PART 1: Write a basic news story based on the following information. Don’t forget to prioritize your 5 Ws,
leading with the most attention-grabbing and important information. This story should be about 250 words long
and should be broken up into multiple paragraphs.
Who/ What: Researchers released the results of a study comparing the death and accident rates of lefthanded people (vs right-handed people).
When: California State University at San Bernardino
Where: Study was conducted by Diane Halpern, a psychology professor at California State University at
San Bernardino, and Stanley Coren, a researcher at the University of British Columbia.
Why: To determine why fewer left-handed people are among the elderly population.
How: Researchers studied death certificates of 987 people in two Southern California counties. Relatives
were queried by mail about the subjects’ dominant hands.
Additional Info: The following is not necessarily in the order it should be used in your story. Only information
written in quotation marks should be considered a direct quotation.
The study was conducted by Diane Halpern, a psychology professor at California State University at San
Bernardino, and Stanley Coren, a researcher at the University of British Columbia.
The researchers found that the average age at death for right-handed people was 75, for left-handed people
66; left-handed people represent 10 percent of the U.S. population; right-handed females tend to live six
years longer than left-handed females, and right-handed males live 11 years longer than left-handed males;
left-handed people were four times more likely to die from injuries while driving than right-handers and
six times more likely to die from accidents of all kinds.
Halpern said, “The results are striking in their magnitude.” Halpern is right-handed.
She said her study should be interpreted cautiously. “It should not, of course, be used to predict the life
span of any one individual. It does not take into account the fitness of any individual.” Left-handed
women die around age 72; right-handed women die around age 78. Left-handed men die about age 62;
right-handed men die at about age 73.
“Some of my best friends are left-handed,” Halpern said. “It’s important that mothers of left-handed
children not be alarmed and not try to change which hand a child uses,” she said. “There were many,
many old left-handed people.”
“We knew for years that there weren’t as many old left-handers,” Halpern said. “Researchers thought it
was because in the early years of the century, most people born left-handed were forced to change to their
right hands. So we thought we were looking at old people who used to be left-handed, but we weren’t. The
truth was that there simply weren’t many left-handers left alive, compared to right-handers.”
“Almost all engineering is geared to the right hand and right foot,” Halpern said. “There are many
more car and other accidents among left-handers because of their environment.”
PART 2: Please write the following three additional leads for the story above: Direct Address, Startling
Statement, and Blind OR Word Play. You just need to write the lead, not the entire story. Please feel free to refer
to the lecture from class.
Unit Exercise 3: The Basic News Story
Instructions: Complete both part one and part two.
Part 1
Write a basic news story based on the following information. Don’t forget to prioritize your
5 Ws, leading with the most attention-grabbing and important information. This story
should be about 250 words long and should be broken up into multiple paragraphs.
Who/ What: Researchers released the results of a study comparing the death and
accident rates of left-handed people (vs right-handed people).
When: California State University at San Bernardino
Where: Study was conducted by Diane Halpern, a psychology professor at California
State University at San Bernardino, and Stanley Coren, a researcher at the University of
British Columbia.
Why: To determine why fewer left-handed people are among the elderly population.
How: Researchers studied death certificates of 987 people in two Southern California
counties. Relatives were queried by mail about the subjects’ dominant hands.
Additional Info: The following is not necessarily in the order it should be used in your
story. Only information written in quotation marks should be considered a direct
quotation.
•
•
•
•
The study was conducted by Diane Halpern, a psychology professor at
California State University at San Bernardino, and Stanley Coren, a researcher
at the University of British Columbia.
The researchers found that the average age at death for right-handed people
was 75, for left-handed people 66; left-handed people represent 10 percent of
the U.S. population; right-handed females tend to live six years longer than
left-handed females, and right-handed males live 11 years longer than lefthanded males; left-handed people were four times more likely to die from
injuries while driving than right-handers and six times more likely to die from
accidents of all kinds.
Halpern said, “The results are striking in their magnitude.” Halpern is righthanded.
She said her study should be interpreted cautiously. “It should not, of course,
be used to predict the life span of any one individual. It does not take into
account the fitness of any individual.” Left-handed women die around age 72;
•
•
•
right-handed women die around age 78. Left-handed men die about age 62;
right-handed men die at about age 73.
“Some of my best friends are left-handed,” Halpern said. “It’s important that
mothers of left-handed children not be alarmed and not try to change which
hand a child uses,” she said. “There were many, many old left-handed people.”
“We knew for years that there weren’t as many old left-handers,” Halpern said.
“Researchers thought it was because in the early years of the century, most
people born left-handed were forced to change to their right hands. So we
thought we were looking at old people who used to be left-handed, but we
weren’t. The truth was that there simply weren’t many left-handers left alive,
compared to right-handers.”
“Almost all engineering is geared to the right hand and right foot,” Halpern
said. “There are many more car and other accidents among left-handers
because of their environment.”
Part 2
Please write the following additional leads for the story you just wrote:
1. Direct Address
2. Startling Statement
3. Blind or Word Play
You just need to write the lead, not the entire story. Please feel free to refer to the lecture
from class.
Unit Exercise #3 (25 Points)
Criteria
Ratings
Pts
Completion/ Following
Directions
10 to > 7.0 pts
Excellent (20-25 Points)
Work is complete with all
parts present, including
word count and direct
quotations from source and
three additional leads.
7 to >4.0 pts
Satisfactory (15-
19 Points)
Work is mostly
complete, and
most elements are
present.
4 to >1.0 pts
Minimum (10-14
Points)
Work is partly
complete, work is
shown, and some
elements are
present.
1 to 0 pts
Incomplete/
Missing (0-9
Points)
Work is not
done.
10 pts
Comprehension
5 to >3.0 pts
Excellent (20-25
Points)
Work demonstrates
exceptional
understanding of the
ideas, concepts or
skills required in this
activity.
3 to > 2.0 pts
Satisfactory (15-19
Points)
Work demonstrates
satisfactory
understanding of the
ideas, concepts or
skills required in this
activity.
2 to >0.0 pts
Minimum (10-14
Points)
Work demonstrates
minimum
understanding of
the ideas, concepts
or skills required in
this activity.
O pts
Incomplete (0-9
Points)
Work demonstrates
no understanding of
the ideas, concepts
or skills required in
this activity.
5 pts
Accuracy
2 to >0.0 pts
Minimum (10-14
Points)
5 to >3.0 pts
Excellent (20-25
Points)
Work is accurate
and demonstrates
correct AP style.
3 to 2.0 pts
Satisfactory (15-19
Points)
Work is accurate and
demonstrates
minimal AP style
errors.
O pts
Incomplete (0-9
Points)
Work is not accurate
and demonstrates
many AP style errors.
5 pts
Work is accurate
but demonstrates
some AP style
errors.
Writing Quality
5 to >3.0 pts
Excellent (20-25
Points)
Writing is coherent,
concise, free of
spelling errors and
3 to > 2.0 pts
Satisfactory (15-19
Points)
Writing is coherent
and only has
minimal spelling or
2 to >0.0 pts
Minimum (10-14
Points)
Writing is
incoherent and has
some spelling or
O pts
Incomplete (0-9
Points)
Writing is incoherent,
broken, excessively
short and contains
5 pts
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