My Attack

I will be writing a how-to story. How to become socially involved being a transfer student.

I will talk to transfer students about their transfer experience. My focus is on the topic of social life; what they did to adapt to the change, how they became involved and the difficulties they faced, if any. I will talk to some one in charge of any social activites about this and get a better insight on the approach to becoming more involved on campus.

Transfer students come from all over, they may or may not be familiar with anyone or anything on campus. Like non-transfer students, they live on or off campus so I will also focus on the difference between the two. Of course people are different, some shy and some outgoing, this plays a role in a transfer student experience as well. Taking all things in to consideration, I will develop a "how-to" story, aiming to reach both transfer and non-transfer students. By reading my story I hope it encourages transfer students to get involved and urge non-transfer students to help transfer students they know to get involved or just simply reach out to them and make their experience a little less difficult.

Feature Story Ideas

I have yet to come up with a specific story. I was thinking about dating and relationships among college students. I would focus on those who are apart of Greek Life, those who are not and the difference. Each topic (greek Life, partying, school work) would all be tied in and how they may affect dating/relationships. This is just an idea, I am still not sure if this is what I want to cover.

"Wall Street Journal" Formula

The "Wall Street Journal" (WSJ) formula is the most used feature story structure. It consists of four main sections:

1. The story opens with a specific example (anecdotal, descriptive or narrative lead).

2. A nut graph relates to the lead and explains what the story is about.

3. The body of the story supports the main point of the story using quotes, facts, etc.

4. The end contains an anecdote or description about the person or people in the lead and gives future development.

An example of the WSJ formula is in an article "T.I. goes back to court_to talk to teenagers" found in The Washington Post. This article includes the main sections of the formula.

Opening of story-lead: "A month from beginning a yearlong federal prison sentence, rapper T.I. was in court again Friday, but this time he wasn't in the hot seat."

The lead has the name and info of the person the article focuses on.

Nut Graph: located in the fifth paragraph-gives the reader more info on the heart of the story and clarifies the importance of the story.

Body: provides vital information relating to the lead, quotes from the teenagers.

End: "Your life can go down the wrong path, and you'll end up in prison, where he's fixing to go," he said. "I don't want to go there."
Harris, a Grammy winner, has a list of No. 1 hits on his resume, including two off his latest CD, "Paper Trail," which also hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts."

This article ends with a quote about T.I. and relates to the story as a whole.

Where the party at??

Two Greek organizations from Towson University are coming together to host a party Saturday night, February 21, at the Ruhl Armory in Towson, Md.

The LZ Nupes of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc and the ladies of Sigma Lambda Gamma Sorority, Inc presents to you a “Scandalous Konkoction." Located on York Rd, the Armory will be live Saturday night. With advanced tickets being $7 for general admission and $5 for Greeks, guests will be partying from 9p.m. to 2a.m. It was stated that the price of tickets will be “more at the door,“ member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Darrell Brown said.

If you are in search of something to do on Saturday night, feel free to party with the Nupes and Sophisticated ladies. A night of fun is guaranteed.

"I'll lead, you follow"

Feature leads, also known as "soft news," are an important part of news writing. They allow you to take a dull piece of news and gain the attention, interest and empathy of readers by spicing it up. There are many different types of feature leads. They include: anecdotal, narrative, descriptive and question.


Summary leads are also known as "hard news." They provide a preview of what's to come and focus only on straight facts. They answer the infamous 5W's and one H.

Examples of two feature leads:

1. "They know him as "Black," a convicted felon and longtime member of the Bloods street gang. He is leaning far back in a chair, under the only working light in a nondescript rowhouse in East Baltimore. He is talking about street life and hustling. And this group of more than 25 gang members and young men recently sprung from prison are hanging on his every word."


2. In their summary of evidence against Mohammed Sulaymon Barre, a Somali detained at Guantanamo Bay, military investigators allege that he spent several years at Osama bin Laden's compound in Sudan. But other military documents place him in Pakistan during the same period.

Juicy!!!

Social life in college does not only consist of parties and students hanging out with one another. Whether students want to admit it or not, they spend a lot of their time not only gossiping to each other but also gossiping on the net. Social-networking web sites are becoming more and more popular; such as the well-known Facebook.com and Myspace.com. In addition to these popular sites, the campus gossip site JuicyCampus.com has become known as well.

JuicyCampus, home to nasty school gossip, dries up discusses the termination of JuicyCampus.com. Due to its founder, Matt Ivester, experiencing a downturn in the economy, the site has finally come to an end; pleasing most and upsetting a few.

"We're very happy," said Erika Lowe, vice president of the student government at Western Illinois University..."

The site was bo guarded with cruelty and hatred. Most colleges were asked and urged to block the site from their campus networks.

With the removal of JuicyCampus.com, colleges campuses can now undergo a feeling of peace.

I definitely agree with this news story, this site was ridiculous. I can't lie, it was interesting to read the different posts, but the topics were outrageous. People went overboard and I feel that it became too much, even for the net.
The reporter should have interviewed students that are for JuicyCampus and placed their testimony in the article.

Social Scene 101

Intro to the Social Scene...

Student social life in college, on and off campus: what is it all about?

• Dating
• Friendships
• Greek Life
• Partying

How do students adapt to change?
High school to college is a major adjustment. The social pressure is on and students are free to do what they want, when they want. Students handle change different from one another.

What advantages and disadvantages follow social life?
Fun vs. Failure

The battle...
Life, relationships and schoolwork.
Managing it all and excelling.