Sunshine Review:How to write an activist profile
From Sunshine Review
Contents |
Finding biographical information
- Always conduct a Google Search or Google News Search to start.
- Find out who the activist works for and what organizations they have been involved with through the search above. Biographies are often included on the organization's website.
- Check out any articles that contain their name for other leads and useful information.
- Also search for news articles on Lexis Nexis (which is a newspaper archive website). It is subscription only, but usually available through your public library.
- Also check out Zoominfo, Hoovers and LinkedIn for professional information
- Check out if their profile is available on Wikipedia
- Go to the Federal Election Commission's website if your interested in finding out what campaigns the activist has been involved with financially.
- Don't be shy. If you know or have their contact information-call for an interview.
- Tip: think like a journalist and ask yourself "Who, what, when, where, why and how" during the interview or when you are collecting the information.
Editor's Note: Unless you are writing about a government representative do not include contact information in these articles.
Creating the profile
Deciding on the article title
In order to make the title easily searched stick to the first and last name of local leader. If writing about a government representative then you may include their title as well.
For example: George W. Bush, President of the United States
Otherwise go into more detail about the local leader in the introductory paragraph of the article. An editorial tip is that it is common to bold their name in the first paragraph only.
Examples:
- Paul Jacob (1960 - ) is an activist, organizer, and advocate for legislative term limits, initiative and referendum rights, and limited government in the United States.
- Charles Joseph Crist, Jr. or Charlie Crist (born July 24, 1956), is an American politician of the Republican Party, and the current Governor of Florida.
Editor's note: Once an article has been written, if you decide later that the title could be better, you can perform the "move" function on it. This is located in the top panel of your page. For further information on moving articles, see this page.
Introduction
As seen from the examples above it is common to first write a brief summary (1-2 sentences) of the activist that includes their birth and (if necessary) death dates.
Political views
This should outline the broad scope of the activists views.
- Are they involved in party politics? Democrat or liberal?
- Fiscal conservatives
- Free market
- Progressive
- Socialist
Involvement
Show the action they have taken.
- List of the campaigns or open records requests they were involved in
- How and why they were involved in the campaign
- What type of transparency request was involved and the result
- Subject of the request
- Victories or defeats involved
- Include any controversies or ongoing action they are involved in
Background information
Some areas often covered are:
- Education
- Philanthropic work
- Personal information
- Employment information
Editor's note: Remember to write these profiles in an encyclopedia form, which means neutral articles. Avoid slander or vandalism on these pages. If you spot biased information on a profile, do not delete the information (unless its obvious vandalism) but instead expand on it until it is an objective view.
Example of slander: George Bush is a war mongering president whose "Terror Alert Levels" directly coincide with his approval ratings. This type of information is obvious slander and can be deleted.
Sources: As always include references and external links to give your article credibility.
Formating your page
If you are at loss for how to write in "wiki" please check out our new page and editing articles.
Also remember to categorize your page and to cite your sources.
Also remember to cross-link your pages. Link to the states, the initiatives and other key players/organizations that are mention in profiles.
