Tip #11: Linking to sources in news articles
In the newsroom, reporters often have to provide sources to their readers on where they got their information. They need to back up their stories with evidence. The same credo pertains to news articles on DigitalJournal.com, where our readership expects stats, quotes and news to be backed up with sources.
Linking to news sources is important for every Digital Journalist. You should link to your source for those U.S. demographic stats; you should link to the source of that President Obama quote; you should link to the breaking news article on that earthquake in China.
Please link to a specific news article, and not the general news site of, say, BBC. Some Digital Journalists forget to link to the actual article, we've noticed.
DigitalJournal.com's system allows for an easy way to link to other sources. In Edit mode, find a relevant keyword to highlight with your cursor. Often, you want to highlight a word introducing the source of the news, such as "President Obama recently told Associated Press". In that case, you can highlight the words "Associated Press".
Don't link to an entire paragraph. A few words is fine. Remember, the linking feature underlines the word, so you can understand why underlining an entire paragraph would look ugly.
When the word or words are highlighted, click the button LINK, found at the top of the body box. It's between Italics and Quote. A pop-up will appear, asking you to paste in the Web address of your source. Copy the URL of your source, and then paste it in the field. Look it over a couple times to make sure it was pasted correctly.
Click OK and you're done! Your embedded link has been added to the article.
Link to sources for stats and quotes and news links, but you can also link to other articles too. If you cite a published article on DigitalJournal.com, then link to that post. If you mention a YouTube video, link to it or, better yet, embed it. And if you are mentioning a topic that you are familiar with but may require some clarification (such as "cloud computing"), we recommend you link to a Wikipedia entry or something similar.
If you are writing about commercial products like the new iPhone or Nike shoes, it's a good idea to link to those company websites so readers can get more info if they want.
It's always smart to proofread your article before posting, testing each link to make sure it goes to the appropriate website.
If you have any questions about linking, let us know in the comments section.
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Very good David and thank you.
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It's always smart to proofread your article before posting, testing each link to make sure it goes to the appropriate website. sage advice.
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Excellent reminder for all, newbies or old hands.
I think I'm more or less ok on the linking side of things, but proofreading is Calvary for me, I must admit.
I finish writing and just HAVE to get my masterpiece up there, right now, unless the world doesn't notice lol!
(C'mon, is anyone gonna say they have never experienced that?) :)
Even I take the time to spellcheck, but that still means that, infuriatingly, I spend the half hour after posting re-reading my article and finding syntax or word order or synonym or other esoteric errors and that in turn means re-editing my work once it's online.
And "headline" is a dirty word where I come from. Even though I 'know' the priciples involved I am still so bad at them!!
Discipline discipline.
(Sigh.....)
:)
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I learned to always proof read, use spell check, link and test links and then to proof read again.
I might be too cautious but that's me. I do occasionally have a photo removed but always want to know why so I don't repeat the same mistake again. I also pick my photos carefully.
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Thanks David! I can especially relate to the "underling an entire paragraph can look ugly" part-lol! I learned the hard way! Thanks for your advice, I will certainly follow it!
Gloria Cowdery
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@ ■ Cynthia Trowbridge
I learned to always proof read, use spell check, link and test links and then to proof read again.
I might be too cautious but that's me. I do occasionally have a photo removed but always want to know why so I don't repeat the same mistake again. I also pick my photos carefully.
Photos Cynthia?
Simple.
If it isn't clearly 'creative commons' or 'with kind permssion of...' with a checkable URL, or your own pic, it will be removed quicker than my cat Spike could shimmy up a tree!! lol!
Simple as that.
I learned that after a while.
It's a good rule and has the merit of being clear.
(That said, I mean goddam hell, who are all those creeps who wont 'CC' their pics on Flick'r? Who do they think they are chrissakes? David Bailey? Man Ray? lol!)
:)
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@ ■ Michael Cosgrove
Photos Cynthia?
Simple.
