and writing, conducting research, organizing research and ideas, drafting a paper, and revising and editing the paper.

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FEATURE WRITING: AN ESSENTIAL JOURNALISTIC CRAFT

We often use news stories and feature stories interchangeably as if they mean the same thing. The truth couldn’t be any farther. Feature stories or features, as they are more commonly called, are intrinsically different from news stories. While the line at times might become blurred, the differences sustain by and large under the general circumstances. Having said that, it is rather difficult to put the difference in specific terms.

What Is a Feature Story?

To begin with, Oxford Dictionary defines a feature article as “a newspaper or magazine article that deals in depth with a particular topic.” Cambridge Dictionary is a little more encompassing when it calls a feature article as, “a special article in a newspaper or magazine, or a part of a television or radio broadcast that deals with a particular subject.” In very simple parlance, feature stories emphasize on people, places and issues that affect the lives of readers.

Let us take a very simple example. A story that narrates the plight of the homeless people in Mumbai can be considered to be a feature story. While it is as important as a news story, it isn’t governed by the immediacy factor. Notwithstanding, a news event can also inspire a feature story. While the news story will focus on the facts and figures and reveal the 5Ws and 1H, the feature story will adopt a specific angle and go deep into it.

A feature story is not really a hard piece of news and is distinguished by the way it is written. In fact, feature stories should be unique in their style of reporting and should have a different style of writing and expression. An apt example could be the anchor piece in a newspaper, which is invariably a feature story.

It is another thing though that news writers follow the inverted pyramid structure while feature writers go by the upright pyramid structure. To be more precise, a feature must essentially conform to the three-act structure of storytelling wherein the narrative is divided into three distinct segments – the setup, the confrontation and the resolution.

The APPLAUSE Formula

According to a popular theory, a feature story must subscribe to the APPLAUSE Formula, where each letter of the word APPLAUSE stands for the following values:

A Appeal
P Plain Facts
P Personalities
L Logic
A Action
U Universal/ Unique
S Significance
E Energy/ Enthusiasm

Let us now try to comprehend the significance of each of the words used above:

Appeal: A feature must evoke interest. If it doesn’t, it can’t ever become a feature story. At some level and somewhere, it must appeal to the senses of the readers. The Syrian Refugee Crisis appeals to the emotive chord of the readers and hence it is potential feature material for most of the news organizations.

Plain Facts: Facts are stranger than fiction and so goes the adage. If we are to believe this, it becomes obvious that facts sell more than fictions do. A feature report must essentially deal with facts for it to become acceptable. A reported must ensure that the feature has enough plain facts.

Personalities: Readers like celebrities. If a feature narrates the personal story of an individual who is important enough, readers will lap it up. An interview or a biographical piece can be very interesting depending on who it deals with. We can take the example of Sachin Tendulkar’s interview published in any newspaper or a news magazine. Copies of the concerned newspaper or news magazine will automatically be sold more.

Logic: Obviously, a feature story has to conform to logical considerations. If it isn’t dictated by a natural flow of facts, no one will buy the argument inherent in the story. The story has to move from one part of the subject it is dealing with to the other part seamlessly. Let us take an example. If a story talks about the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, it has to start from how it was commissioned and flow seamlessly into an account of the protests that happened. However, if the story deliberates only on the protests without taking into consideration the background, the story will remain logically incomplete.

Action: A feature should ideally incite people into action. Only then, it fulfills its objective. What is journalism if it doesn’t spur people into doing something? The inherent purpose of journalism is to bring about a positive change and a feature is a distinct tool to do just that.

Universal/ Unique: A feature should have a decidedly universal orientation. It needs to be palatable and useful to all and sundry. It can’t necessarily target a certain section of readers alone. At the same time, the feature can do extremely well if it deals with something that is unique and essentially different.

Significance: The feature has to ideally deal with a subject matter that has impact on people’s lives. In some way or the other, the feature should have some relevance in the daily lives of people. Let us take an example. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) that was imposed on the 1 st of July, 2017 has a direct repercussion on the economic lives of Indian citizens.

