September Blog Assignment part II

While writing an opinion article about the fire drill, I encountered obstacles that could easily have been avoided. I immediately assumed that because the article was based on my opinion, it was unnecessary to interview anyone before writing it. However, I realized I had based my opinion on personal observation, and was ignoring the facts and reasoning behind the system. My eventual interview with Mr. Lee went well, and I received answers explaining the parts of the drill I was skeptical about. This was a huge benefit, because his responses caused my original opinion to change. Another obstacle arose when it came time to write the article. Although I had cleared up my questions, I had never actually seen the drill in action, so my article was centered around a rough practice run and an interview with Mr. Lee. This was especially frustrating, because the drill was run the day after I handed in my article. Frustration aside, my final article turned out better than expected, and after fully running the drill my view has not changed. To make this piece more effective, I could have saved time by immediately speaking to Mr. Lee and getting all of the facts before formulating an opinion. It also would have been beneficial to put off writing the article until after the drill had been run.