TIPS
WEBQUEST
ADDRESSING
PROBLEMS IN OUR COMMUNITY THROUGH INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Marisa Harford
The School for
Community Research and Learning
Introduction
Investigative journalism is newspaper reporting that
explores problems, news, and issues to inform and influence the public.
Investigative journalism has been responsible for exposing many serious social
problems and motivating community members to solve those problems. Journalists
who expose problems for the public good are often called “muckrakers.” The book
that started it all was Upton Sinclair’s The
Jungle (1906), about the disgusting and dangerously unsanitary practices of
the meatpacking industry. When Sinclair exposed the industry, there was a huge
public outcry. His book led to dramatic changes in laws relating to food
preparation and caused widespread improvement in meatpacking practices.
Millions of Americans were safer because of his investigative journalism.
In this assignment, each of you will be acting as an
investigative journalist, researching information about a specific social
problem and writing about that problem to make your information known to the
public. You will be a muckraker. The best articles will be published in our
SCRL newspaper! In order to do your research, you will be using the data you
collected in your Quality of Life Surveys for Social Studies class and the
journalism skills you have been working on in SCRL.
Task
You will be using the
Public Policy Analyst method (just like we did with the anti-gun violence
public policy project) to create three products:
ü
You will do
research about your social problem with a research team using a specific
research method. You will turn in a packet of your notes and information.
ü
Using your
classmates’ research, you will work through the PPA steps and complete the
worksheets, which will help you think through the
steps.
ü
You will be
writing an article that describes the social problem and explains what you
think should be done to solve it.
Process
We will be following the Public Policy Analyst (PPA)
method of examining a social problem. You will be working in groups during the
research part of the project. Then, you will be writing your article
independently. If you need help
understanding one of the steps, follow the link under “more information” for
that step.
- Define the social problem— Your whole class will work on one of the 4 social
problems below. All of these problems were identified in the Quality of
Life Surveys as major problems in the community around SCRL.
Problems:
A. Group 1: Drug abuse among teenagers causes
problems in school, the home, and in the community.
B. Group 2: High levels of unemployment create
financial problems for individuals and for the community as a whole.
C. Group 3: Teen pregnancies cause young women to
abandon their goals for the future and have children before they are prepared
to be good parents.
D. Group 4: Gang activity causes many violent
incidents in our community.
Fill out the worksheet located at: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet1.doc.
More Information: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/select.html
- Gather evidence— Find out facts about the
causes and effects of your social problem.
Your class will be divided into 5
research teams that will be using different methods of gathering evidence. The
teams are:
- Analyzing
data from Quality of Life Surveys
- Interviewing
community members about the problem
- Searching
for information about the problem on the internet
- Contacting
city departments or organizations to find out information about the
problem and possible solutions
- Searching
for information about the problem in the library (in newspapers,
magazines, and books)
Wherever you are finding
information, remember to think critically about the source of your information
and whether it is trustworthy. Try to find out all sides of the issue.
Take notes on the evidence you gather and where you
found it. (Your research group will receive a handout about how to cite your
type of sources.) Fill out the worksheet
located at http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet2.doc.
More Information: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/gather.html
How to conduct a search on the internet:
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/search.html
When
all 6 of the research groups have finished their research, I will make copies
of all of the information for the class (so you will end up with around 20
pages of research!). We will read through the research together and you will
use the information gathered by your classmates to do steps 3-6.
3. Identify causes—Based
on your evidence, what actually causes this social problem? Remember, there may
be more than one cause.
Fill out the worksheet at: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet3.doc.
More information: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/identify.html
4. Evaluate a policy—Find
out what NYC is currently doing to stop or fix the social problem. Read about
the policies that already exist and then decide what the good points and bad
points of these policies are.
Fill out the worksheet at: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet4.doc
More information: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/existing.html
5. Develop solutions—Be creative problem-solvers! Your group is going to
brainstorm various possible policy solutions for your social problem. Remember,
this must be something the city government or another organization can do to
fix the problem. You must consider both effectiveness (whether the policy will
work) and feasibility (whether the policy can actually be implemented in the
real world). Be open to many different ideas. Record your
brainstorming on the worksheet located at http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet5.doc.
