Journal 3 - The Reporter's Questions

Your Journal 3 is a brainstorming exercise for Short Paper 2. Choose a topic and then answer the reporter's questions to see what you know about your topic. Below is my example.

Reporter's Questions:

Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?

For example I might choose overweight teens as a subject. Then my answers would be -

Who is involved with my topic? Overweight teens, their parents, doctors, friends, clothing designers, counselors, nutritionists, school officials....

What is involved with my topic? Emotional problems, fashion issues, bullying, eating disorders, social stigma...

When? In the last the last two decades, obesity in teens has tripled. Today 16% of children are overweight.

Where? The U.S., Australia, Great Britain have to biggest problems, but other countries are catching up

Why? Decreased access to exercise, processed food, bad school lunches, video games, social pressure to be too thin

How? We can help them by supporting them emotionally, easing up on body image, accepting them regardless of weight, helping them wear clothes they like...

It's just to help you divide up your topic. So I might look at the answers and focus on one area I wanted to discuss in a short paper. I choose my audience from the who - maybe overweight teens themselves, then I focus on one aspect, like fashion, and talk about finding the best plus size outfit for their body type.

There are no wrong answers for this exercise. It just shows you what you know about your subject and helps you zero in on what aspect you want to discuss.