Energy/ Enthusiasm: A feature should be emphatic in its approach. It should be convinced about its own subject matter. In other words, a feature story needs to be energetic and enthusiastic in nature.

In The Universal Journalist , an iconic textbook on journalism, the British journalist David Randall argues for the following different types of feature stories:

Colour Piece: A feature story that essentially tries to enlighten readers on a particular theme or subject.

Fly on the Wall: A feature story that is conceived and narrated unobtrusively and mostly without the explicit permission of the subjects.

Behind the Scenes: A feature story that shifts its focus from the principal event to the background and narrates an interesting tale.

In Disguise: A feature story that is told while the storyteller is a part of the event.

Interview: A feature story that develops itself around questions asked to a respondent, who is usually in a place of prominence.

Profile: A feature story that is based on the exploits of a particular eminent person with or without his/ her interview.

How-To: A feature story that is dependent on research and helps readers in solving a problem or deciphering a scenario.

Fact Box/ Chronology: A feature story that provides plain and simple facts mostly in a chronological order.

Backgrounder/ A History of: A feature story that provides detailed information.

Full Texts: A feature story that is nothing but extracts from a book or transcripts of an interview.

Testimony: A feature story that is the first-person account of an individual.

Analysis: A feature story that scholarly analyzes an event.

Vox Pop/ Expert Roundup: A feature story that accumulates opinions from the general citizenry and thought leaders concerning a subject.

Opinion Poll: A feature story that conducts a research of opinions and presents a generalized summary of the accumulated opinions.

Review: A feature story that reviews a work of art and presents a generalized opinion.

While news items are extremely important, feature stories play the extremely critical role of building opinions and inciting actions. Features are extensively used for the purpose for advocacy as well.

Feature writing is a skill that is acquired over a period of time. Proper training modules are required to turn a naturally gifted writer into a feature writer. Only a professional and comprehensive course on journalism can do that. Just in case someone wants to take up feature writing as a conscious career choice, it is advisable that he/ she takes admission in a media school and convert his/ her passion into profession.

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11.1 The Purpose of Research Writing

Learning objectives.

Identify reasons to research writing projects.
Outline the steps of the research writing process.

Reasons for Research

But the research process does not end when you have solved your mystery. Imagine what would happen if a detective collected enough evidence to solve a criminal case, but she never shared her solution with the authorities. Presenting what you have learned from research can be just as important as performing the research. Research results can be presented in a variety of ways, but one of the most popular—and effective—presentation forms is the research paper A composition that presents an original thesis about a topic and develops that thesis with information gathered from a variety of sources. . A research paper presents an original thesis, or purpose statement, about a topic and develops that thesis with information gathered from a variety of sources.

Research Writing and the Academic Paper

Research Writing at Work

Writing at Work

Take a few minutes to think about each of the following careers. How might each of these professionals use researching and research writing skills on the job?

Medical laboratory technician
Small business owner
Information technology professional
Freelance magazine writer

Steps of the Research Writing Process

How does a research paper grow from a folder of brainstormed notes to a polished final draft? No two projects are identical, but most projects follow a series of six basic steps.

These are the steps in the research writing process:

Choose a topic.
Plan and schedule time to research and write.
Conduct research.
Organize research and ideas.
Draft your paper.
Revise and edit your paper.

Each of these steps will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter. For now, though, we will take a brief look at what each step involves.

Step 1: Choosing a Topic

As you may recall from Chapter 8 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?" , to narrow the focus of your topic, you may try freewriting exercises, such as brainstorming. You may also need to ask a specific research question A broad, open-ended question that a writer uses to guide the research process. In the research paper, the writer attempts to answer the question thoughtfully. —a broad, open-ended question that will guide your research—as well as propose a possible answer, or a working thesis The first thesis statement a writer uses while outlining an assignment. A working thesis statement may change during the writing process. . You may use your research question and your working thesis to create a research proposal A brief document that includes a writer’s main research question, related subquestions, working thesis, and plan for gathering information. . In a research proposal, you present your main research question, any related subquestions you plan to explore, and your working thesis.

