Describing what you have seen . . .From Reading to Writing Upon arriving in North America for the first time, William Bradford described the land as “a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts.” Bradford’s eyewitness report is a firsthand account of the events he observed and experienced as an English colonist in North America.

Eyewitness Report

Describing what you have seen . . .Writers of eyewitness reports use compelling

details and sensory language to describe

events. Today, eyewitness accounts written by

professional journalists are published daily in

newspapers and magazines.

Eyewitness Report

B a s i c s i n a B o x

Eyewitness Report at a Glance

RUBRIC Standards for WritingA successful eyewitness report should

• focus on an event that has personal or historical significance

• answer the five W’s and H: who, what, when, where, why, and how

What?the event

Who?people

involved

Where?the place

When?date, time,

year

Why?cause

How?the details

• create a sense of immediacy using precise language and sensory images

• present events in a clear, logical order

• capture the mood of the event

=Re-creation

of Event

Writing Your Eyewitness Report

I can only report on what I know.

Max Frisch, Swiss writer

I can only report on what I know.

Max Frisch, Swiss writer

1 Prewriting

Writing Your Eyewitness Report1 Prewriting

Eyewitness reporting is about being there and being aware. Jot down school, community and family events that are coming up in the near future. Ask yourself whether any of these events are newsworthy. Plan to attend those events that seem interesting.

details

sensory images

snippets of conversations

anything else that will help you recreate this experience for your readers

Be a keen observer. In your notebook, record

1 PrewritingWriting Your Eyewitness Report

Planning Your Eyewitness Report

1. Get the facts. Use a chart to record the

basic facts about the event.

2. Capture the mood. Sensory details and vivid

images will help you capture the mood of the

event. Think about the sights, sounds, smells,

tastes, and textures that you experience.

Planning Your Eyewitness Report

3. Record what is said. Direct quotations can often give readers a sense of being at the event.

4. Make it clear why this is significant. Reflect on what happens and why it is important to you or to others. Make sure you let your reader know the significance of the event.

Writing Your Eyewitness Report2 Drafting

Use your notes to get started.

Pick a real attention grabber—such

as a startling image or a humorous

quote—to capture your readers’

attention early in your report.

Writing Your Eyewitness Report2 Drafting

How to organize your report:

Use chronological order—telling events in the order they occurred—to make the experience easy to follow, or

Create a sense of intrigue by starting at the end and then fill in what happened to get there.

Writing Your Eyewitness Report2 Drafting

How to organize your report:

Try different approaches until one works for you.

Study eyewitness reports from newspapers and magazines to see how they are organized.

Writing Your Eyewitness Report3 Revising

TARGET SKILL

ELABORATING WITH SENSORY DETAILS

In descriptive writing, such as an eyewitness

report, try to use details that appeal to the

senses—sights, sounds, smells, textures, and

flavors. Concrete nouns and strong verbs and

adjectives help make images vivid.

Writing Your Eyewitness Report4 Editing and Proofreading

TARGET SKILL

MODIFIER PLACEMENT

After adding well-chosen details, be sure to

check the placement of modifiers. In general,

you should place modifiers as close as

possible to the words they modify.

Writing Your Eyewitness Report4 Editing and Proofreading

TARGET SKILL

MODIFIER PLACEMENT

Two common errors are misplaced

modifiers, which are placed too far from the

words they modify, and dangling modifiers,

which do not clearly modify any noun or

pronoun.