Although I have only been in the industry for a short amount of time, there have been plenty of opportunities for me to refine and add skills to my writing process. Here are a few tools and skills I have added to my repertoire.
- AP Style
- As many journalists know, being proficient in AP style is one of the paramount skills reporters can have. I’ve written enough stories to know whether a title should be capitalized or when it’s appropriate to abbreviate a state or addresses. While this is a common, entry-level skill, it’s one that should not be overlooked given how pivotal these distinctions are.
- Skill Application:
- When covering a researcher who has a doctorate, I can correctly determine when and how to use their formal titles.
- When describing a specific location, I understand when to spell out and abbreviate the different iterations of “street” at the end of an address.
- When listing a date, I know which months to spell out an abbreviate, as well as when commas are necessary.
- Timeliness
- Another crucial skill that I have honed in my short time as a reporter is how to turn stories around in a quick, timely manner. Although meeting deadlines is one of the main priorities when turning a story in time, I try to ensure accuracy and truth doesn’t take a backseat in the reporting process.
- Skill Application:
- There have been plenty of times when I have come into the office after class and flipped a news release on short notice for a quick staff story to fill the paper on slow news days.
- With games starting in the evening with a looming 10 p.m. deadline, there have been plenty of times where I’m writing a story as the game unfolds to ensure I can meet our print deadline.
- While there are bound to be errors when working quickly to report recent developments, I have gotten into the habit of working in a reasonable amount of time to allow a brief fact-checking and grammar-correcting period before I submit my story.
- Adaptability
- Whether it’s audibling to a change on the fly, finding a different story angle, or adjusting to a different tone and style of writing, I have come to be very adaptable in this crazy, vast digital landscape of media.
- Skill Application:
- While sports has always been my driving passion, I’ve found myself in situations and times of the year when my skills are needed on other beats. I always put my best foot forward to tell stories in an insightful, relatable matter no matter what the assignment is.
- At times, there have been developments that arise in stories or games that are more noteworthy, leading me to shift my coverage or angle to something more newsworthy.
- Given the industry’s gradual shift to online, I have picked up many techniques and strategies to utilize SEO and other online elements that might bring more traffic to my stories.