Regarding the Feature assignment, first of all, read the ″Two Examples of Featur

Regarding the Feature assignment, first of all, read the ″Two Examples of Features″ I have posted under ″Assignments″ on Canvas. These include an example from one of my students′ work as well as a Pulitzer Prize-winning feature from 1996.
*Once you have done some brainstorming, select your topic and post that choice to the designated forum on Canvas with two sentences as to why you made your choice. My expectations are that you:
*Choose a topic that has a great deal of depth. Good storytelling translates into good feature writing. Do NOT interview your mother, your father, a sibling or your best friend. Talk to people and peruse the Internet for potential ideas. Memorable features in the past few years have included an in-depth story about a street performer in Richmond who played his music on Cary Street; a college pitcher who dreamed of playing Major League Baseball, but suffered a career-ending injury; an individual who battled Celiac Disease; an organization formed and devoted to raising money to stamp out a disease; and a bluegrass band aspiring to make it on the big stage. Find an idea that appeals to a broad enough audience that a news agency would want to publish it. If you can get a news agency to publish it, I will add 10 points to the final grade on your Feature. A commitment is all you need from the news agency prior to submission time; the story can be published after our class has concluded. Just put a note on page six regarding the news agency and who guaranteed that your story would be published.
*Compose a 25-word (max.) lead. You are not using the inverted pyramid, but keep your paragraphs short and adhere to the rule of one main idea per paragraph. A feature lead can be intriguing and does not have to reveal all of the ″secrets″ of the story.
*Contact three ″experts″ to get three direct quotes related to your story. This is the bare minimum; you can interview more than three interviewees. Use your phone; email takes too long to get a response and results in canned answers. Remember that the best interviews happen face-to-face. Be sure to include these individuals′ titles in your story. For instance, the story on the baseball pitcher included numerous quotes from him, a quote from each of his parents, a quote from his college and high school coaches, quotes from his teammates and a quote from an orthopedic doctor.
*Include information from two research sources, such as The American Cancer Society′s website that I mentioned for the Opinion piece. Weave these into the body of your Feature; do not include a ″References″ list. Make these two sources hyperlinks in the story. When I click on them, I will give you credit for this portion of the assignment ONLY when they open. If you have never used hyperlinks before, your roommate or Innovation Space on campus can assist you; give that office a call. Hyperlinks allow an individual to delve more deeply into an aspect of the story purely by choice.
*Select a story you can tell in five pages, double-spaced. Do NOT hit the spacebar twice between paragraphs.
*Integrate your strongest quote into the second paragraph. Quotes are an extremely important part of a Feature story, but do not turn basic information into direct quotes; that info can be paraphrased.
*Do NOT use first person in this assignment. The individual, organization, group of individuals or trend you address is the focal point of the story; you are the individual tasked with telling the story.
*Bring a new story to me, your editor, that the general public would want to read and appreciate the job you have done–as a professional writer–telling the story.
*You will NOT use the inverted pyramid to write this assignment, so formulate a creative lead and an ending that has impact.
*You have five pages to tell the story; four is not sufficient, and six is too long.
*Take two photos with your cellphone; these visual images will aid you in telling the story you select for your Feature. Submit these on page six.
*Also, on page six, include three demographics of an audience that would appreciate reading your Feature. For example, you could use ″parents, middle-class, with a high school senior preparing to enroll in college″ for an audience that would read the article ″How to Afford College in 2024.″
*Include a headline that meets the criteria stated in your textbook.
*Adhere to the rules in The Associated Press Stylebook for all information you include in your Feature
*This is an opportunity for you to showcase all of the writing skills you have polished over the course of this summer session in Media Writing.