Attribution Quiz: Reasons, Methods

Attribution in reporting means everything but...

• showing where information came from

• who said something

• the reporter's opinion

If information comes from your own firsthand observations, it must be attributed.

• True

• False

Attribution should always be placed at the beginning of a sentence.

• True

• False

A good transitional sentence

• presents some interesting

  details about

  the

  new topic

• announces that a new idea was introduced or discussed

• offers a vague generalization about the new topic

• gives the same information as the quote that comes after it

Rule of Thumb: Attribute once per paragraph.

• True

• False

A quotation should not repeat facts reported earlier in the story.

• True

• False

Reporters can attribute information people, documents or publications but not to places or institutions.

• True

• False

The best place to put the attribution is usually...

• at the very beginning of the quotation

• at the very end of the quotation

• at the first natural break in the first sentence of the quotation

• after the first four words of the quotation, no matter how that affects the flow of the sentence

Journalists should avoid using "said" or "wrote" as verbs of attribution.

• True

• False

The most effective way to use quotations in a news story is to...

• paraphrase almost everything

• combine quotations and paraphrases in a way that sounds good

• to quote exactly almost everything the speaker says

• use only quotes that won't make people mad