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Describing what you have seen . . .From Reading to Writing Upon arriving in North America for the first time, William Bradford described the land as “a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts.” Bradford’s eyewitness report is a firsthand account of the events he observed and experienced as an English colonist in North America.
Eyewitness Report
Describing what you have seen . . .Writers of eyewitness reports use compelling
details and sensory language to describe
events. Today, eyewitness accounts written by
professional journalists are published daily in
newspapers and magazines.
Eyewitness Report
B a s i c s i n a B o x
Eyewitness Report at a Glance
RUBRIC Standards for WritingA successful eyewitness report should
• focus on an event that has personal or historical significance
• answer the five W’s and H: who, what, when, where, why, and how
What?the event
Who?people
involved
Where?the place
When?date, time,
year
Why?cause
How?the details
• create a sense of immediacy using precise language and sensory images
• present events in a clear, logical order
• capture the mood of the event
=Re-creation
of Event
Writing Your Eyewitness Report
I can only report on what I know.
Max Frisch, Swiss writer
I can only report on what I know.
Max Frisch, Swiss writer
1 Prewriting
Writing Your Eyewitness Report1 Prewriting
Eyewitness reporting is about being there and being aware. Jot down school, community and family events that are coming up in the near future. Ask yourself whether any of these events are newsworthy. Plan to attend those events that seem interesting.
details
sensory images
snippets of conversations
anything else that will help you recreate this experience for your readers
Be a keen observer. In your notebook, record
1 PrewritingWriting Your Eyewitness Report
Planning Your Eyewitness Report
1. Get the facts. Use a chart to record the
basic facts about the event.
2. Capture the mood. Sensory details and vivid
images will help you capture the mood of the
event. Think about the sights, sounds, smells,
tastes, and textures that you experience.
Planning Your Eyewitness Report
3. Record what is said. Direct quotations can often give readers a sense of being at the event.
4. Make it clear why this is significant. Reflect on what happens and why it is important to you or to others. Make sure you let your reader know the significance of the event.
Writing Your Eyewitness Report2 Drafting
Use your notes to get started.
Pick a real attention grabber—such
as a startling image or a humorous
quote—to capture your readers’
attention early in your report.
Writing Your Eyewitness Report2 Drafting
How to organize your report:
Use chronological order—telling events in the order they occurred—to make the experience easy to follow, or
Create a sense of intrigue by starting at the end and then fill in what happened to get there.
Writing Your Eyewitness Report2 Drafting
How to organize your report:
Try different approaches until one works for you.
Study eyewitness reports from newspapers and magazines to see how they are organized.
Writing Your Eyewitness Report3 Revising
TARGET SKILL
ELABORATING WITH SENSORY DETAILS
In descriptive writing, such as an eyewitness
report, try to use details that appeal to the
senses—sights, sounds, smells, textures, and
flavors. Concrete nouns and strong verbs and
adjectives help make images vivid.
Writing Your Eyewitness Report4 Editing and Proofreading
TARGET SKILL
MODIFIER PLACEMENT
After adding well-chosen details, be sure to
check the placement of modifiers. In general,
you should place modifiers as close as
possible to the words they modify.
Writing Your Eyewitness Report4 Editing and Proofreading
TARGET SKILL
MODIFIER PLACEMENT
Two common errors are misplaced
modifiers, which are placed too far from the
words they modify, and dangling modifiers,
which do not clearly modify any noun or
pronoun.