Victorian+News+Project+Description+and+Rubric


 * Dickens Historical Context:**

Victorian News Project
Over the next few weeks, just as Charles Dickens did, you will work as a journalist conducting thorough research on certain events in the Victorian era (1837 – 1901) and then writing about them. In order to narrow your focus and keep your news stories somewhat realistic, yet still develop a thorough understanding of the era, you’ll need to find three events or topics that took place, or could have taken place, during the same year, and find out everything you can about them. Then you’ll turn the information you’ve collected into three newspaper articles or newscast pieces. You may work as either a print or broadcast journalist and may therefore present your final pieces in either print or broadcast form.

To do this project well you will need to go through multiple steps. First, you will have to do some broad research to find a specific year of the Victorian era in which three interesting and newsworthy things took place. Then, you’ll have to fully investigate your topics through various sources, gathering as much information as possible. You MUST take notes as you go, using a different note card for each set of facts and color coding them according to source. Once you’ve found enough information to fill a typical news story, you will write your articles or your newscast scripts. Finally, you will revise your stories and put them into a newspaper format typical of the time period using Microsoft Publisher, or you will revise your scripts and videotape your newscast.

Use your imagination but check with me before you finalize your three topics. I’ll meet with you next week to okay them. Remember, your articles must be based on historical facts. They may include some fictionalized information or made-up details, but the basis of the information MUST be factual. You must use AT LEAST THREE different sources for your research, and TWO of your sources MUST be books. Note: Excellent projects from past years have always included information from six or more sources. Since you will need to complete at least one entire page of print news, or three minutes of a video newscast, the length of each article or story will vary, but they must be at least three paragraphs in length when written and answer the most important journalistic questions:

• Who • What • Where • When • Why • How

Because Charles Dickens was very interested in social issues, or the problems a society faces, one of your three articles or stories must discuss a social issue that London was struggling with during the Victorian Era. Go to the list of positives and negatives of the Victorian era that you created in your literature notes for ideas and remember some of the important social issues that plagued London and England during this time are: horrible working conditions in factories and city centers, a lack of workers’ rights, the poor living conditions of the middle and lower classes, poverty, disease, poor sanitation, poor education, and high crime rates.

One of the pieces you do may be an advertisement or editorial segment (opinion piece, letter to the editor, etc.) as long as it is thoroughly researched and as authentic as possible.

Also, there must be one hand-drawn image somewhere in your final product. It could accompany one article or advertisement or segment of your broadcast but it must be created by you, by hand. The picture could be a comic strip, part of an advertisement, an information-graphic, like a graph or table, or an illustration to accompany an invention or fashion article. The picture must have a written caption underneath it or next to it, describing and explaining the image. If it is shown in a news cast, it should be described in detail.

Next, all written advertisements should fully explain the product, its benefits, where it can be purchased and its cost. They should include a minimum of five lines of text and may include an image. All advertisements in news casts must fully describe the product, its benefits, where it can be purchased and its cost and could also include an image.

Finally, extra points will be awarded to newspapers and newscasts that have a “look and feel” that fits the time period. For newspapers, look at some of the historic news examples, check out past student examples and be creative! You may sketch mastheads, drop-letters and other details and then scan them and add them to your newspaper as well. For news videos, think about simple costumes that will show up on camera, accents, word choice and sound effects.

SUMMARY of REQUIREMENTS:

• Three pieces or stories minimum – each one must be thorough and answer all the journalistic questions • At least three sources used – two HAVE to be books – ALL must be cited correctly • Notes taken on note cards – color-coded by source • Scripts and articles revised and peer-edited – all drafts handed in with final product • Newspaper pages are at least one full Publisher page / Newscasts are at least three minutes long • One story covers a social problem of Victorian era London • One of the three pieces can be an advertisement or opinion piece, but it must be thorough and long • One hand-drawn image is included somewhere in your final product • All members fully understand all of the information included in the stories – don’t just throw phrases in that you don’t completely comprehend • EXTRA points are awarded to creatively authentic touches

STEP 1: BROWSE THROUGH BOOKS Spend at least two full periods browsing through the books on the book cart that Mrs. Eppelsheimer provides. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BEGIN INTERNET RESEARCH UNTIL DAY 3 IN THE LIBRARY. As you are looking through the sources, jot down some notes including titles and page numbers of books that include topics that interest you. Slowly narrow your list of interesting topics until you have three items from the same year. Or, once you’ve found an intriguing topic, head to some of the books that include timelines in order to find two other topics that happened in that same year.

possible topics or events: found in which book: on page:

STEP 2: SELECT FINAL TOPICS AND PLAN By the end of the third research day, make sure that you have explained it to your editor, Ms. Reimer and gotten her sign-off.

My newspaper or newscast will be reporting from the year:

__The topics that I am going to include in my paper are:

1.

2.

3.

The article #__ __from the above list will be about a social issue or problem that society faced during the Victorian Era.

The article or opinion piece or advertisement #___ __from the above list will include a hand-drawn picture.

