ORGANIZING THE STORY



UNIT 6

NOTING

AND

QUOTING

NAME: __________________________________

In this unit, you will work as a rookie reporter, or “cub” reporter, assigned to cover a speech “cold,” as in without any advance prep work. You will need to have good skills in note taking, choosing quotes, and attributing quotes.

To “Bring Your ‘A’ Game” to this unit, you must complete each of the activities, you must meet deadlines, and you must work productively and efficiently individually and as part of a group in each class period. Review the Project Rubric (below) to see how you will be graded on this project.

|5 |4 |3 |2 |1 |0 | |Quality |Excellent quality in assigned tasks |Very good quality in assigned tasks |Good quality in assigned tasks |Fair quality in assigned tasks |Poor quality in assigned tasks |Does not meet level 1 | |Activity 1 | | | | | | | |Activity 2 | | | | | | | |Activity 3 | | | | | | | |Summative | | | | | | | |Completion |Completes all assigned readings and tasks |Completes all assigned readings and tasks, but may be missing one or components |Completes most of the assigned readings and tasks |Completes some of the assigned readings and tasks |Completes at least one of the assigned readings and tasks |Does not meet level 1 | | | | | | | | | |Meeting Deadline |Uses all class time wisely and completes project on deadline |Uses all class time wisely and completes project close to the deadline |Uses all class time wisely and/or completes project on or close to deadline |Uses most class time wisely and/or completes project on or close to deadline |Uses some class time wisely and/or completes project on or close to deadline |Does not meet level 1 | | | | | | | | | |

DEADLINES

Activity #1 DUE by end of class on Tuesday, Jan. 17*

Activity #2 DUE by end of class on Thursday, Jan. 19*

Activity #3 DUE on or before Thursday, Jan. 19*

Summative Activity DUE on or before Friday, Jan. 20*

* Revisions will be due one day after you receive your assignment back

ACTIVITY #1

DIRECTIONS: Take verbatim notes on the passages provided:

Star Trek (original TV Series) – opening narrative from Capt. James T. Kirk (LINK at )

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“Courage” from The Wizard of Oz (LINK at )

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“Wild Thing” by The Troggs (LINK at )

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NOW, check the actual text of each compared to your notes. How did you do?

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Star Trek (original TV series) – opening narrative from Capt. James T. Kirk

“Space: The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise. Its 5 year mission

To explore strange new worlds,

To seek out new life and new civilizations,

To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

“Courage” from The Wizard of Oz

Cowardly Lion: Courage. What makes a King out of a slave? Courage.

What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.

What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.

What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage.

What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage.

What makes the Hottentot so hot?

What puts the "ape" in ape-ricot?

Whatta they got that I ain't got?

Dorothy & Friends: Courage!

Cowardly Lion: You can say that again.

“Wild Thing” by The Troggs

Wild thing

You make my heart sing

You make everything...groovy

Wild thing

Wild thing, I...think I love you

But I want to know for sure

So come on, and hold me tight

I love you

Wild thing, I...think you move me

But I want to know for sure

So come on, and hold me tight

You move me

Come on, come on, wild thing

Shake it, shake it, wild thing

ACTIVITY #2

Now try it yourself with John Lennon’s “Imagine”. Write your notes on the next page.(LINK at )

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GOOD QUOTE/BAD QUOTE: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Broadly speaking, a good quote is when someone says something interesting, and says it in an interesting way.

Look at the following two examples:

“We will use U.S. military force in an appropriate and decisive manner.”

“When I take action, I’m not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive.”

Which is the better quote? Let’s consider this by asking a broader question: What Should a Good Quote Do?

A Good Quote Should...

• Grab The Reader’s Attention

Using our two examples, it’s clear the first quote is dry and academic-sounding. It sounds like a sentence taken from a particularly dull research paper or dissertation. The second quote, on the other hand, is colorful and even funny.

• Evoke Images

A good quote, like good writing, evokes images in the reader’s mind. Using our two examples, it’s clear the first quote evokes nothing. But the second quote evokes a bizarre image that’s bound to stick in the reader’s brain – a camel being hit in the posterior with an expensive, high-tech missile.

• Convey a Sense of The Speaker’s Personality

Our first quote leaves no impression of who the speaker might be. Indeed, it sounds more like a scripted line from an anonymous Pentagon press release. The second quote, however, gives the reader a feel for the personality of the speaker – in this case, President George Bush. The reader gets a sense of both Bush’s determination and his penchant for off-the-cuff humor.

• Convey Regional Differences in Speech

Looking again at our first quote, can you discern where the speaker was raised? Of course not. But one could argue that Bush’s quote, with its salty humor and coarse imagery, contains some of the color of his Texas upbringing.

Given everything we’ve discussed, it seems clear the second of our two examples is by far the better quote.

So What Makes a Bad Quote?

• Unclear Speech

Anytime someone says something in an unclear or unintelligible fashion, chances are you’re not going to use that as a quote. In such cases, if the information contained in the quote is important to your story, paraphrase it – put it into your own words.

In fact, reporters often must paraphrase much of what they gather in interviews, because many people simply don’t speak very clearly. People don’t craft their speech the way a writer crafts a sentence.