More Information: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html
6. Select the best solution—As a
group, work together to chose what you think would be the best policy solution
for your social problem, based on your research. You will use this policy
solution for your article. Make sure that your policy is a real plan of action,
not just a policy goal. (For example, don’t just say “reduce juvenile crime.”
Tell me how you’re going to do it!)
Use the worksheet located at http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet6.doc
to
evaluate how feasible and effective each of your policy solutions is and help
you choose which one is best.
More information: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/bestsol.html
Now,
you will be writing your investigative article by yourself. Every student must
turn in an article.
7. Write your article Include
whatever facts, statistics, examples, theories, and policies you think will be
useful in making your case. Make sure to cite information correctly when you
include facts from your research. In your article, you should
1. Identify the problem
2. Tell what the causes of the problem are
3. Describe at least one (more if you want) existing
policy that is designed to fix the problem and whether or not it is working
3. Describe what you think is the best way to fix the
problem
4. AT ALL TIMES, USE EVIDENCE AND DETAILS FROM YOUR
CLASS’ RESEARCH TO SUPPORT YOUR CLAIMS IN THE ARTICLE. Use at least 2
statistics or hard facts and 2 opinion quotes from different sources in
your article.
5. Remember, a newspaper article is not about your
opinion. You should not use “I” or “me” at any time. You may include other
peoples’ opinions (in the form of quotations) but do not put in your own
opinions.
Writing skills (learned in English class and SCRL class)
to be used in the article:
- Writing
a good lede
- Integrating
quotations and facts into a paragraph
- Writing
an organized article
- Distinguishing
between opinions and facts
We will review sample articles in class so you can see
examples of good journalism.
Resources
For general internet
searches:
www.google.com is definitely the best search
engine on the internet.
New York City Government
Website:
Drugs
US Drug Enforcement
Administration profile on NYC
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newyork.html
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/bureau/basas.html
News articles
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol21/vol21_iss19/record2119.17.html
Programs
http://dancesafe.org/nyc/mission.html
http://www.usnodrugs.com/teen-drug-abuse.htm
http://www.child.net/street2.htm
http://parentingteens.about.com/od/teendruguse/
Teen Pregnancy
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/issues_in_depth/20040503.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/teenagepregnancy.html
http://www.noah-health.org/english/pregnancy/teenpreg.html
http://www.womenshealthchannel.com/teenpregnancy/index.shtml
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=SA00033
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/whycare/sowhat.asp
Statistics
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/data/default.asp
Unemployment
US Department of Labor
Families and
unemployment
http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2004/apr/wk3/art03.htm
http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.ny.htm
CNN article about
unemployment
http://money.cnn.com/2003/06/06/news/economy/jobs/
http://www.labor.state.ny.us/agency/pressrel/pruistat.htm
News articles
http://www.cssny.org/pubs/special/2004_02labormarket.pdf
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/050104/d01a01goloven.html
Gangs
http://www.lincolnnet.net/users/lrttrapp/block/gangs101.htm
http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/gangs.htm
http://associations.smsu.edu/nogangs/
Anti-gang groups
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/nypdcage/yearbook/
http://www.saxakali.com/CommunityLinkups/school_safety.htm
News articles
http://www.gangwar.com/items19.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/nyc011403.html
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/pdf/dcpi/2004-058.pdf
Evaluation
Research Rubric
|
|
85-95% |
75-85% |
65-75% |
Do over or fail |
|
Focus on social
problem & 4 major research questions |
Research focused
around social problem and 4 major research questions |
Research addresses
social problem and 4 research questions but is sometimes unfocused |
Research addresses the
social problem but not 4 major research questions |
Research does not
address the social problem or 4 major research questions |
|
Quality |
Information/quotes
come from appropriate sources, make sense, are detailed, and use facts and
statistics where possible |
