The Victorian

News Project

The Victorian

News Project

become an investigative journalist

become an investigative journalist

Your Task:• Research one

interesting, newsworthy problem from the Victorian Era (1837-1901)

• Write about it in an in-depth news story

• Put that story into a newspaper or newscast format (print or video)

• Work individually or with one other person from your class

To succeed:• Find a problem that could

have made the headlines when Queen Victoria reigned and investigate it

• Dig, dig, dig through the books in the library - they are always the best place to start

• Find at least FOUR different sources, two of which are books, none of which are Wikipedia

Investigative Journalism• Remember, your articles should be investigating and

reporting about some problem of the era.

• They need to cover12- column inches of a paper.

• Scripts for newscasts must be at least 3 minutes long.

• Stories must also be based on historical facts.

• They may include some fictionalized information, or made-up details, but the basis of the information MUST be factual.

• Two direct quotes taken from your sources should add to your story

• One quote can be from a 7th grader who is writing about something similar - get him or her to help you by giving you a quote to add to your story that they’ve created based on facts they’ve found in their research or that they’ve found in a book or online

Other requirements• One hand-drawn image in

papers and newscasts (photographs weren’t in papers until the 1920’s)

• Stories have catchy headlines or intros, bylines, datelines, and multiple paragraphs

• Notes done electronically or by hand, organized by topic and source and handed in with final draft

Grading• You are graded on your

research, writing, and visual presentation, but writing will most important

• Scripts and newspaper articles will be graded harshly for perfect spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

• Notes must be organized and handed-in with your final draft

• Peer-editing is key - a peer edit checklist must be handed in with final draft

Programs to use

• Mac users: consider Pages for a newspaper and iMovie for a video

• PC users: consider Microsoft Publisher for a newspaper and MovieMaker for a newscast