STEP 3: RESEARCH Spend the next two class periods researching your final three topics. Before you write down any information be sure to fill out a bibliography form for the books and websites you are using. You will need to CITE everything you report in a bibliography and creating a works cited page or bibliography does not mean that you can simply take someone else’s sentences and put them in your stories. You can use direct quotations sparingly, and paraphrasing or putting the author’s words into your own, is the real key to researching correctly, carefully and successfully. Be sure to take notes on note cards while you are researching because these will be due with your final project. Use a different color high-lighter or different color note-card for each of your different sources.

And AGAIN, Don’t forget: AS YOU FIND INFORMATION, take thorough notes on note cards or electronically. Be especially careful that your notes put the information into your own words. It is recommended that you use one note card for every fact and label them carefully. That way, when you go to write your article, you can pick up a stack of cards, organize them and start writing. If you type your notes, organize them carefully by topic. Color-code them if possible. Your notes need to be handed in with your final project and will be graded. If you do not have notes to hand in, do not expect to get higher than a low C on this project.

You need to find as much information about each topic or event as possible. Most stories should include information from at least two different sources.

After you’ve found information in books, check the internet, but please know that you should start your internet search on Mrs. Eppelsheimer’s Victorian Search Engine. This will save you lots and lots of time. It was custom created to include excellent resources that pertain directly to this project.

Be sure to look for the answers to the following journalistic questions while researching your stories:

o WHO is involved? o WHAT is happening? o WHERE is this taking place? o WHEN exactly did the events occur? o WHY is this important or why did this happen? o HOW is it going to effect the public? o And What does this mean for London or England or the world?

STEP 4: WRITE Once you have thorough notes taken, you should start assembling your newspaper or script for your newscast.

To do a newspaper, you can type directly into Microsoft Publisher. It can be found by clicking on the Start menu, navigating to All Programs, and then to Microsoft Office, and then to Microsoft Publisher. When you get the program open select “Publications for Print” from the menu on the far left hand side. Once inside, try looking at some of the templates under “Newsletters”.

To create a storyboard for your newscast, divide up the stories and type them in MSWord. Consider double spacing to make them easier to read.

Be sure to answer the following journalistic questions when crafting your stories: o WHO is involved? o WHAT is happening? o WHERE is this taking place? o WHEN exactly did the events occur? o WHY is this important or why did this happen? o HOW is it going to effect the public? o And What does this mean for London or England or the world?

STEP 5: EDIT Remember, this is really a writing assignment in disguise! You must make sure you are checking grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word choice over and over and over! Multiple revisions of all stories and scripts are necessary. Look at the grading rubric many times to make sure you are meeting all requirements.

As soon as you have the first draft of your articles and/or advertisements and letters written, you must read through all of your articles, eliminating any errors that you notice. After you do this, you must highlight the sentences that answer the above journalistic questions and have a brief conference with Ms. Reimer in which you prove that you’ve included every piece of important information that you could find on each topic. Finally, you will need to have your articles peer edited by at least one person. The checklist that they fill out should be handed in with your final draft.

Grading rubric for the Victorian News:__

_/2 pts Newspaper is at least one full page with little or well-placed white space and the fonts are interesting and legible

Newscast is at least three minutes long and the information is presented clearly

___/2 pts There is at least one hand-drawn picture that exhibits effort included in the paper or the newscast__

_/3 pts There is a creative or realistic name for your newspaper (masthead)/or newscast and it includes the city of origin, possibly price of the paper, date of the issue, and possibly volume number and/or tagline

___/3 pts There are at least three pieces that you have created in your newspaper or newscast: articles, advertisements, letters to the editor, etc. and they are all based in the same year. Any advertisements include at least five lines of text.__

_/3 pts Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are correct / Grammar and word choice in newscast is correct

___/5 pts There are no fragments or run-on sentences and each article is broken up into at least three paragraphs / Volume and enunciation of newscasters is perfect.__

_/10 pts You have taken thorough notes which are the basis of your articles and they are stapled to your newspaper or handed in with your newscast

___/4 pts You have had your articles or scripts peer edited and the checklist is included with your final product__ _/8 pts Articles and /or newscast stories are thorough and complete enough that it is obvious they have been well researched, well written and are based on fact, even if a few details have been fictionalized

___/3 pts One article/story covers an important societal problem, or difficulty that plagued England during the era, and the article explains the issue very well__

_/3 pts Newsworthiness: the articles/stories discuss events or topics that would have made the headlines when Victoria was Queen, or could have been pulled from an actual London paper during this time period

___/3 pts Each article has a proper headline or introduction and it grabs the reader’s attention / There is also an author for each article or story and they are attributed properly in a byline in a newspaper or through directly saying their names in a newscast__

_/3 pts Look and feel of paper or newscast is interesting and fitting of time period

___/6 pts Bibliography is included, it is accurate, correctly formatted, and lists a minimum of THREE sources, of which TWO are BOOKS__

/58 total pts NOTES: