Sources in my Stories

In my planning board article I believe my sources were well picked.  I got quotes from various board members as well as seeking interviews from three of the people directly involved in this issue, two of which presented concerns about the planned construction for the Mathes Terrace neighborhood and one of which was the man behind the plans for the construction.  I think overall I did ask the right questions of these sources because I got a good picture of their reasoning for holding the positions they did.  However, I know with one source, Jason Lenk, I could have delved further into what exactly he would want development to look like on these properties.  In my article I quoted him as saying "I'm in favor of something being done there," but I never expanded on this idea and I'm not sure if my notes from him were adequate enough to expand on this.  Therefore, I know next time I'm interviewing someone and they make a similar statement to Lenk's that kind of contradicts their concerns, I will know to come back to that point and ask exactly what they meant by it.  I believe all of my sources were correctly attributed because I included their names and where they are from and/or why they are pertinent to this story.

Something I've learned about sources is that the most fleshed out stories are those that have the most variety of sources.  The planning board story I wrote came out really well and I think this is because I was able to get comments from multiple people representing multiple points of interest.  Perhaps I could have interviewed one more source to make it even more fleshed out, and that would have been a student or someone else who might benefit from the new development.  Even though there were no students at the meeting, they might approve of more student housing being built in downtown Durham, and if I had gotten a such a source, my article might have been a more even sided story.

I'm using what I have learned about sources as I go forward into writing a profile piece about one of my professors.  I am talking to her, a student in one of her classes, a friend of hers, and I am going to use online sources that have to do with breast cancer, since my professor is a survivor of breast cancer.  While I've been interviewing these people I've been sure to ask open ended questions like the NPR stories illustrate in order to get my sources talking and opening up in the fullest.  I've been trying to parse out the emotion and thoughtfulness from my sources because those kinds of answers are what make the best quotes.