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What Is Beat In Journalism? 3 Different Types

This article answers the question “What is beat in journalism?”. Discover everything about this topic in our expert guide.

A beat in journalism refers to an area of specialization for reporters where their newsgathering efforts are focused on specific subjects or locations. News beats include specializations such as locations and territories, specific entities and organizations, and types of journalism.

If you are a reporter whose specific job requires you to report on journalism and media, then media would be your beat. If you have ever heard of an education correspondent, their beat is education, and so forth. Learning about beats in journalism can help answer the question, “ Is journalism a good career? ”

1. Location Beats

2. entity beats, 3. subject area beats, are beats in journalism disappearing, it enforces authority, it helps editors, it’s efficient, different types of beats in journalism.

Katherine Murphy,  The Guardian Australia ‘s  political editor, touched on the importance of specialization in journalism when discussing this media feature. She said: “The journalistic mission remains at its simplest: know your patch and use your knowledge to try to tell readers what’s actually going on.”

Put simply, that’s the point of beats; to have reporters have extra knowledge of a subject matter makes for better reporting, be it with a location, an entity, or a section of their newsroom’s output. Looking for more information on journalism? Check out our guide on journalism scoop !

For instance,  Martin Chulov  is the Middle East correspondent for  The Guardian . Therefore, his area of expertise and journalistic focus relates to subjects of countries in that region.

Your first job after journalism school could be covering a local patch. In that case, that patch will be your beat. The expectation would be for you to gather news in that area and cover any relevant breaking stories or press conferences that happen in that area.

There are also specific beats for different entities. To help you understand, consider The White House. A whole host of White House correspondents whose job is to cover all happening in and around the US President’s quarters. For instance,  Phil Mattingly  is  CNN’s  Chief White House correspondent, while  Peter James Doocy  is the White House correspondent for  Fox News .

Another example is sports reporters, who have specific franchises as their beats. For instance,  James Pearce is a Liverpool FC  reporter for  The Athletic .

It doesn’t have to be a physical entity to be a beat for news media.

For example,  Kate Duguid ’s previously covered the stock market as part of her beat for  Reuters .  The Washington Post  has previously advertised for a reporter to cover  social media as a beat .

Subject area is one the most common journalism beats where reporters focus their news writing efforts on a specific genre of media that is broader than one entity but specialized in one area of news output. For instance, you have political science reporters, crime reporting, and many more subject area-beat reporters.

Another example of this would be the education beat. There might be an editor and reporters who work this specific beat. One of there more renowned reporters in this category is  Laura Meckler , who takes on the education beat for  The Washington Post .

Beats can also be combined. For instance, you can be an Australian political reporter. Here, the beat you would be working off would be Australia and politics. You might also be wondering, what does off the record mean?

The coming of age of online and the 24-hour news cycle has led to many newsrooms needing more resources, with specialists now expected to work outside their known area. We are left asking the question “ Is journalism dying ?” Of course, larger newsrooms still have beat reporters but if you are a low-budget organization, affording reporters to have specific beats isn’t always within the realm of possibility. Instead, you expect these reporters to put their hands on the wheel and help with every story they can.

However, the loss of specialization can hurt the quality of the news reports. This point was touched upon in an article entitled ‘Why the demise of specialist reporters is a loss for any democracy’ featured in  The Conversation .

Politics editor for the publication, Laura Hood, wrote: “Beat journalism worldwide is disappearing. There are several reasons, among them the corporate and commercial pressures of going digital and competition from social media.” Ms. Hood summarizes that beats in journalism are the lifeblood of quality, in-depth reporting, and they should be preserved despite the extra cost.

What Is The Point of Beats In Journalism?

Of course, there will still be some news organizations that believe that a beat reporter should be able to focus on a broader range of stories. However, there are several reasons for better courses of action than this.

In the article mentioned above in  The Conversation , Ms. Hood discussed one of the critical advantages of beat reporting; it enforces authority. She said: “When people read a beat reporter’s byline (their name on the story), they expect expert and factual news and analysis. It’s the opposite of generalist reporting.”

A beat reporter will become the go-to journalist for an audience on their given subject matter. Their expertise might be why people tune in, buy the paper, or click online. If journalists aren’t allowed to specialize, they are less likely to gain the expertise needed to become such an authority. When an organization is known for producing top-notch news reporting with journalists with specific areas of expertise, they become the public’s go-to resource.

You can help yourself understand the concept of beat reporting by thinking of a cop who has to respond to crimes when they happen within a specific area. That’s their beat, and they will be sent there by their chief if there is an issue. It works similarly with beat journalists, as editors know they can rely on beat journalists to produce a news story from their specific beat if something happens concerning their area.

It answers the question, “Who does the editor send on this story?” It also ensures that a reporter’s hard work in a specific area gets rewarded. That is because if a journalist has worked hard on a story on their beat, they will be allowed to follow up on it. Practically, a beat journalist already understands restrictions and access to sources and locations within their beat.

