Tahoma Robotics Club

 

TRC Website Writer's Guide

 

by TRC Website Editor

 

The Tahoma Robotics Club website is the display window through which our community, and the world, can look in on what we are doing. We have all sorts of things for them to see: photos, videos, and other resources. But one of the most important is the articles we write describing what we are doing. In fact, our website is a magazine: we have an editor and we have writers, photographers, and other contributors.

Because we are a magazine, journalistic excellence is one of our goals. We call on all club members to contribute to the website by writing articles and by writing for the blog. Great journalism doesn't require great writers (like Toni Morrison or Ernest Hemingway, for example -- though both of them are great journalists in different ways). Journalism is founded on observation: anyone who has their eyes open, observes what is happening, then writes about it is a journalist. The keenness of your observations is the major factor determining whether your writing is worth reading.

Here are some guidelines to help you. If you follow these guidelines, the work you do will be excellent.

Remember the six H's of journalism

If you are writing for the blog, who did you work with today? What task were you doing? When did you do it (at the start of the day, before the food arrived, after the food arrived)? Where did you do the task (in the fab room, in the classroom, outside in the rain)? Why did you do it (is it a critical part for the robot, is it driving practice, is it essential programming)? How did you do it (did you use the lathe, wrenches, other tools)?

If you are writing an article about a trip to a tech fair to demonstrate our robot, who went along and what other FIRST teams were there? When did we go (in the morning, in the evening, all day, what day)? What did we do when we got there? Where was the fair? Why did we do this? How did we do it (what preparations and other logistics were involved)?

You get the idea! The 6 H's are all about keenness of observation.

Write an interesting "lead" for your "story"

The lead paragraph (or sentence) is the "hook" which grabs the attention of your reader. "Call me Ishmael" is the opening line to Moby Dick. It's famous because it's short and simple, and it establishes that the story will be from the point of view of a particular sailor; it's a little mysterious and piques the interest of the reader -- all this in three words.

Your lead doesn't have to be fancy, but you want it to be interesting. The lead for this Writer's Guide talks about a display window and the world looking in at us. You should try for a lead sentence or paragraph which sets the tone for your article.

By the way, a lead is just as important for a blog post as it is for an article.

Add some color

Whether you are writing an article or a blog post, "color" is the salt and pepper that will make your writing taste better to your readers (Hey! It's alright to mix metaphors if that's what it takes to make the point).

Look at our history page, where our robot "Catalyst" is being described. In this article, Catalyst:

• Looked like a cyclops.
• Reached out and embraced the ball.
• Lifted the ball above the heads of spectators.
• Gently placed the ball atop the hurdle.
• Was merciless.
• Scored relentlessly against opponents.
• Was the most dangerous-looking robot around.

What we are doing here is helping our reader visualize the scene. We use nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to do this. You're a high school student -- you have command of all these things, so you need to use them to your advantage. But don't use too much salt and pepper. The right amount of seasoning is what you are aiming for. Sports stories, traditionally, have more color than others, so if you're writing about a match, you can have more fun with it.

Practice your writing skills wherever you can

You may be asked to write something about your club for the local paper. If you work for a company, you will be asked to write regular reports about what you are doing. If you are writing a letter to your Aunt Frances, you will want to tell her what you've been doing over the past week. All these things are opportunities to practice journalism. Remember the six H's! Write a lead! Add some color! Your readers will love you for it.