Romeo and Juliet

1. Romeo and Juliet Attitude analysis

2. Journalistic writing Objectives: Here is what you will be able to do by writing this paper: • Craft a news story lead (introductory paragraph) • Structure a paper in journalistic writing style and recognize how this style is similar to and differs from typical essay writing. • Similarities: both types of writing address literary elements we have studied all semester: characters, conflict, setting. • Quotes in a journalism story equate to evidence from text in a literary analysis. • Integrate primary sources into your paper (your survey results and excerpts from Romeo and Juliet). • Utilize the objective (third person) writing voice you have used in your literary analysis. • Learn how to separate essential information from non-essential, and how to prioritize it in your writing.

3. Journalistic writing • A long-standing model in journalistic writing is called the inverted pyramid. • Draw one of these on your sheet. • This model is a prioritizing device. It dictates that the most crucial information comes early in the story (or at the top of the pyramid). • In a straight news story, this most often means the most important information is in the first paragraph.

4. Journalistic writing • The most important information contains the important “news elements”: basically, the who, what, where, when, why, and how. • However, that can be a lot to include in one paragraph, especially because journalistic writing requires short, quick-hitting paragraphs, often made up of only one or two sentences.

5. Journalistic writing • So your first step is to meet this objective: determining which of the 5 W’s and H is most important. • Generally, this is the who, when, and what. • The “when” is referred to as “timeliness”: it is what makes information “news.” • So “when” could refer to the most recent development in an ongoing incident. • “Who” would only be the most important element if it involved a well-known person that most of the readers would have heard of.

6. Journalistic writing • For example, if a story involved the arrest of Justin Bieber, he would be newsworthy enough to name in the lead paragraph. • “Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber was arrested Thursday on shoplifting charges after 48 bottles of hair gel spilled out of his backpack at a local hair salon.” • If the same alleged arrest was made involving one of your peers, you would not name the person in the first paragraph. • “A local high school student was arrested Thursday on shoplifting charges after 48 bottles of hair gel spilled out of his backpack at a local hair salon.” • You would then name that person in the second paragraph.

7. Journalistic writing • Now, as you move down the pyramid, you want to integrate the other components in descending order of importance. These include: • The rest of the 5 W’s and H. • Quotes from your sources, properly attributed. This means that – just as we did in the literary analysis papers – that you name the key people in the story by first and last name the first time you refer to them (“Justin Bieber”). After that, you simply use the last name (“Bieber”).

8. Journalistic writing • OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: • Remember that you are a reporter: that means you simply report the news, rather than add your opinion or commentary to it. Keep your view out of the story and utilize third person writing voice. • You want to remain objective, so avoid subjective or judgmental words. • For example, you would not say that “Bieber looked guilty as he addressed the media following his arrest.” That implies that you have decided his guilt. Instead, simply state that “Bieber addressed the media following his arrest.” • Avoid verbs like “admitted” (which implies guilt), unless the source says that directly: “I admit that I use hair gel, but…” Instead, simply use “said.” • “Bieber said he has used hair gel in the past.” • In this assignment, use past-tense verbs: Justin Bieberwas arrested…

9. Romeo and Juliet: Survey analysis • OK, so now we apply our new-found journalism principles to our final paper: a survey analysis. • The most critical news element will be the “what” – your survey results. • The first step in this analysis is to review your survey results to determine what is potentially the most interesting or important information. This could be a response that generated near-unanimous agreement or disagreement, or one that illustrated a wide debate. Review your survey summaries.

10. Romeo and Juliet To get the paper started, choose one response to focus on: here, let’s choose the “love at first sight” question. Let’s say your results showed that most respondents disagreed with the notion of love at first sight.

11. Romeo and Juliet That one result will get the paper going (you will discuss two or three other results later in the paper). Now, we need to craft an introduction or opening. Let’s look at three types of leads: summary, descriptive, and anecdotal.

12. Romeo and Juliet A “summary” opening gets right to the heart of the story, right away, with the most interesting or important information. This is what we did with “Hazard.” Example: Love at first sight is not only impossible but also highly undesirable, especially for teenagers, according to a survey exploring a key theme of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

13. Romeo and Juliet A descriptive opening re-creates a scene and may build to a punch line: Example: Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl – all within the space of a few hours.