Step 2: Planning and Scheduling

During this step of the process, it is also a good idea to plan the resources and organizational tools you will use to keep yourself on track throughout the project. Flowcharts, calendars, and checklists can all help you stick to your schedule. See Chapter 11 "Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?" , Section 11.2 "Steps in Developing a Research Proposal" for an example of a research schedule.

Step 3: Conducting Research

When going about your research, you will likely use a variety of sources—anything from books and periodicals to video presentations and in-person interviews.

Your sources will include both primary sources Research sources that provide raw information or data without commentary or interpretation, such as surveys, interviews, and historical documents. and secondary sources Research sources that provide information and include some analysis or interpretation of the information. Scholarly journals and magazine articles are usually considered secondary sources. . Primary sources provide firsthand information or raw data. For example, surveys, in-person interviews, and historical documents are primary sources. Secondary sources, such as biographies, literary reviews, or magazine articles, include some analysis or interpretation of the information presented. As you conduct research, you will take detailed, careful notes about your discoveries. You will also evaluate the reliability of each source you find.

Step 4: Organizing Research and the Writer’s Ideas

Step 5: Drafting Your Paper

When you cite your reference sources, it is important to pay close attention to standard conventions for citing sources in order to avoid plagiarism The practice of using someone else’s words or ideas without acknowledging the source. , or the practice of using someone else’s words without acknowledging the source. Later in this chapter, you will learn how to incorporate sources in your paper and avoid some of the most common pitfalls of attributing information.

Step 6: Revising and Editing Your Paper

Review the steps of the research writing process. Then answer the questions on your own sheet of paper.

In which steps of the research writing process are you allowed to change your thesis?
In step 2, which types of information should you include in your project schedule?
What might happen if you eliminated step 4 from the research writing process?

Key Takeaways

People undertake research projects throughout their academic and professional careers in order to answer specific questions, share their findings with others, increase their understanding of challenging topics, and strengthen their researching, writing, and analytical skills.
The research writing process generally comprises six steps: choosing a topic, scheduling and planning time for research and writing, conducting research, organizing research and ideas, drafting a paper, and revising and editing the paper.

News Details

Exploring sustainable development & the human impact of natural disasters

Authored by: Carson Easterly

Photography by: Krista Patton

Faculty & Research

A Q&A with research assistant professor Chenyi Ma

What factors allow people to prepare for and recover from natural disasters? Dr. Chenyi Ma , a research assistant professor at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), conducts interdisciplinary research that investigates the role of inequality in disasters’ impact and points to policy solutions. Having first come to SP2 as a PhD in Social Welfare student, he now teaches SP2 students while conducting research on disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.

What drew you to SP2 and Penn?

Disaster research requires interdisciplinary collaboration, and Penn is the ideal place. I have mentors at SP2, Wharton, and Engineering and access to rich, multidisciplinary academic resources. SP2’s social justice mission and commitment to sustainable development also align with my values.

Twelve years ago, I came to SP2 as a student in the PhD in Social Welfare Program. I continued my research on the human impacts of natural disasters as a post-doctoral student. Now, as a research assistant professor at SP2, I focus on the social determinants of health and behavioral outcomes in disaster contexts, including public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before joining Penn, you worked as a program officer for Education for Sustainable Development at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). How does that background connect to your research and teaching?

My work at WWF focused on promoting a holistic approach known as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). With a student-centered learning approach similar to social work education, ESD empowers individuals with the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed to make informed decisions and take responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society. ESD also encourages researchers to employ Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) — a collaborative research approach that involves community members — to foster both researchers’ and community members’ knowledge and ability to sustainably manage their local natural resources while respecting, and even sometimes using, indigenous culture, knowledge, and social infrastructure. Student-centered teaching and collaborative research continue to be important themes of my work.