If it isn't clearly 'creative commons' or 'with kind permssion of...' with a checkable URL, or your own pic, it will be removed quicker than my cat Spike could shimmy up a tree!! lol!
Simple as that.
I learned that after a while.
It's a good rule and has the merit of being clear.
(That said, I mean goddam hell, who are all those creeps who wont 'CC' their pics on Flick'r? Who do they think they are chrissakes? David Bailey? Man Ray? lol!)
:)
Well DJ calls them images.
Thanks to Chris V. Thangham I can find "creative commons" images. David also posted a blog on finding them but I haven't tried them. I did find out though if you write a story about a crime don't post an image of a person if he or she didn't commit the crime. That got it removed real quick :)
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@ ■ Cynthia Trowbridge
Well DJ calls them images.
Thanks to Chris V. Thangham I can find "creative commons" images. David also posted a blog on finding them but I haven't tried them. I did find out though if you write a story about a crime don't post an image of a person if he or she didn't commit the crime. That got it removed real quick :)
Crime stories??!!
Run for the hills!! Flee! Flee!
They are terribly difficult to write.
I wrote one here once and it got edited to bits, quite rightly so in retrospect.
Haven't done one since.
I don't know if it's because of that article or because France hasn't had a good 'ol juicy crime story for me to get into lately lol!!!
I'll know better when they find the next big-time mass murderer or something.
(Not) sorry for the black ingliish humour :)
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@ ■ Michael Cosgrove
Crime stories??!!
Run for the hills!! Flee! Flee!
They are terribly difficult to write.
I wrote one here once and it got edited to bits, quite rightly so in retrospect.
Haven't done one since.
I don't know if it's because of that article or because France hasn't had a good 'ol juicy crime story for me to get into lately lol!!!
I'll know better when they find the next big-time mass murderer or something.
(Not) sorry for the black ingliish humour :)
We have crimes here like mom putting her daughter in an oven that was on, daughter abusing and starving her 87-year-old father, that one had my first image pulled, and thieves who steal horses tails. The tails were still attached to the horses. The really bad one was where a boy brutally beat a school bus driver.
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@ ■ Cynthia Trowbridge
We have crimes here like mom putting her daughter in an oven that was on, daughter abusing and starving her 87-year-old father, that one had my first image pulled, and thieves who steal horses tails. The tails were still attached to the horses. The really bad one was where a boy brutally beat a school bus driver.
LOL!
What do you expect for covering such whacked-out and weird stories!
How the hell can anyone understand any of that stuff?
Did you hear the one about this kid who had a mouse, and a girl over the road was carrying a gun because she wanted to kill her mother's boyfriend and they met up and decided to kill the President instead before finally settling for a checkout girl in Florida but then an old guy dropped down dead at a bus stop so they........No? You don't know that one?
;)
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@ ■ Michael Cosgrove
LOL!
What do you expect for covering such whacked-out and weird stories!
How the hell can anyone understand any of that stuff?
Did you hear the one about this kid who had a mouse, and a girl over the road was carrying a gun because she wanted to kill her mother's boyfriend and they met up and decided to kill the President instead before finally settling for a checkout girl in Florida but then an old guy dropped down dead at a bus stop so they........No? You don't know that one?
;)
LOL
Those I quoted were all true stories that I reported on but they were not related as it must have sounded in my comment. :)
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@ ■ Cynthia Trowbridge
LOL
Those I quoted were all true stories that I reported on but they were not related as it must have sounded in my comment. :)
I know lol!
But you have to admit young lady :) that they are wilder than life!
You know, like the guy who...oh, ok, I'll put a sock in it :)
Time for bed here, so have a great evening!
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@ ■ Michael Cosgrove
I know lol!
But you have to admit young lady :) that they are wilder than life!
You know, like the guy who...oh, ok, I'll put a sock in it :)
Time for bed here, so have a great evening!
Good night Michael. See you tomorrow. :)
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Thank you David for helping clarify this for me and the other journalist on the site. I appreciate it a lot.
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