Process

You will use Internet resources to help you research information for your news article. Some of these resources include interviews with public officials from which you may select quotes to include in your article. Articles can also be enhanced by interviewing people in your school or community about their experiences with outdoor activities and including some of their statements in the article.

Before beginning, be sure you understand the following terms as they apply to writing news articles: lead, inverted pyramid, captions.

1. Conduct research and write a draft of your article.

Article topics to be included in the outdoors publication are identified below. Each article should be approximately 500 words (450-550 words). Each group member should be assigned one article to write. As you read the Internet resources, you will need to decide what is the most important information to use based on what you think your audience should know about outdoor activities. Remember to select information that focuses on your assigned topic. Also, as you conduct research, identify photographs, pictures, graphs and other visual elements that will help make your article visually interesting.

Use the Pre-Writing Worksheet to guide you through the research and draft writing process.

ARTICLE TOPICS AND RESOURCES

2. Edit and revise your draft article.

When your draft is completed, use the Revision Checklist to help you revise your writing.

3. Peer review.

After revising your draft, work with a partner to make final revisions. Read your articles to each other. As you read your article you may stop and make changes or notes on your draft based on what you hear yourself reading and on what your partner suggests might be changed. When you finish reading your article, have your partner:
(a) tell you what should definitely remain in the draft, and
(b) suggest two specific things you could do to improve the article.

After completing the peer review, write a final draft of your article.

4a. Conduct a student survey (optional).

As a class, develop questions for a school survey about outdoor nature activities. Develop questions that will help you uncover the following:

Add other questions you feel are important.

Conduct the survey and analyze the results. Write a survey report, including charts and/or graphs.

When the report is completed, each group of writers should discuss it and as a group write a new release about the survey and include it in the group’s boating publication.

4b. Develop a school/community “experience nature” program (optional).

Based on survey results, develop a school program to inform students about ways to experience nature in your local area. Develop brochures or a school website feature to promote outdoor experiences.

5. Design and construct the publication.

As a group, construct your publication using each of the student articles, including graphs, photos, pictures and other visual designs to complement the articles. You may also want to include pull-out quotes and sidebar highlights.

6. Present the group publication to the entire class.

The class may vote on which articles and publication it likes the best.