How would you define sustainable development?

Sustainable development is about meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. This approach encompasses social, economic, and political dimensions. My current research delves into the social dimension, recognizing that addressing environmental challenges requires collaboration and co-learning among natural and social scientists, professionals, and stakeholders to find solutions.

You currently research social vulnerability and disaster preparedness, housing and urban resilience, environmental justice, energy policy, and social epidemiology. What drew you to these research interests?

One of the most important components of sustainable development is disaster risk reduction. As a student at Washington University’s Master of Social Work program and SP2’s PhD program, I began to think of questions about the people affected by disaster risk — for instance, who is more likely to suffer from damage as a result of natural disasters? Which survivors of disasters are more susceptible to mental illness? Do existing social policy programs adequately address the needs of disaster victims?

To answer these questions and others, I began to conduct empirical research. For example, using large datasets and GIS mapping, I led a project that examined the severity of home damage caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Homes occupied by renters were four times more likely to have been destroyed than those occupied by homeowners. This is direct evidence that low-income renters are extremely socially vulnerable to housing damage caused by climate-related disasters.

Through another study, I found there were racial and ethnic disparities in the prevalence of mental illness among Hurricane Sandy survivors in New Jersey and New York City. Such disparities, largely accounted for by different levels of exposure to a disaster, underscore the need for increased provision of social support to more susceptible groups to effectively mitigate these risks.

Road sign partially submerged by flood waters.

What kind of an impact do you hope your work can have on policy in the face of climate inequality?

I hope policymakers might consider public-private partnerships like the National Flood Insurance Program to address private insurance affordability for low-income households who are most vulnerable to housing damage. One of my recent research studies examined how income inequality could influence household consumption behaviors related to disaster preparedness, with a specific focus on private homeowners’ insurance. Observing Hurricane Maria survivors in Puerto Rico, the study found that private homeowners’ insurance — the most important financial tool to mitigate property losses — was unaffordable for low-income households, and income inequality further exacerbated this unaffordability.

Another of my current studies provides new insight into how public assistance, such as cash transfer welfare programs, can effectively address vulnerable groups who have a high level of risk perception and the intention to prepare for disasters, yet lack the financial resources to do so. The study examines the progress of human behavioral changes for disaster preparedness along three developmental stages, from “not prepared,” to “have the intention to prepare,” and ultimately to “already prepared.” The preliminary findings of this study suggest disparities between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. While Hispanics are more likely to have the intention to prepare and exhibit higher levels of risk perception than non-Hispanic whites, they are less likely to take concrete actions of preparedness. This is largely due to the unequal access to preparedness resources between the two groups.

You’ve taught the course Quantitative Reasoning and Program Evaluations at SP2. What are some highlights of your work in the classroom?

The students and their research projects are always the highlight of my time in the classroom. I view my role as a facilitator who works with them to build their research capacity for completing their own projects. One significant component of ESD is learning by doing. My Penn students adopt a “learning by researching” approach to focus on ways in which their research projects can practically address critical issues in their communities, including environmental, health, and political issues.

What are you looking forward to discovering next?

I am continuing to explore maladaptive responses to climate-related disasters and public health emergencies. My previous research found that natural disaster survivors often exhibit adaptation behaviors, including maladaptive behaviors like increased alcohol use, after a disaster when they lack financial assistance for recovery. For a current project, I am examining household decision-making processes and underlying maladaptive responses to energy insecurity during the pandemic. My hope is to provide new insights into how energy policies can be more responsive to future disasters.

Chenyi Ma, MSW, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

office: 215.746.8976

machenyi@upenn.edu

Watch CBS News

What is cloud seeding and did it play any role in the Dubai floods?

By Li Cohen , Tracy J. Wholf

Updated on: April 18, 2024 / 8:46 PM EDT / CBS News

Stranded airline passengers and a cat submerged in floodwaters clinging to a car door handle became notable moments this week in Dubai as the normally arid city was inundated with historic levels of rain. Claims have gone viral that the deluge was brought on by cloud seeding, a technique that aims to increase precipitation, that is heavily utilized in the United Arab Emirates.

