Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method
Online
Scavenger Hunt 2:
General and Personal Information
a. You are hoping to go to Haiti. What warning or advice does the State Department give U.S. travelers?
b. You’re planning a trip to Mexico. What should you know about weapons violations?
2. On your trip, you need to know how much money your dollar is worth in foreign currency. Find a site that will convert dollars into the currency of the country you are visiting. Clue: Try a universal currency converter.
c. How many French francs can you get for $100 in U.S. dollars.
d. How many Mexican pesos will your $10 be worth?
3. You have to reach a source in London, and you want to know the time difference so you don’t call in the middle of the night. Find a site that will give you time around the world. Clue: Search for an international time clock.
4. You are assigned to interview Tom French, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist who is coming to your school to talk about feature writing. You need to do background research in a hurry. You are not even sure what newspaper he works for. You only know that he won the Pulitzer for feature writing in 1998. How will you find a quick biography of him and his prize-winning stories? Clue: Check the Pulitzer site. You might also check amazon.com to see if he has written any books.
5. You are writing a concert review and you want to use the quote: “If music be the food of love, play on.” You are not sure where the quote originated. How can you quickly check the source? Clue: Check Bartlett’s quotations.
6. You are writing a story about allergic reactions to bee stings. You are looking for an expert to quote. Find an authority on this subject. Clue: Check the Yearbook of Experts, Authorities and Spokespersons.
a. What is the name of the organization specializing in “hymenoptera (stinging insects)?
b. Who is the person you can contact for more information at this organization?
7. You are writing a story about online hate sites, and you have found a site called stop-the-hate.org, which links to a host of hate sites and offers tips for fighting hate crimes. How do you check the site credibility by finding the author or ownership of the site if it isn’t listed on the Web pages? Clue: Check the whois databases, preferably betterwhois, and type in the exact name of the site (with hyphens) and its domain (org).
8. You are giving a party, and you want to provide your guests with a map to your home. Find your home in a site that will pinpoint your address on a map and will provide driving directions. Clue: Use mapsonus or any mapping program.
9. You are looking for the address, phone number and e-mail address of a friend from high school. First find yourself in a people-searching program. Then try to find a friend. Clue: Try Yahoo’s people search or another search engine’s white pages.
e. Is the information there?
f. Is the information accurate or out of date?
10. You are looking for a job or internship in the media, and you want to get some tips on how to prepare your resume and write cover letters. Joe Grimm, recruiting editor for the Detroit Free Press, has some excellent tips on “Killer Cover Letters” on his newspaper’s jobspage. Find the site:
a. What is the Web address for Grimm’s site?
b. How many clips does he recommend that you attach to your internship or job application?
11. All media organizations have sites with tips and information for students and professionals in their fields.
a. Find an organization geared to public relations practitioners, and write the name and Web address of the site.
b. Find an organization geared to professionals in radio and television and write the name and Web address.
c. Find a list of internships geared to students entering newspaper careers on a site for the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Write the Web address. Clue: It’s in a “kiosk.”
12. You are writing a story about the most livable countries and you want to find information fast. Where can you find this? Clue: Check an almanac such as infoplease.
a. What is the most livable country?