Assignment #2: Anatomy of an Article

Pick one of these general topics:
1. - Global Warming
2. - Celebrity Obsession
3. - Family Life

Do some research on the selected topic. Tell me three fascinating facts or details about this topic. Find things most people don’t know. Also, give me an idea for an angle on this subject. Bonus points if you actually contact an expert.

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The atmosphere is warming faster in subtropical areas – around 30° north and south of the equator – than anywhere else in the world, according to a study of more than 25 years of satellite data. And the process appears to be driven by climate change.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9229-global-warming-stretches-subtropical-boundaries.html

Already one of the most disaster prone regions of the world, the vulnerable Caribbean islands will be exposed to hurricanes and the associated storm surges and wave actions, earthquakes and the tsunamis they generate, volcanic eruptions, land and rock slides, flooding and drought, local climate change scientists predict.

Sea levels in the Caribbean region are expected to rise 30 to 50 centimeters (11.8 to 19.7 inches) in the next 50 years, significantly higher than average world levels.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2001/2001-06-04-02.asp

The year 1999 was the fifth-warmest year on record since the mid-1800's; 1998 being the warmest year. According to Thomas Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center (NOAA), the current pace of temperature rise is "consistent with a rate of 5.4 to 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit per century." By comparison, the world has warmed by 5 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit since the depths of the last ice age, 18,000 to 20,000 years ago.

http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_evd.htm

An angle on this would be, how to prepare for global warming if you live on an island in the Caribbean. Most of the smaller islands are at sea level so building your first story up off the ground would be a start.

Teachers comment

Hi Tina:

Let's take a look at the fun facts:

1. I did not know this - that you can pick a longitude, and there will be varying degrees of warming....

2. The word that jumped out at me here was "earthquakes." Are we saying more earthquakes due to climate change??? That would be a HUGE story - particularly given the recent earthquake issues....

3. I feel as if I sort of knew this one...

As for your angle, yes, I feel like you could definitely move forward with this in mind. It might depend what kind of publication you're writing for - since this is a very specialized idea - but a how-to guide for island-dwellers and climate change could be quite compelling....maybe you'd want to structure a feature to show how one group of citizens on islands would prepare totally differently from people living at the same longitude, but onshore.


You could definitely move forward on this front. The key to take away from this assignment, though, is the realization that for any topic, there are a plethora of unexplored angles. Your goal as a feature writer is to look at a familiar topic in an entirely new way - to illuminate an angle that thus far has gone unexplored.