Use the websites listed in "Resources" to research for the articles which you will include in the newspaper. Take one article at a time, and it may be a good idea to divide articles up among the members of your group.

The king has required that certain news items be included in this edition of The Royal News.

Date. Choose a date for the issue you will be producing. This should center around some pivotal event that has happened in the colony overseas. Keep this date in mind as you do your research.... if you choose an early date, some things might not have happened yet, and you certainly can't write about those!

Headline/Feature Article. This will probably be the reason that you chose the date you did. What major event is taking place in Jamestown at this time? This is the headline article, and should be an "eye-grabber." Make it something exciting, something important, and something that will grab the attention of British readers. Include in the article:

• What is the event? What happened?
• Who was involved?
• Why is this event important in the history of the colony?
• Why should people in England care?
• How will this affect the colony? Will it be disastrous? Positive?

Interview. The noblemen have discovered that several people have proven to be of great importance in the colony. They will interview one of them, depending on who you wish to include in your paper. Pick one of them, and have one of the noblemen conduct an interview. As you write up their conversation, be sure to include a picture of the person, if one is available. Come up with a list of ten questions for the person, including:

• What is your background?
• What is your relationship with the Jamestown colony?
• Why should we include you in The Royal News?
• How do you think that papers, books, and people will remember you in two or three hundred years?

Advertisement. The Virginia Company of London always gets a spot to advertise in The Royal News, since they are responsible for getting many English to make the journey to the New World. The king has expressed his wish that more people make this journey, and wants the Virginia Company to "sell" Virginia as a great place to colonize. This is a small, persuasive advertisement which is meant to convince those in England to relocate to the New World. Be sure to include:

• What is in Virginia?
• What is there to gain by moving there?
• What have others gained by moving there?

The Natives of Virginia. Many in England are curious about the native "savages" which inhabit Virginia. For this article, find out as much as you can about them, and write up a quick summary for the English public. Include:

• Customs
• Beliefs
• Lifestyle
• Leaders
• Relationship with colonists

Tribute to the King. Depending on the date you have chosen for your paper, this may be James I or Charles I. Write a short editorial (opinion) piece about the king..... he has requested that you portray him in a "favorable" light, as both colonists in Virginia and the English here at home will be reading it.

A Remembrance. Write a short article "remembering" someone who was influential in Jamestown's past. This can be someone associated with England's early efforts at colonization, an early explorer in Virginia, etc. Some ideas might be Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth, Sir Francis Drake, or Sim Humphrey Gilbert. Make sure to inlcude:

• Who was the person? When did they live?
• What were their efforts? Were they successful?
• How have their efforts influenced the development of Jamestown?

Article of your choice. Include at least one more article, dealing with a topic of your choice. Some suggestions might be fashion, popular culture, economics, religion, politics, riots, etc. Remember that, whatever topic you choose, you are wri ting for an English audience.

Guidelines

• Research comes first! Use the resources in the next section to obtain the information that you need to write each article
• Divide up the research and writing. Be sure to edit each other's work
• A newspaper is visual. Whether you are going to present this newspaper on paper on multimedia, have some graphics to integrate into text. Collect these with your information as you are searching the Internet, and use them in your presentation.
• Make sure that you use all of the information that you find. Be responsible journalists by giving a sense of the "big picture" and trying to look at the story from all possible angles.
• Never forget the audience that you are writing for. In your research, try to find out little about 17th century England... since it is your audience.