But is it really to blame?

Daniel Swain , a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that getting to the bottom of the "record-shattering extreme rainfall" requires breaking down the science behind the event and the technique.

"There's currently a disconnect in the online discourse between the kind of human activities that likely did affect it (greenhouse warming) versus those which have actually been the focus of the online conversation thus far (cloud seeding), and what this means for how we collectively understand our ability to actively affect the weather on different spatial and temporal scales," he said in an emailed statement.

What is cloud seeding?

Many have questioned since the downpour in Dubai whether cloud seeding was to blame. But what is cloud seeding and how does it work exactly?

Cloud seeding is a technique used to improve precipitation. According to the Desert Research Institute, scientists do this by putting tiny particles called nuclei into the atmosphere that attach to clouds.

"These nuclei provide a base for snowflakes to form. After cloud seeding takes place, the newly formed snowflakes quickly grow and fall from the clouds back to the surface of the Earth, increasing snowpack and streamflow," the institute says.

In the Middle East, instead of precipitation in the form of snow, its cloud seeding program generates increased rain.

Scientists typically go about cloud seeding in two ways – using either generators on the ground or distributing the nuclei via aircraft.

Dubai's Record Rainfall Forces Flight Diversions and Floods City

What caused the rain in Dubai?

But was the rain in Dubai from cloud seeding?

"Did cloud seeding play a role? Likely no," Swain said. "But how about climate change? Likely yes!"

The world is continuing to see month after month of record-breaking heat and 2023 was the hottest year globally ever recorded. Scientists have found that warmer temperatures increase evaporation, resulting in more frequent and intense storms, such as the one that occurred in Dubai. Those conditions also fuel other extreme weather events, including droughts , putting opposing forces at intense odds that will likely strain communities without adequate adaptation.

Andrew Kruczkiewicz, senior researcher at Columbia Climate School, told CBS News he doesn't believe there's any current evidence at this time that cloud seeding pushed the downpour over the edge.

"This event was forecast fairly well days in advance and I think it's unlikely that a cloud seeding operation would move forward given the well-forecast intense rainfall," he said.

The nation's National Emergency Crisis and Management Authority issued weather warnings on Monday before the storm's arrival, urging people to comply with local instructions from authorities and asking them to stay at home and only leave in the case of an emergency.

Meteorologist Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, gave the Associated Press a more definitive answer: "It's most certainly not cloud seeding."

"If that occurred with cloud seeding , they'd have water all the time," he said. "...when it comes to controlling individual rain storms, we are not anywhere close to that. And if we were capable of doing that, I think we would be capable of solving many more difficult problems than creating a rain shower over Dubai ."

The deluge, he said, "speaks more to questions around what are the resilience measures that are integrated into the urban planning standard operating procedures."

"Almost everywhere on Earth there is a risk of flash flooding," he said. "Yet, since it's not the most frequent type of extreme event, sometimes it's lower on the priority list when decisions need to be made around infrastructure or resilience, or just urban development more broadly."

How significant was the flooding in Dubai?

More than 5.59 inches of rain fell over Dubai within 24 hours. While a half-foot of rain may not seem like much numerically, that's more than what the city sees in an average year, and other parts of the UAE saw even higher levels.

It was a "historic weather event," the state-run WAM news agency said, adding that it was beyond "anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949."

Dubai is normally dry and with a downpour like this being so unprecedented, the city's infrastructure was not prepared. The drainage systems were overwhelmed and Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest in the world, had to temporarily halt operations. One plane passenger told Reuters many people were waiting more than 12 hours to be able to resume travel. Footage from the airport shows planes taxiing in eerie floodwaters.