When there is a general assignment on a specific subject matter, the beat reporter already knows the fundamentals and is best placed to work on it. If they are good at their job, they already have contacts in the area, which ensures that it’s easier to get reliable sources and more efficient. They also already know the background information and may have previously worked on connected breaking news reports.

Whereas, if a general reporter has to take on a story in an area or subject they are unfamiliar with, they start with a blank canvas. Understanding a story’s background requires time, which is time that a beat reporter has already spent.

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What Is Beat Reporting?

By NBCU Academy

Beat reporters are experts in a particular topic. Learn how to pick and define yours.

Beat reporters are journalists who get to become experts on one topic. NBC News has plenty of beat reporters in addition to general reporters who know a little bit about everything.

Joy Wang, NBC News senior editorial director for planning and diversity journalism, share with us the definition of beat reporting and how to choose a beat.

What is beat reporting?

In journalism, a beat is an area of specialization where you have developed sources and proven your expertise with your published stories. Think of it as a cop on the beat. If news breaks within your territory, your editor will know you’re the best person to produce an article or appear on camera. You already know everything about the topic and have the right sources in your phone contacts. 

There are three main kinds of beat reporting:  

• Territorial beats a re defined geographically . It can be as broad as “the Midwest” for a national outlet or as specific as a neighborhood for a local newspaper.   
• Jurisdictional beats are defined by a government agency, like the Justice Department, or a corporate entity, like Facebook. Jurisdictional beats can also cover such things as a school district, local government or even a major local business. 
• Topical beats focus on specific issues like politics, weather and health. It might be helpful to be more specific within those broad areas, such as being an expert on one particular politician.   

How do you pick a beat?  

Start with your interests or subjects you know well. Maybe you love trying new foods, or you’re always reading up on the latest tech gadgets. Whatever it is, there may be a beat for it. 

Define exactly what your beat entails  

Figure out what topics and issues fall within your beat. From an editor’s perspective, a narrower one is better. If you’re covering business, for example, should you focus on the stock market or a particular industry? Do you keep track of specific companies within your realm? Whom should you be reaching out to for any updates? The nature of your topic and your news organization may shape how much your beat covers daily news versus longer-term enterprise reporting.  

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beat | Definition

A beat is a geographical territory to which a patrol officer is assigned.

In law enforcement , a beat refers to a specific area or geographical territory to which a patrol officer is assigned. The concept of a beat is important in policing as it allows for a more efficient distribution of police resources and helps to ensure that police presence is consistent in certain areas.

Typically, a beat is designated by the police department and may be based on various factors such as population density, crime rates, and geographic boundaries. The size and shape of a beat can vary depending on the specific needs of the community and the resources available to the police department.

A beat officer is responsible for patrolling their assigned area and responding to calls for service. This can include everything from conducting routine patrols to investigating crimes and making arrests. Beat officers are often the first line of defense in their assigned area and are responsible for maintaining order and ensuring the safety of the public.

In addition to responding to calls for service, beat officers are also expected to develop relationships with the community they serve. This can include working with local businesses and community groups to address concerns and promote public safety. Beat officers may also be involved in community policing initiatives, such as neighborhood watch programs or crime prevention efforts.

The use of beats in policing is not a new concept. In fact, the idea of assigning officers to specific areas has been in use for centuries. However, it wasn’t until the 20th century that the concept of the beat became more formalized.

One of the key figures in the development of the modern police beat system was August Vollmer , a police reformer who served as the Chief of Police in Berkeley, California from 1909 to 1932. Vollmer was a strong advocate for professionalizing law enforcement and believed that higher education was essential for police officers.

Vollmer also believed in the importance of assigning officers to specific areas or beats. He believed that this would not only improve response times but also allow officers to develop relationships with the community they served. This concept was put into practice in Berkeley, where officers were assigned to specific beats and given the responsibility of maintaining order and ensuring public safety in their assigned area.

The use of beats has continued to evolve over the years. With the advent of technology, officers are now able to monitor and patrol their assigned areas. This has led to the development of tools such as computer-aided dispatch systems and real-time crime mapping, which allow officers to quickly respond to calls and identify areas of high crime.

Despite these advancements, the concept of the beat remains an important part of modern policing. By assigning officers to specific areas, police departments are able to ensure that resources are distributed efficiently and that officers are able to develop relationships with the community they serve. This helps to promote public safety and build trust between law enforcement and the community.

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6 Important Types of Beats in Journalism

There are various Types of Beats in Journalism. Before saying anything let us for clear the difference between types and beats. Types in journalism mean different fields of journalism that are independent of each other generally, they use different pedagogy and research methods, for e.g. Investigative Journalism, Feature Writing Column Writing, etc. While beats can be called subsets of different types of journalism , A beat in journalism means going in-depth in any type of journalism, for e.g. Business Magazines, Politics, Finance, Weather, Entertainment, TV Network Schedules, Sports News, Local News Resources, Government Directories, Horoscopes, Money, Personal Health Site, PR Newswires, Social Media and much more. The term ‘beat’ is referred to as the way or road taken by an individual on a regular basis. In journalism, the word ‘ Beat ’ is also referred to as the niche which is appointed to the reporter.