• Basic Factual Data

If you’re interviewing a source who’s giving you reams of data, such as numbers or statistics, that kind of information should be paraphrased. There’s simply no point in quoting, for instance, the CEO who tells you his company’s revenues increased 3 percent in the second quarter, 5 percent in the third quarter and so on. It may be important for your story, but it’s boring as a quote.

• Profane or Offensive Speech

Most mainstream news organizations have policies banning or limiting the use of vulgar or offensive speech in news stories. So, for example, if a source you’re interviewing starts swearing profusely, or uttering racial slurs, you’re probably not going to be able to quote them.

An exception to that rule might be if the profane or offensive speech serves some larger purpose in your story. For instance, if you’re profiling your town’s mayor, and he has a reputation for salty language, you might use part of a profane quote in your story to show that, indeed, the man likes to cuss.

ATTRIBUTION: YOUR “GET OUT OF JAIL FREE” CARD

Put simply, attribution is crediting the source of your information. For example, using a partial quote of my title above I would write: “Attribution is the reporter’s ‘Get out of jail free” card,” Mr. Gaboury said. Here are some things to consider in your attributions:

• Attribute all second-hand information, criticisms, statements about controversial issues, opinions, and all direct and indirect quotations.

Remember to not attribute undisputed facts. Barack Obama being the the president should not be attributed, whereas someone citing their opinion on the president should.

• Punctuate the attribution properly.

Put a comma after attribution introducing a one-sentence quotation and a colon after attribution introducing two or more sentences of quotation.

• Put the attribution at or near the beginning of a long quotation. Readers need to know who is saying what in a long quotation.

• Attribution that appears in the middle of a sentence should come at a natural break rather than interrupt a thought.

Example: a man named Logan Greene says, "For years it's been profitable being a mechanic in this city, but now I don't know what I'll do because they're all different. They said training could take up to 6 months. My family doesn't have that much time." This is a long quite quote, so to break up - stop at natural pauses.

WRONG: "For years," Logan Greene said, "it's been profitable being a mechanic in this city."

RIGHT: "For years it's been profitable being a mechanic in this city," Logan Greene said. "They said training could take up to six months."

ACTIVITY #3: PULLING QUOTES

DIRECTIONS: Mark the good quotes from the story – full sentences or partial quotes – with quotation marks on this speech text, AND below the text, write the best quote that illustrates the speech with proper attribution.

STUDENT ADDRESS AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL’S 2001 GRADUATION– Elle Wood

On our very first day at Harvard, a very wise Professor quoted Aristotle: "The law is reason free from passion." Well, no offense to Aristotle, but in my three years at Harvard I have come to find that passion is a key ingredient to the study and practice of law -- and of life. It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world, remembering that first impressions are not always correct. You must always have faith in people. And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.

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VALEDICTORY ADDRESS AT HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION – Jack Charles Howell

I don't have very much time these days, so I'll make it quick -- like my life. You know, as we come to the end of this phase of our life, we find ourselves trying to remember the good times and trying to forget the bad times. And we find ourselves thinking about the future. We start to worry, thinking, "What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna be in ten years?"

But I say to you, "Hey, look at me." Please, don't worry so much, 'cause in the end none of us have very long on this earth. Life is fleeting. And if you're ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky, when the stars are strung across the velvety night, and when a shooting star streaks through the blackness turning night into day -- make a wish think of me. And make your life spectacular. I know I did. I made it, Mom. I'm a grown-up.

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SUMMATIVE ACTIVITY

DIRECTIONS: This is the text of a short speech delivered to the SHS Journalism class today. The speaker is Sam Manchester. He is the managing editor of the Schenectady Daily Gaziti, a daily newspaper. He is speaking about “The Role of the First Amendment in Society Today.” He was invited by the teacher as part of the First Amendment Day celebration. Mark the best quotes from the story – full sentences or partial quotes with quotation marks on this speech text handed out prior to the actual speech. AND on the next page, write a roundup lede for a story on the speech and a quote that supports your lede..

I am very pleased to be here this afternoon, and I thank you for the invitation. I am a

graduate of this school, as well as Union College, and it is always pleasant to come back.

I want to talk about the First Amendment to the Constitution. That’s the one that guarantees freedom of the press. It also, by the way, guarantees your freedom of religion and your right to peaceable assembly. I think sometimes when people hear journalists talking about the First Amendment, they forget how much it has in it and they just think, “There go the newspaper people again, hollering about freedom of the press.” He truth is, the First Amendment plays a key role in the quality of American life, not just in the quality of its journalism.

What disturbs me, however, are the signs that the American people have stopped believing in the First Amendment. I saw a poll that says 80 percent of the American people favor a law requiring, for example, that newspapers give equal coverage to both major party candidates in a presidential race. I think we should, too, but it is our history and custom in this country for the government not to interfere in the business of the press. It is distressing to think that the people feel they need a law to make the press do what it always has done without a law.

In another case, a group of college students took the First Amendment and wrote it up to make it look like a petition to the government. Then they showed it to people at a shopping mall and asked them to sign it. Most people refused, calling it “a radical idea.” Yes, the First Amendment is a radical idea. But it’s the backbone of our way of life, and we would not survive as a nation without it.

Thank you again for inviting me.

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ROUNDUP LEDE:

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QUOTE with proper attribution:

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