Storycrafting: A Process Approach to Writing News

Research has shown that writing is a process – writers gather information, organize, draft, revise, and publish their work. Kenneth Rosenauer has adapted this research to create Storycrafting: A Process Approach to Writing News, a fully developed, process-oriented news-writing textbook that provides students effective tools to grapple with the complex task of writing.

Storycrafting is based on the notion that all good writing is, in a sense, good storytelling. The text makes liberal use of writing examples from award-winning college and university newspapers, allowing readers to see how their peers successfully handled similar writing tasks. By focusing on the “how” instead of the “what” of news writing activity―the process rather than the product―Storycrafting: A Process Approach to Writing News shows student journalists how to proficiently craft compelling and meaningful news stories.

In the first five chapters, Rosenauer establishes the foundation for using the “process approach” to teach news writing. This approach enables students to start writing sooner and to write as they learn. Once the foundation is in place, closely related aspects of process follow: ownership, audience, peer review, and coaching. Beginning with chapter six, students discover additional in-depth resources to hone their news writing knowledge and skills, all presented through the filter of the process approach. The final three chapters of the book focus on journalistic conduct, legal and ethical issues, and current trends in journalism.

Each chapter includes numerous “For Practice” and “Crafting and Drafting” story-writing opportunities. The accompanying Instructor’s Resource Manual (available free on the Web) describes the theoretical underpinnings of process methodology and provides both new and experienced journalism educators the tools to make this book an effective and exciting component of the classroom experience

Kenneth L. Rosenauer is department chair and associate professor of journalism and English at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph. He has worked at the St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press and the Savannah (Mo.) Reporter. Dr. Rosenauer has been editor of College Media Review, the flagship journal of College Media Advisers, and also was editor of the CMA Newsletter. He received the Gold Key from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in 2003 and was inducted into the College Media Advisers Hall of Fame that same year.