Hello, I'm Renee
Journalism Articles
My most recent endeavors included writing for one of my former editor's blog: The Next Ten Words. I sent in one column per month, and the content of that column was up to me. The topics leaned toward a casual 'tongue in cheek' approach to some aspects of millennial life. Check them out here: https://nexttenwords.com/
These are writing examples from my time as an editorial assistant for the Northfield News and Faribault Daily News:
This is an example of a brief weekend coverage for a local event. We kept these at around 8-10 column inches and only interviewed a few people.
A normal article was 16-20 column inches and went more in depth with specific topics, such as this one. This particular article was a monthly Mind and Body column that I was in charge of writing.
This is an example of a feature Arts and Entertainment article, which is also around 16-20 column inches but that would go into a normal week of circulation. I focused on the historical aspects while telling a story that tied to current events.
Scene Magazine was a monthly magazine that featured much longer articles that went into a lot of detail about certain events or topics. This month featured a person who positively influenced the Northfield community.
Another Scene article, which took a look at a popular art tour in Southern Minnesota.
Below are writing examples from college:
I wrote this for my Writing for the Media class. For this article we had to find a person with a skill of some kind and interview them while highlighting that skill.
The goal of this article was to examine a culture and find two people to interview. I chose to write about the gaming culture at the University of Wisconsin–Stout, which has grown quite a bit in recent years. By conducting interviews with others in the gaming community and looking at a culture from a writer’s perspective I was able to write more objectively and clearly.
The main goals for this article were to educate readers on the significance of water quality in the Red Cedar Watershed and to provide a clear view of where the watershed is now and where it could be with some help from the community. I wanted to clearly communicate the importance of community connectivity and involvement and how that can make an impact on the local environment.
For this article I went to the TMLIA’s Workshop for Shoreland Restoration event, where I listened to speakers, conducted interviews and networked with guests. This event was held to promote the use of natural buffers along the lakeside in order to reduce runoff into the lake.
This article required me to take an in-depth look at a certain activity that someone else was involved in and interview him or her. I interviewed a friend of mine who did cosplay, or costume play, where people dress up as a fictional character from comic books, TV shows, movies, video games, etc. Since many people do not know about this topic I had to put myself in my audiences' shoes to compile the most interesting, informative and relevant pieces for this article.
One of my favorite things about writing articles is discovering and learning new things about what I'm writing about. This article called for a look at an organization that I was not a part of at UW-Stout. I chose an organization that was completely the opposite of what I normally gravitate towards: the Institute of of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
This article was written for my Seminar in Applied Journalism class. I needed to get a student angle for this topic and focus on how Earth Day is important, especially for the city of Menomonie, WI as the lake is currently highly polluted. I also had to promote environmental awareness for students at UW-Stout.