COM 209 -- keys to the kingdom (link)

Here's a webpage that tells you what you need to know to get started as a student reporter. It's by Lawrence Surtees, primary telecommunications research analyst for IDC Canada, an international communications firm.

You'll still need the textbook and the workbook, however. Especially the workbook. We'll be using it in class.

A lot.

Surtees' webpage has a great title -- "How to Write a Great News Story." And he delivers what he promises.

So if you want to know how to write a great story, read Surtees. What more can I say?

Surtees' webpage is part of the Reporter's Toolbox in a website called SSN Newsroom put up by SchoolNet News Network and its French counterpart, Rédaction de Rescol, for K-12 students in Canada. SSN describes itself as "a cyber-school for writers and aspiring journalists as well as a resource centre for teachers." Some of the spellings (like "centre") are Canadian, but Surtees knows what he's talking about. Before joining IDC Canada, he was a business writer for The Globe and Mail in Toronto. I can't recommend reading him highly enough.

In fact, I think I'd better give a quiz on his page Friday.