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Investigate one advance in medicine for the MedNews segment of a weekly television news show. You will write a script, choose three pictures and/or graphs to be shown on-screen, and develop a headline that will capture viewers' attention.
Include information about the problem or condition that the medical advance addresses, the solution, those who developed the advance, and the expected results. Your writing must be precise, informative, and compelling. The segment should run for two minutes.
STEP 1: Initial Search
Begin your research with visits to the following websites:
Duke Research: Advances in Medicine, Science and Engineering
Search: Medical research
Mayo Clinic Health Newsletter
Search: Medical research
Research several medical advances in areas such as childhood diseases, nutrition, heart disease, or organ transplants.
STEP 2: Expand Your Search
Search the Internet for other medical technology sites. Visit the library and look for articles listed under "medicine" in publications' databases. In addition, newspapers and news magazines cover medical research on a level suitable for a general audience.
Take notes on the information you find. Narrow your topic and continue researching until you have enough information to write the script. As you research, collect photos or graphs to illustrate the segment.
STEP 3: Define Your Audience
Because you are writing for a television news show, your audience will be a diverse group. Viewers may know something about the disease or condition involved, but most likely will not know much about the medical advance you're reporting on. Give a general overview of the material. Do not assume that your audience knows the cause or cure of any disease or condition.
STEP 4: Apply the 5-W and How? Questions
A news report, whether on a sports event or medical advance, should tell the audience who, what, when, where, why, and how. Outline your research based on the 5-W and How? questions. (See Grammar for Writing, Level Orange, page 11.)
STEP 5: Organize Your Ideas and Write Your Script
Using the outline, write a rough draft of your script; then review it to be sure it is the correct length. A two-minute segment has about two hundred words. Read your draft aloud and time yourself to be sure you have enough material and that you have included everything viewers need to know about the topic.
When writing a script, use clear language, short sentences, and unified paragraphs. Because listeners will hear the material only once and cannot review the information, your writing must be very precise. (See the information about unity in writing, Grammar for Writing, Level Orange, pages 21-22.)
When writing a short, timed segment, professional writers usually divide the time into small units. Each part of the script is assigned an amount of time, and the material is written to fit the time frame. In a two-minute piece, allow ten seconds each for an introduction and conclusion and about fifteen to eighteen seconds for each of the 5-W and How? questions. This will give your script balance.
(Experiment: Audiotape a reading of your script. See how much time you actually take. Do you come close to two minutes? Most people read faster aloud because they are nervous, which means that a two-minute script can shrink to a minute and a half. Slow down and pace your reading.)
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STEP 6: Revise, Edit, and Proofread Your News Script
Reread your script aloud. Be sure your sentences are clear and varied, and that you have included all key details, dates, and quotations in order to give viewers a clear understanding of the advance on which you are reporting.
Edit your script for grammatical errors; then proofread your script carefully for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors.
STEP 7: Publish Your News Report
Present your news report to the class. Show visuals and a graphic headline on an overhead projector while you read your script.
Copyright ©2007 by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.