Reasons and Processes: Identify How and Why in the Six Journalistic Questions

Four of the Six Journalistic Questions are straightforward. We identify people, places, times, concepts, objects, etc., but How and Why are more abstract. Sometimes students erroneously assume How and Why ask how they're going to research or write their essays, and why it's something worth writing about, but that gets away from the topic and into the writing of the essay. The Six Journalistic Questions are to help you focus on your topic, not the ins and outs of your process, and asking How and Why are integral to that.

At their core, How and Why ask about processes and reasons: How does something work, what goes into it to make it function, and Why does something work or happen, what's the causes of the issue, or even why is it an issue? So looking for the How and Why when drafting criteria asks about the underlying processes and reasons behind your topic. In this regard, they can be considered the most important of the six.

Here are some tips and recommendations for figuring out the How and Why.

What's the underlying issue? We tend to approach and deal with topics because there's some kind of issue with them, and asking How or Why requires digging deeper to think about it. It's what's at the core of your topic.

• Example: School bullying
• Why: Bullying causes physical and emotional trauma to children during important developmental years.
• How: Students who are bullied develop worse self esteem and trust issues, and perform worse in school and socially.

What do your criteria have to do with one another? Sometimes, answering How and Why means asking what everything else you've identified has to do with one another. This means there may be repetition, but you're not just reiterating the same thing: you're juxtaposing your criteria to figure out why it's significant to bring these criteria together.

• Example: Exercise for weight loss
• What: Weight loss; cardio vs. weight lifting
• When: Morning vs. afternoon
• How: The impacts different types of exercise have at different times of the day.
• While it doesn't explicitly state them, when the How says “different types of exercise” the What is implied, and the same for “morning vs. afternoon” and “different times of the day.

What's your perspective? The way you address the How and Why can shape your perspective on the topic and the rest of your criteria. The Who, What, When, and Where are just a collection of nouns you're bringing together, whereas the How and the Why help make them significant and related.

• Example: State Lotteries
• Why: (1) Helps fund education. (2) Winners usually end up worse off than they were before. (3) Promotes dangerous, wasteful gambling addictions.
• 1: This highlights a beneficial side of state run lotteries: their proceeds go to fund state schools.
• 2: This one takes a more negative approach to the lottery, targeting an unfortunate consequence associated with it. This doesn't condemn the lottery, but doesn't aggrandize it either.
• 3: This one takes a much more negative approach and outright condemns state lotteries.

It is possible to have more than one “Why” or “How.” In this situation, any combination of these could be used to consider different sides of the issue or try to find a reconciliation, rather than being one-sided on the issue.

Each of these examples can seem either straightforward, too simple, or obvious based on the topic. The thing is, there's nothing wrong with that. The 6JQ are supposed to help you get to the point. If you can articulate aspects of your topic in fewer words and as succinctly as possible, the better off you'll be, and just because something is obvious to you doesn't mean it'll be obvious to everyone else. The 6JQ aren't just a brainstorming and drafting tool; they can be a useful tool to help you stay on track, but if you're vague or broad, or off base entirely, then they're not going to help.