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Essentials in Online Storytelling (2025)
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Introduction
Course Overview -
Welcome
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Get ReadyComplete Your Student Profile
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Upload Your Profile Photo
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Explore the Course Group
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What You Need
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Learning ResourcesAccess Learning Resources
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The Story Innovation Framework
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Assignment Vision & GuidelinesLearn On Assignment
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How to Submit Assignments
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Submit Work Samples
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Receive Feedback
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Keynote Speaker & Guest Editor
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The Power of StorytellingWhy Storytelling?
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Let's Talk about Popcorn
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A True Story
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Storytelling ScienceStorytelling Culture
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How Your Brain Responds to Stories
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The Hollywood Perspective
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Envision Your CareerAssignment: Envision Your Career
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The Power of BloggingWhere is Blogging on the StoryInnovation Canvas?
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The Power of Blogging
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What Exactly is a Blog?
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Why Blog?
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Own Your Topic
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Be Specific
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Getting Started
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WordPress Can Do More Than Just Blogging
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Know Your Audience
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Identify Your Target Audience
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Create a Customer Persona
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Should I Use a Byline?
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Blog Often & Link with Others
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Perfectionism is the Enemy
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Write Like You Talk
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Be Specific & Write Short
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Choosing a Title
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Blogs Evolve
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Assignment: Develop an Audience Persona
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Assignment: Envision Your Blog
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Cultivating Curiosity and Finding Story IdeasCultivating Curiosity & Finding Story Ideas
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Novelty & Mystery
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Questions Inspire Curiosity
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Question-Asking Exercise
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Childhood Curiosity
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Start with a Question
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Topics vs. Story Ideas
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Digging Deeper with the 5 Whys
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Developing News JudgmentEvaluating Newsworthiness
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News Values
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Timeliness
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Proximity
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Localizing News
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Prominence
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Conflict
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Impact
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Oddity
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Interest
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Assignment: Find 20 Newsworthy Story Ideas
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Creating Story ProposalsCompleting Your Story Proposal
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Planning StoriesFrom Story Proposal to Planning
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InterviewingLearning from Master Interviewers
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Three Keys to Interviewing
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Follow-Up Questions
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Probing Questions & Preceding Statements
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Taking Notes
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Pro Tip: Practice Taking Notes
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Finishing
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Writing Compelling LeadsWriting Compelling Leads
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Lead or Lede?
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Types of Leads
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Good Reporting Leads to Good Ledes
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Frame the Lead Early
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A Promise
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Tips for Writing an Effective Lead
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Leads to Avoid
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Creating TransitionsWhy Transitions are Important
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Understand Your Story's Structure
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Four Basic Transitions
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Designing Effective Transitions
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When Transitions Fail
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Formulating Powerful EndingsWriting Compelling Endings
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Endings Do Three Jobs
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Types of Endings
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Barriers to Writing Good Endings
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AttributionAttribution - Who's Doing the Talking?
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What is Attribution?
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How to Attribute Sources
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Why Said or Says?
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Using Quotes
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Why Verify a Quote?
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Paraphrasing
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Interrupted Quotes
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Organizing Attribution
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Attribution by Hyperlink
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Tips for Punctuating Quotes
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Verify Accuracy
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Partial Quotes
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Incomplete Quotes
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Quotes Missing Information
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When Should You Attribute?
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How Accurate Does the Quote Have to Be?
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Structure, Unity and ToneEach Story Has a Unique Shape
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Structure, Unity & Tone
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Journalism Before the 20th Century
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A New Invention Changes Journalistic Style
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Understanding the Inverted Pyramid
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The Inverted Pyramid
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Inverted Pyramid Example
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Analyze an Inverted Pyramid Example
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Activity: Order the Facts by Importance
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Basic Components of a News Article
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The Hour Glass
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Narrative
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Unity
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Unity: Point of View
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Changing Perspectives
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Unity: Tense
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Navigating Time
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Unity: Mood
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Balancing the Need for Showing and TellingStory Structure Checklist
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Show vs. Tell
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Why is Showing Important?
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The Difference Between Showing and Telling
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Transform Telling into Showing
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Choose the Most Significant Details
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Prioritize Showing
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Introducing Characters
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Study the Masters of Showing
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Show in Context
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Don't Fictionalize the News
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The Showing Equation
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When to Tell
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Eradicating Clutter from Your StorytellingEradicating Clutter
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Clutter in Everyday Life
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Clear Thinking Equals Clear Writing
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Tip: Combine Sentences to Simplify
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Tips for Eradicating Clutter
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Remove Clutter with a Simple Process
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How to Simplify
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Developing and Verifying SourcesWhispering Chain Sources
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Where is Source Development on the StoryInnovation Framework?
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What is a Source?
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Primary & Secondary Sources
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Being an Eyewitness
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Be Careful with Online Sources
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Identify Key Players
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Engage Sources
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Find the Best Source
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Evaluating Sources
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Attributing Sources
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Attribution Levels
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Verify Accuracy
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Assignment: Identify & Verify Sources
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Visual Communication IdeasHow Storytelling Applies to Visual Journalism
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Some Ideas for Organizing and Editing Visuals
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Learning Resources for Visual Journalists
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Study the MastersKnow and Emulate the Masters
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Learn from Everyone and Everything
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Study the Best
Participants 17

Which is More Persuasive?
Imagine that you work for an organization that does scientific research. You are a watchdog to keep America’s food safe and healthy. Your researchers uncover an alarming fact about popcorn sold in movie theaters. You need to communicate a message that will convince people that movie-theater popcorn is unhealthy. Which of the messages below do you think is the most persuasive? Explain why you think that the option you chose is the most effective. Then enter the discussion below and respond in two to three sentences. After you’ve participated in the discussion, return and advance to the next screen to learn about the solution that Silverman devised.Â
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- The Department of Agriculture suggests that you should not consume 20 grams of saturated fat in one day. Our lab has recently discovered that one bag of popcorn sold in most movie theaters has 37 grams of saturated fat. The reason why they have so much fat is that theaters are using coconut oil to give the popcorn a nicer texture and a more pleasant smell.
- A medium-sized bag of typical movie theater popcorn has more artery-clogging fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big Mac and fries at lunch, and a steak dinner combined.