Dear Ed,
A recent job posting asked for a resume, clips, and a short critique of a story that’s appeared in their pub recently. What are they looking for in the critique?
Thanks,
Sasha, Washington, D.C.
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Dear Sasha,
When editors want your critique of one of their stories, they’re looking to evaluate your understanding of their publication and journalism, in general. The story you choose will also tell the editor a lot about you—so you shouldn’t just choose a story based on its length or sophistication. Pick one in a topic that interests you.
Then, you should answer these questions in your critique:
Is this story topic appropriate for the publication? (Is the topic relevant to the publication’s readers? Will their readers find this topic interesting?)
Is it timely?
Is the story approached in the best way possible? (If it’s a long-form narrative, would it have been stronger as a Q&A? Are there enough/too many points of entry, like sidebars, big stats, and polls? If it needed more, what topics could they have covered?)
Is the writing clear, interesting, and informative for their audience?
Is there important information missing from the piece? (If it’s a story on cosmetic surgery gone wrong, is there a “to be sure” paragraph that gives information on how many cosmetic surgeries Is the length of the story justified?
What would you have cut from the story?
Is the info in the best order, or would you have rearranged some of the paragraphs?
Is the title the best it could be? If not, suggest another one.
Is the story illustrated well? Are the photos/drawings that go along with it relevant? If not, how would you have illustrated the story?
For a Web site, are the interactive features that go along with the story the best they can be? If not, what would you do differently?
A smaller point (because it’ll drive editors crazy if you dwell on this!), but are there any glaring spelling or grammatical errors in the piece? Point those out to show you have an eye for detail, but focus on the other areas to show that you think like a big-picture editor.
Love,
Ed