14. Romeo and Juliet The anecdotal opening includes a little story (a “vignette”) to help illustrate the bigger topic. Example: When Lauren Smith was five years old, she pledged to never love a boy more than the blonde-haired, blue-eyed prince who sat next to her in kindergarten. “I thought he was so choice,” said Smith, now a freshman at City High School. “I knew the minute I saw him that he would be mine. Oh yes, he would be mine.” Ten years later, Smith has jettisoned both her “prince,” whom she actually dismissed a week after she met him, and the belief that love at first sight is possible.

15. Romeo and Juliet Now the key is to build on whatever opening you choose by providing more information about your opening and your findings (the survey). Let’s re-visit the summary opening:

16. Romeo and Juliet Love at first sight is not only impossible but highly undesirable, especially for teenagers, according to a survey exploring a key theme of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Ninety percent of those surveyed indicated that love at first sight just doesn’t happen, especially not between two young teenagers who surely don’t even know what love is. The survey was administered to a range of age groups made up of both genders, and included questions about love, romance, and marriage. The contemporary responses were then compared to the prevailing attitudes of the key characters in Shakespeare’s tale of the two young, “star-crossed” lovers.

17. Romeo and Juliet Let’s do the same thing with the descriptive introduction: Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl – all within the space of a few hours. What seemed perfectly normal for Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed protagonists of William Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name, would be seen as highly improbable, if not utterly weird, today, according to the results of a recent survey on love, romance, and marriage.

18. Romeo and Juliet Now let’s try with the anecdotal opening: When Lauren Smith was five years old, she pledged to never love a boy more than the blonde-haired, blue-eyed prince who sat next to her in kindergarten. “I thought he was so choice,” said Smith, now a freshman at City High School. “I knew the minute I saw him that he would be mine. Oh yes, he would be mine.” Ten years later, Smith has jettisoned both her “prince,” whom she actually dumped a week after she met him, and the belief that love at first sight is possible.

19. Romeo and Juliet “He was the classic case of ‘nice house – nobody home,’” Smith said. “I learned that ‘love at first sight’ is a fool’s paradise.” Smith’s dismissal of the notion of love at first sight is mirrored in a recent survey on love, romance, and marriage, administered to a range of age groups of both genders as part of a study of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. An overwhelming majority of respondents indicated love at first sight is impossible, especially between two young teenagers who surely don’t even know what love is.

20. Romeo and Juliet A key thing to remember: No matter what type of opening you choose, don’t wait too long to establish that your paper is about the survey. Again, this is your “controlling purpose” – or the thesis – that tells the reader what the paper is going to discuss or reveal. Don’t make the reader wait too long to find out.

21. Romeo and Juliet Now that we’ve established the “controlling purpose” of our paper – the survey results – we can start filling it in with more information. Let’s return to the last points of our most recent example: Smith’s dismissal of the notion of love at first sight is mirrored in a recent survey on love, romance, and marriage, administered to a range of age groups of both genders as part of a study of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. An overwhelming majority of respondents indicated love at first sight is impossible, especially between two young teenagers who surely don’t even know what love is.

22. Romeo and Juliet Now we can add more information, including a second result from the survey and a comparison to the play itself: Ninety percent of respondents also indicated you can be too young to fall in love. That response represents a 180-degree difference from those expressed in fair Verona more than 500 years ago in the world of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet’s mother, Lady Capulet, doesn’t even flinch at the idea of her 13-year-old daughter getting married. In fact, she encourages it, as noted in this passage from the play: “Younger than you, here in Verona, ladies of esteem, are made already mothers,” Lady Capulet tells Juliet (1.3.75-78).

23. Romeo and Juliet Now, we can add another survey result and a comment from one of your respondents. Most contemporary teenagers surveyed said, “No way.” “I think that’s disgusting, and I don’t agree with it,” said Katie Johnston, a CHS junior. “And it’s disturbing – so disturbing that (any girl) who is thinking about getting married at 13 should go see a counselor.”

24. Romeo and Juliet Now, we can add another comment from the survey, this time from another age group. Johnston’s mother, Anne Johnston, echoed those sentiments. “Back in old times it was a common thing,” she said. “Nowadays, I think it’s ludicrous. I think even age 18 is too young.”

25. Romeo and Juliet You can even add a dissenting opinion from your results: The lone respondent in favor of love and marriage at such an early age, 14-year-old Gabi Jones, indicated that she would have no problem with marrying 25-year-old actor ZacEfron, who coincidentally bears a striking resemblance to actor Leonard Whiting, who portrays Romeo in the 1968 film version of the play. “I’d prefer Johnny Depp,” said Jones. “But you have to draw the age line somewhere. It’s just so hard to choose. They’re both so dreamy.”