1 / 8

Focus statements

Focus statements. What they are, why they matter, and how to find them. So, what is it, this “focus statement?”. Glad you’ve asked. It’s really just a thesis statement, but shorter. Dude, why can’t we just call it a thesis statement?. Because thesis statements are longer. These are short.

temira
Download Presentation

Focus statements

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Focus statements What they are, why they matter, and how to find them

  2. So, what is it, this “focus statement?” Glad you’ve asked. It’s really just a thesis statement, but shorter.

  3. Dude, why can’t we just call it a thesis statement? Because thesis statements are longer. These are short. And why? Because the goal is to keep yourself, as a reporter, focused, and thesis statements are too darn long to remember. Try memorizing a sonnet, or something by Faulkner. Way harder than memorizing a simple sentence.

  4. What’s in a focus statement? • A subject • Farmers • Raptors • Natalie Portman • A verb • Grow • Eat • Declared • An object • Giant carrot • Entire unsuspecting city • Perfect

  5. Got it. So what about these? • 1. Soaking in the sun • Bah! No! There’s no subject. Who is doing the soaking? Instead, say this: • Bearssoak inthe sun. (GOOD) • 2. Zach Parise scoring goals • Ew! What a weak gerund (scoring). It’s not really a verb. Try this: • Parise goalspowerWild offense. (GOOD) • 3. Politician lies. • Vague! Who is this politician? Lies to whom or about what? This is more like it: • Senatorliesaboutage. (GOOD)

  6. All right. So those are the parts. But why do they matter? • By writing focus statements, reporters are distilling their stories to their essence. They tell the audience enough to understand what’s most important. • They’re like good headlines: • Ash borer threatenshistoric forest. • Bilbohates surprises. • Wall-Eexploresouter space. • Radon gaskills all of mankind.

  7. How do I find them in news stories? • Start by writing out, in a longer sentence, what the story is about: • Car thefts in Apple Valley are up because students are bored after school, and police don’t know how to stop them. • Clearly that’s too long to be an FS. Find the action in the story that’s most current: • Teen car thieves baffle police. • That just begs for more detail, eh? From there, a reporter fleshes out the story, starting with the most important parts.

  8. To recap: Focus statements are short and contain a subject, verb and object. They guide a reporter when telling the story and prioritize information for the audience members. Find them by answering this: What’s driving this story?

More Related