"Over a year's worth of rainfall was experienced in just a few hours," Kruczkiewicz told CBS News. "And why that's important to to understand is that when you see this amount of rainfall in semi-arid arid area, the soil isn't designed to filter the water as fast as in other areas. ... You don't need that much water falling or rainfall falling in a short period of time to cause major issues."

Is cloud seeding effective?

According to the Desert Research Institute, how effective cloud seeding is depends on the specific project in which it's being used. Citing several studies, the institute said it's helped increase overall snowpack in some areas by at least 10% per year. Another study found that a five-year project in New South Wales, Australia resulted in a 14% snowfall increase.

The UAE's National Center of Meteorology launched the Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science to advance the technology, saying that for dryer regions across the world, cloud seeding "could offer a viable, cost-effective supplement to existing water supplies." Many regions even beyond the Middle East have been suffering from water scarcity issues, including Colombia , Mexico and Hawaii .

Science of Weather
United Arab Emirates
Climate Change
Severe Weather

Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.

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FEATURE WRITING
#Feature Writing, What is a Feature, Types of Features, News Analysis, Backgrounders
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Feature Writing: The Basics
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Feature writing: Crafting research-based stories with characters
The Art and Craft of Feature Writing, William Blundell, Plume, 1988 (Note: While somewhat dated, this book explicitly frames a strategy for approaching the kinds of research-based, public affairs features this course encourages.) Writing as Craft and Magic (second edition), Carl Sessions Stepp, 2007, Oxford University Press.
The State of Feature Writing Today
Writing feature stories: How to research and write newspaper and magazine articles. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. Google Scholar. Ricketson M. (2015). When slow news is good news: Book-length journalism's role in extending and enlarging daily news. Journalism Practice, 4, 1-14. Google Scholar.
The Role of Research in the Writing Process
The Role of Research in the Writing Process by Steve Alten ... Research is the elixir that reinvigorates your storyline, opens your chapters, and liberates you when you've written yourself into a suffocating closet. It makes you an expert in things you know diddley about, and elevates you from a wannabee to an author. ...
6.1: The Purpose of Feature Writing
This page titled 6.1: The Purpose of Feature Writing is shared under a CC BY-NC license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jasmine Roberts. One useful writing material is a feature article. Features are more in-depth than traditional news stories and go beyond providing the most important facts. The purpose of these stories is to ...
The State of Feature Writing Today
Abstract. This commentary considers the changing nature of feature writing within the contexts of: multimedia tools, the online publishing landscape, shrinking newsrooms, changing revenue models, freelance markets, audience and story analytics and journalism education. Keywords.
Writing Feature Stories
This hands-on guide explains how to generate fresh ideas; research online and offline; make the most of interviews; sift and sort raw material; structure and write the story; edit and proofread your work; find the best platform for your story; and pitch your work to editors. 'A must read for any digital storyteller who wants to write emotive ...
Feature Writing
This intensive module provides a thorough grounding in the techniques of journalistic feature writing: researching, reporting, interviewing, writing — and revising. We investigate where good feature ideas come from; we explore how to conceptualize, organize, and structure those ideas through journalistic narrative; and we experiment in a collaborative workshop environment with several ...
Writing Feature Stories How to research and write articles
Writing Feature Stories established a reputation as a comprehensive, thought-provoking and engaging introduction to researching and writing feature stories. This second edition is completely overhauled to reflect the range of print and digital feature formats, and the variety of online, mobile and traditional media in which they appear. This ...
Writing a Feature Article
4. Research the publication. Remember that each publication has a specific target audience and a distinct style of writing. If you're writing for a well-known magazine, journal or newspaper, find some examples of feature articles to get an idea of the layout, structure and style. 5. Research your topic. Research will ground your article in fact.
Whither the future of feature writing? © 2018 University of
Nick Richardson is Adjunct Professor of Journalism at LaTrobe University in Melbourne Australia. He has worked as a journalism lecturer and feature writer for prominent newspapers and news magazines. He is the co-author of a number of text books, covering feature-writing and journalism research. E-mail: [email protected].
PDF Script: Feature Writing Faculty member: Heather Lamb
