nonfiction assignmen

[jfields]

That kind of article in teen nonfiction is nearly always run with a teen who has been through it either telling her experience in first person (with sidebars on seeking help, or tips to avoid, or whatever else you have) or by using quotes from someone who has been through it and then following up the quotes with help. It's very rare to see that kind of teen article without first hand quotes from real teens since the voice of a real live teen helps you avoid the preachiness feeling. It's not considered acceptable to most editors to fictionalize it in any way.

[jfields]

Use of the firsthand quotes wouldn't have to come with the girl's real name. And if you sold in a national magazine, readers wouldn't really connect the quotes with anyone as long as they didn't include identifying information.

[jfields]

Usually in the case of a sensitive situation like this, they say something like this:

Tina (not her real name) had dreams for her first date -- dreams that never included a trip to the emergency room. "He seemed like such a nice guy," Tina says. "You expect athletes to be aggressive but he never got angry with me before."

Another way is to make a blanket statement about names like --
Dating violence happens more frequently than most of us suspect as the following young women can attest. The names of all the people involved have been changed to protect their anonymity. "He seemed like such a nice guy," says 15-year-old Tina.

Do you see? It's an imaginary name but you tell the reader that it's an imaginary name and why it is...then you're still writing nonfiction. If you read a lot of teen magazines you can see a number of different ways this is done. Sometimes it's a kind of footnote on the page. Sometimes it's right in the text. I would see what way your target market does it before you submit to a magazine. But for a student assignment, just pick a way and do it however seems comfortable for you and that will be fine since almost certainly at least ONE magazine does it that way.

[jfields]

For many years, it was not only NOT REQUIRED to run quotes by a source but considered unprofessional to do so. When I got my journalism degree, there was no better way to horrify an instructor than to suggest you ran the article by the source to make sure the quotes were right -- the was considered the worst kind of pandering to a source and extremely unprofessional. You were supposed to make sure you got the quote correct AT THE TIME OF THE INTERVIEW or in a follow up phone interview if you weren't completely sure you got it right. Careful interviewing and verifying that you got what they said correct before inserting the quote is how you make sure you're accurate.

Now, in children's magazines, many editors do like to know you ran the piece by an expert source (and the doctor you quoted would certainly count as an expert source). Also, some editors now want contact information for all sources you interviewed -- and the magazine then follows up to make sure the quotes are factually correct. But even today, you are not required (by law or anywhere else) to run an article by all the sources you quote. If you apply a professional level of care, you're not going to misquote a source to the point where they would have any grounds upon which to sue you.

And in newspaper, it's still better not to tell your editor you ran the quotes by your source at the time of the article writing. I think you can still make them twitch and shudder that way. It is okay to phone a source back and say, "I'm writing the article on bioengineering now and I just want to make sure I understand this one element clearly. When you said 'blah, blah, blah' would that mean 'blah, blah, blah?" That will ensure you understood the quote well enough to paraphrase without losing accuracy.

In journalism the standard is "did I get it correct?" not "did I torque off the source" -- do whatever you must to ensure correct, accurate quotes...but sources will change their minds about what they said or just micromanage your article to death, so be careful about the fine line between "being accurate" and "letting someone else write your article by proxy."

As long as you tell a source at the beginning of an interview that you are interviewing them for an article, no written permission is required. And if you have a tape and written notes (and you should always back up a tape with written notes), it's going to be hard for a source to argue that they saw you taping and taking notes but had no idea it was for an article. No one gets written permission to quote unless you're dealing with a source you know is sue happy -- in which case, it'd probably be best to find another source if possible. Now with underage sources, you do need written parental permission to use quotes if the information is readily identifiable as coming from that particular minor.

[trivia]

Yes, thank you, Jan. That's very helpful! You've answered a couple questions that have been rolling around in my mind.

[Loretta]

If direct quotes are needed, I tend to follow up to make sure that they are accurate verbatim.  Using a recorder during an interview also helps with this without having to go back to the source.  I have found that going back to the source for clarification or to make sure all quotes are accurate (unless they ask you to) makes you look like you don't know what your doing.  Say doctors, for example, are very busy and if they take the time once, will be annoyed if they need to take the time twice.  That is where you run into them retracting what they offered to share.  From a legal standpoint not good if submitted after retraction.

Interviews, direct quotes and tape recorder go together.  I sway from direct quotes as much as possible.  I prefer to paraphrase.  Then again paraphrasing also depends upon your expertice in the field your writing about.  I could paraphrase a doctor only because of my degree in medicine and that I worked in a doctors office for several years. 

So, what I am getting at is, be careful, both are great and often necessary for the article, just be careful. 

Let me know if any of my info is wrong so that I know my interpretation is correct.