Sarah Robertson's Senior Project Blog

This morning, I finally finished my last edits to my article, which was very satisfying. Here's a picture of the draft I was working on earlier this week, pre-edits, with lots of comments in blue from Suzanne.  I found the editing process this week marginally less painful than the writing/generating content process last week, but I chalk that up to the fact that it’s a lot easier to work with something that already exists than something that doesn’t.  My initial goals focused on learning more about journalism, and I think I have successfully accomplished this. I’ve learned about the interview process, research, brainstorming, structure, the style of writing, and what it’s like to work with an editor. I’ve learned that shorter quotes and paragraphs make news articles more readable, and how to determine where to add comments and research. I’ve also learned that I have a hard time focusing on writing when I’m not engaged by creating a story or argument (at least from the confines...

  This week, I continued drafting and editing my article, which I’ll mostly spare you all the pretty mundane details of (I wrote a research section and three profiles. Then, I rewrote them. Whoo.) I’ll hear back from Suzanne soon for feedback that will inform my direction for writing and editing next week. Image: Me writing ft Catie Macauley doing a thumbs up and also writing.  One challenge this week has been keeping sustained focus on writing. It was much easier last week and the week before when I was researching and conducting interviews because it felt more engaging and novel, whereas while I love writing, I’ve done A LOT of it throughout the past four years of my Catlin Gabel career, and it’s harder to be excited about right now.  I’m also finding that the style of writing feels less entertaining, because I’m trying to directly and impersonally share information as opposed to creating characters and narratives that require extensive description or arguing through an...