Information/quotes come from appropriate
sources, are believable, and have some level of detail and use of facts and
statistics |
Information/quotes
come from somewhat appropriate
sources; some are general and some have detail and use facts/statistics |
Information/quotes
come from inappropriate sources OR are too general OR are not believable OR
are not backed up with facts and statistics |
|
Citing sources |
Each set of
information or quotation is correctly cited with full info. in the correct
format |
Each set of information
or quotation is correctly cited with full information |
Most information or
quotations are cited with most information needed |
Sources are not cited |
|
Quantity |
Had 2-3 pages of
good-quality notes |
Had 1 ½ to 2 pages of good-quality notes |
Had 1 full page of
good-quality notes |
Had less than 1 full
page of notes |
|
Organization/ Neatness |
Notes were neat,
legible, and were organized with a note-taking system |
Notes were somewhat
organized, legible, and mostly neat |
Notes were legible and
|
Notes were illegible
or so disorganized they could not be read by others |
Investigative Journalism
Article Rubric
|
|
85-95% |
75-85% |
65-75% |
Do over or fail |
|
Lede |
Lede grabs the reader’s attention and supports the
first paragraph and article well |
Lede is interesting and supports the rest of the
article |
Lede does not support the rest of the article; lede is not attention-grabbing |
Article does not have
an identifiable lede |
|
Identified the problem
& its causes |
Identified the problem
and several possible causes, supporting claims with facts, quotes, and
details |
Identified the problem
and a possible cause in specific terms |
Identified the problem
and its cause in general terms without specific facts or details |
Did not identify the
problem or the causes of the problem |
|
Described existing policy |
Fully described one
existing policy, telling how it works and whether or not it has been
successful, using supporting facts, quotes, and details |
Described one existing
policy, telling how it works and whether or not it has been successful |
Described one existing
policy, telling how it worked; described an existing policy in general terms |
Did not discuss any
existing policies |
|
Advocated for a
solution |
Described a proposed
solution to the problem in detail using supporting facts and quotes |
Described a proposed
solution to the problem in detail |
Advocated for a
solution in general terms, without specific details |
Did not discuss any
possible solutions to the problem |
|
Used at least 2
statistics/ facts |
Used 2 appropriate
statistics or facts that supported your claims and integrated them well into
the paragraph |
Used 2 statistics or
facts that generally supported your claims |
Used 1 statistic or
fact appropriately OR used 2 statistics or facts but they did not support the
specific claims of the article |
Used no statistics or
facts |
|
Used at least 2
quotations |
Used 2 appropriate opinion quotes from 2
different sources that supported your claims and integrated them well into
the paragraph |
Used 2 appropriate
opinion quotes that generally supported your claims |
Used only 1 opinion
quote; opinion quotes did not support your claims in the article |
Used no quotations |
|
Organization |
Article has a clear,
logical organization that helps the author make his/her point |
Article has a logical
organization and the reader can follow the sequence of ideas easily |
Article demonstrates
an attempt at organization that isn’t the best for supporting your argument |
Article was
disorganized and difficult to follow logically |
|
Grammar & neatness |
Article is neat and
has very few errors of spelling, grammar, or punctuation |
Article has a few
errors of spelling, grammar, or punctuation but they do not interfere with
readability |
Article is messy or
has some errors of spelling, grammar, or punctuation that do interfere with
readability |
Article is difficult
to read because of messiness or errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation |
Standards
English Language Arts
E1C Read and comprehend informational materials
E2A Produce a report of information
E3B Participate in group meetings
E5B Produce work in one genre that follows the conventions of that
genre (newspaper article)
E4B Analyze and subsequently revise work to improve its clarity
and effectiveness
Applied Learning
A3a Gather information to assist in completing project work
Conclusion
Well, my dear muckrakers, did you succeed
in writing articles that will inform people about the problems in their
communities and inspire them to take action? Did you learn about issues that
affect your lives? Did you enjoy being journalists exploring hot issues? Hope
so.
You’ve learned a lot about research
methods, public policy, and journalism!