spend 40% of their time doing background research to find the story idea, another 40% doing interviews and reporting, and 20% writing. This underscores the vital role of reporting in feature writing. Slide 3 All that reporting pays off when it comes to writing, because details are fundamental. Detail helps capture a reader's attention.
Feature Writing
Feature writing can stand alone, or it can be a sidebar to the main story, the mainbar. A sidebar runs next to the main story or elsewhere in the same edition, providing an audience with additional information on the same topic. ... In-depth stories: Through extensive research and interviews, in-depth stories provide a detailed account well ...
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Emphasizing writing values to strengthen a new writer's journalistic practices, author Bruce Garrison offers insights and expertise based on his own experience and the advice of professionals. He also includes lists of tips, observations, guidelines, sources, and story ideas, and gives a solid tour of the forms and approaches to feature writing.
The purpose of feature writing
24. The purpose of feature writing. In the previous chapter, we touched on using the news media as an informational tool to achieve your organization's communication goals. One useful writing material is a feature article. Features are more in-depth than traditional news stories and go beyond providing the most important facts.
Feature Writing
Learn how to write a feature article. This four-week course will help you explore the feature landscape to help you understand the crucial difference between a news story and a feature. You'll learn how feature writers get their ideas as you discover the importance of research and valuable sources. With this understanding, you'll put what ...
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Step 4: Organizing Research and the Writer's Ideas. When your research is complete, you will organize your findings and decide which sources to cite in your paper. You will also have an opportunity to evaluate the evidence you have collected and determine whether it supports your thesis, or the focus of your paper.
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6 min read. Tags: Fiction Research, Fiction Writing. The most basic understanding of "fiction" in literature is that it is a written piece that depicts imaginary occurrences. There is this unspoken assumption that fiction, because it is of imagined events, has nothing to do with reality (and therefore researching for a novel is not important).
Feature Writing
Learn how to write a feature article. This four-week course will help you explore the feature landscape to help you understand the crucial difference between a news story and a feature. You'll learn how feature writers get their ideas as you discover the importance of research and valuable sources. With this understanding, you'll put what ...
Feature Writing: an Essential Journalistic Craft
Opinion Poll: A feature story that conducts a research of opinions and presents a generalized summary of the accumulated opinions. Review: A feature story that reviews a work of art and presents a generalized opinion. While news items are extremely important, feature stories play the extremely critical role of building opinions and inciting ...
The purpose of feature writing
One useful writing material is a feature article. Features are more in-depth than traditional news stories and go beyond providing the most important facts. The purpose of these stories is to provide a detailed description of a place, person, idea, or organization. Although reporters and editors classify features as news stories, they are not ...
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Nov 6, 2023. Feature writing is a branch of journalism that focuses on in-depth storytelling, offering captivating narratives and providing context and analysis on various subjects. Unlike news ...
Full article: Assessing the statistical differences in academic writing
2.2. Vocabulary knowledge and academic writing skills. The linguistic impact of academic writing often depends on how students use forms of words to create connections between their own claims and the claims of others using the knowledge of vocabulary (Hyland, Citation 1999; Hunston & Thompson, Citation 2000).The unsatisfactory use of academic vocabulary and formal vocabulary in the students ...
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This article provides an overview of writing for publication in peer-reviewed journals. While the main focus is on writing a research article, it also provides guidance on factors influencing journal selection, including journal scope, intended audience for the findings, open access requirements, and journal citation metrics.
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You will need a way to put your thoughts together in a logical, coherent manner. You may want to use the facts you have learned to create a narrative or to support an argument. And you may want to show the results of your research to your friends, your teachers, or even the editors of magazines and journals. Writing a research paper is an ideal ...
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What is cloud seeding and did it play any role in the Dubai floods?
According to the Desert Research Institute, how effective cloud seeding is depends on the specific project in which it's being used. Citing several studies, the institute said it's helped increase ...