Courses / English language arts / Research, editing and publishing / Write a feature that keeps its evidence visible INVESTIGATION 4 OF 6 Write a feature that keeps its evidence visible Synthesize records and testimony into an accessible feature while distinguishing reporting, inference and unanswered questions.
Why learn this? Readers need a coherent account and a way to inspect where consequential claims came from.
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1. try 2. predict 3. experiment 4. understand 5. apply 6. continue Quick recap: A feature may use scenes, explanation and voices, but narrative interest does not license invented observations. A reference list complements attribution beside the claim; it does not replace it.
Lesson activities Choose your task depthHigh-school scaffold College extension Choose either at any time. Your drafts stay with you.
1. Try — read before judging Original fictional reporting packet. No sensory scene was observed by the learner. Use the supplied records or label an imagined illustration as imagined.
LOG A: 10 of 24 objects were working at departure; 8 awaited parts; 6 were not repaired. COMMENT C: One participant reports that a repaired lamp stopped working two days later. No response rate is available. VOLUNTEER EXCERPT: No follow-up was conducted to measure avoided waste. DRAFT: The room buzzed with grateful families as expert volunteers saved every object from landfill. The café proves repair events solve waste. Go directly to the workbench
2. Predict — make a provisional choice Which parts of the draft invent observation, and which confuse an immediate outcome with long-term impact? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score 3. Experiment — test your reading Preserve the draft, then replace the invented scene with a lead grounded in a recorded fact or the clearly attributed comment. Write two paragraphs synthesizing the log and comment around repair durability. Use source labels beside the claims and explain the relationship. Add a short “What we know / What we do not know” box and a reference note. Explain which uncertainty affects the headline most. Your revision laboratory Write one version, save it for comparison, then revise. The two versions remain visible together.
Reader feedback or labeled self-review — what is unclear and where? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score Working draft / artifact 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score Keep this draft for comparison
Comparison draft Save your first version here before revising. It will remain unchanged while you edit the working draft.
Revision commentary: what changed, why, and what remains uncertain? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score 4. Understand — connect choice and effect A readable account can keep uncertainty visible The draft invents a buzzing room, grateful families and expert volunteers. None of those observations appears in the packet. Vivid writing is valuable, but a research feature cannot present imagined detail as reporting. Begin instead with the recorded contrast between arrivals and objects working at departure, or with the clearly attributed participant comment.
Organize around a question such as durability. The log shows a closing-time status. The later comment raises a question about persistence. Explain that relationship without making one comment represent all objects. The absence of follow-up limits the feature’s conclusion rather than merely adding a footnote after an overstated headline.
Place attribution where the claim appears. “According to the fictional event log” tells the reader what supports a count; a locator in the source notes lets them inspect it. A reference list cannot repair a paragraph that merges sources so thoroughly that readers cannot tell which supports which assertion.
A “What we know / What we do not know” box can clarify the boundary. Include concrete items: recorded departure outcomes are known within the packet; durability, avoided purchases and disposal are not measured. Avoid vague assurances that more research is always needed.
Read the headline, opening and conclusion together. Do they make the same bounded claim? Readers may encounter only one of them. Keeping the limit visible in each consequential summary is part of accurate communication, not a requirement to repeat every methodological detail in every sentence.
Lead The opening of a feature that establishes its focus and invites reading. Reporting versus inference The distinction between what a source records or says and the writer’s explanation of what follows from it. Worked example — a possible revision, not the only answer Before Every object was saved, proving the event solved waste. After The fictional event’s log records 10 of 24 objects working at departure, while one later comment describes a repair that did not last. Together they distinguish immediate repair from durability; the packet cannot measure avoided disposal. The paragraph puts the sources into a relationship without treating one comment as a measured rate or inventing a scene.
Return to your workbench and reconsider a choice
5. Apply — make something and try a new case Your main artifact Write a 350–500-word feature section with a supported lead, two-source synthesis and a limitations box.
Keep your artifact in the working draft above. Suggested lengths help you plan; they do not measure quality.
Unfamiliar passage A library log records 80 book loans after a display opened. One visitor says the display introduced a new author. There are no earlier loan counts or reading-completion records. Write a feature lead and a synthesis paragraph with attribution. Identify a stronger headline you rejected and why. 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score Save transfer response 0 saved attempt(s).
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