Jennifer Moody

Textbooks provide informations that I will need to use as a reporter, but there are so much more to learn from an experienced writer.

Jennifer Moody is a reporter and a writer at Albany Democrat-Herald. She was our guest speaker in my feature writing class, and she shared her experiences working as a feature story writer. She told us some of great tips that we can use for feature writing.

Moody emphasized on accuracy and fairness as we write a story. "Spelling, capitalization, punctuation and grammar determine your intelligence," she said.

Also she explained the matter of a nut graph. Moody said, "The nut graph is the main point of a story."
A nut graph is the main paragraph that expresses the value of a story. It is essential to write a good nut graph so that it won't drift readers away from reading a story.

Her another advice was unless stories are not commentary or opinionated, keep thoughts out of stories.
"Don't take a stand. The stand is left to readers." She added, "It is responsible to be objective."

Moody works 30 hours a week and takes care of her family. She prefers working as a part-time reporter compared with working at a place like The New York Times where she will need to be on call all the time. She loves writing as much as working in the newsroom.

"The fun thing about working in a newsroom is that you work with word people."



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At a glance
What: Writing Tips
Who: Jennifer Moody from Democrat- Herald
Where: LBCC
When: Feb. 23rd, Wednesday