Newspaper Timeline and Deadlines
Module 3 - On Assignment Group Project
(Newspaper student page / Newspaper teacher page)

Timeline

• Day One
  1. Choose the focus of your newspaper. Remember, you must be able to find enough stories within your school for a 20 page newspaper.
  2. Brainstorm ideas and images for stories and advertisements.
  3. Look at the list of tasks in the requirements and divide them.
  4. Pick dates to match the deadlines in the right hand column using the deadline sheet.
  5. Set a series of things to research for each of the jobs.
     
• Day Two
  1. Work on the research tasks you set in day one. Anyone who finishes early works on helping others.
  2. Plan what additional sources you will need including interviews
     
• Day Three and Four
  1. Do initial research for your stories.
  2. Contact possible interviewees and set up times for interviews.
  3. Contact business owners for permission to use their name and products in your newspaper.
     
• Day Five
  1. Conduct interviews for stories.
  2. Plan/do prewriting for first story
     
• Day Six
  1. Draft first story.
  2. Draft advertisements
     
• Day Seven
  1. Edit group member's story and ads
  2. Each person reworks their stories based on their group members' comments.
  3. Draft second story
     
• Day Eight
  1. Peer-edit second stories and make changes.
  2. Take photographs or find images for all stories and ads
  3. Editor-in-chief begins to work on layout

Planning how long it will take you to do something is a difficult task, but it is an essential skill for a journalist.

One of the key skills in this project is setting accurate deadlines and meeting them.

Deadlines

The timeline on the left is an ideal one. Barring problems, it should be exactly how much time you need. However, no one ever has no problems or glitches, particularly when working with technology.

Your teacher will tell you how many days of class time you will have for the project, but it will typically be around 3 weeks. Your job is to set a deadline for your group for each work period. You will be evaluated on your ability to meet the deadlines, and to set deadlines that naturally progress along.

On Day One, your deadline should be setting all your deadlines and selecting your topic. Hand your deadlines into your teacher at the end of class on Day One.

After Day One, you must demonstrate you have met your deadline at the end of class each day, unless your deadline requires that you not be in class.

• Day Nine and Ten
  1. Finish laying out newspaper
  2. Plan presentation and practice it.
     
• Day Eleven
  1. Listen to your project one last time in the exact conditions you will present in.
  2. Present your project in class