Critically Analyzing Information Sources

A. Author What are the author's credentials--institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Is the book or article written on a topic in the author's area of expertise? B. When was the source published? C. Is this a first edition of this publication or not? D. Note the publisher. E. Is this a scholarly or a popular journal?

The Changing Face of Sports Journalism « The Labor Party I’ve never been much of a sports fan, but I nevertheless found Josh Levin’s recent Sports Illustrated critique a fascinating read; the piece appeared on Slate.com yesterday evening. Levin’s premise is that while Sports Illustrated was once a serious and skillfully-written journal that covered obscure and unpopular sports as much as it did the American triumvirate of football, baseball and basketball, that happens to no longer be the case. Regardless of the fact that I’ve been fascinated by magazines for nearly as long as I can remember, I happen to know next to nothing at all about sports journalism. And so this came as something of a surprise to me. Until I read Levin’s article, in fact, I’d never been under the impression that SI covered much of anything aside from the major sporting superstars. Why, you might wonder, is that such a thought-provoking quote? Wow. Think about that last sentence for just a second. I’m being quite serious. I certainly do. I’ve tried to enjoy sports.

Sportswriting: the lively game Sports Writer Job Profile A sports writer has the responsibility to both entertain and inform people about what is occurring within the world of sports. Some sports writers focus on one particular sport whereas others write on all sports within a given area. Some sports writers are syndicated or are published in more than one newspaper and others may write for a local newspaper or even for a website, blog, magazine or TV show. Sports writers may work freelance and sell individual stories to various news outlets or they may work for a given publication. Those sports writers that do freelance work pick their sporting events to cover, whereas those that work for a publication are usually assigned stories. Both types of sports writers have to be able to capture the excitement and interest of the reader as well as provide an accurate depiction of the sporting event or issue that they are writing on. A sports writer must be willing to work long hours and still make deadlines for printing.

APSE National Sports Journalism Center