The journalist has an art of conveying in various forms. There are numerous types of Beats in Journalism which we will try to study in this blog. Some reporting techniques are more popular in a particular field than the rest. The role of the reporter is to deliver the news, show the story according to their perspective and observations, give us the insights, comment on it and to submit the report of the issues on the given period of time. Here are 6 types of popular beats are given as follows:

6 Types of Beats in Journalism 

1. political reporting.

Political Journalism is a very prolific and very broad branch of journalism. This beat includes coverage of all aspects of politics and its political science. Many people opt for this kind of journalism, it requires a lot of courage and diplomatic smartness. Although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.

Read Related Blog: Political Reporting and Its Vitality

2. Food Reporting

Food is a kind of industry which can never be outsourced. Food lovers always try to discover new food places near their areas. The job of the beat reporter in this field is to remind people about what’s cooking in the local restaurants or any new opening of the outlets of famous restaurants. The reporter tries to connect with the audience by doing advertising and discovering the likes and dislikes in the food preference of the people.

3. Education Reporting

These days many reporters are trying to concentrate on Education reporting which focuses on young people. For the reporters, educational stories are easy to cover which includes exam scores, campus stories, and sports. They can also cover the safety regulations of the students or underpaid teachers in an academy. For example, in India, the reporter announces the results of entrance or final results of schools and colleges.

4. Health Reporting

It is one of the newsworthy issues these days. In today’s generation, many individuals have started to focus on their health. The reporter covers topics like malnutrition, disease, healthcare, pediatric care, nutrition, fitness, growing epidemics and much more. Reports mainly try to focus on prevention of the serious ailment or disease and for that, he must have great knowledge about that field and provide us with the insights.

Read Related Blog: Important Points to Remember While Health Beat Reporting

5. Sports Reporting

This reporting may seem cool for the audience but they don’t know the hard work and sweat the reporter has to put to provide information to all the viewers. Reporters can cover information about hockey, football as well as cricket tournaments held all around the globe.

6. Entertainment Reporting

This is one of the famous reporting where the journalist tries to reveal the juicy gossip of the glamorous people in the world. But it is not an easy job. The reporter has to wait for hours for the appearance of the celebrities. Entertainment reporting takes interviews, reviews of music and films and much more. There are many more types of beats in journalism but these six are one of the famous of all.

Above mentioned are some of the top Beats in Journalism but there are many Different Types of Beats in Journalism which is mentioned below.

Civic Reporting

It is a type of reporting which covers citizen's wellness. This type of reporting is not just normal news but that makes the audience think. The purpose of this type of reporting is to make a difference by public awareness. 

Infrastructure Reporting

In the world of globalization, rapid infrastructure development is a must. The beat, who reports infrastructure reporting collects information about all infrastructural sites like Railway Stations, Airports, Government infrastructure and makes the audience aware of it.

Crime Reporting

Crime reporting is one of the most famous reporting in the industry. All audiences consume crime news in one or another way means the audience is big and that is why this segment of reporting requires all details before getting published. All crimes are included in this reporting.

Environmental Reporting

All modern-day activities like globalization and digitization have their impact on the environment. From the Ozone layer to Deforestation environmental reporting includes all. It makes public awareness about what is going on in the environment. 

Investigate Reporting

This type of reporting demands the beat to be sharp and dedicated because it takes too much effort to open up facts and stories about investigation. But if the beat completes any investigation completely, it can give good recognition and fame. 

Lifestyle Reporting

In the era of social media, the audience will always be interested in what is going on in the latest trend and what is in fashion. This reporting includes news/stories about the latest fashion/fitness trends and other trending stuff.

Business Reporting

All news related to trade/business falls under this category. Import/Export, Goods, Trade, Market, Stock Exchange and other news that are related to business attracts a large set of people and that is why this type of reporting is one of the most famous reporting in current time.

If this article interests you and you think journalism could be your career of choice then you can materialize your academic dreams here: Visit us at www.nimcj.org . We are an acclaimed Mass Communication and Journalism Institution based out in Ahmedabad, Gujarat .

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Beat Reporting

Beat reporting, as opposed to general assignment reporting, gives journalists the opportunity to focus on one area. Many beats are defined geographically, others focus on important issues like health, education or the environment.

Beat reporters develop in-depth knowledge. They get to know experts related to their beat and create a thorough contact list of people to help them tell compelling and credible stories. Beat reporters should stay up to date on all major developments about their topic.

Being a beat reporter allows journalists to delve much deeper and pushes them to uncover enterprise stories. Beat reporters help bring context to stories and explain how each story affects the audience.

My biggest piece of advice is to document everything . You will forget a person’s name. You will misplace their contact information. You should write down what you did before you leave work every single day. I kept a word doc open all day and would add notes as I worked. Write down every interaction you have  in person, on the phone, via email or social media. Include their name, title, phone number, email address, physical address and photo if possible. Include any links to related stories. This is especially helpful when there’s breaking news on your beat. But it also pays off in the long run because you can search for key words that perhaps never made it to your publication. This will help you with enterprise and in-depth stories.

I also encourage you to keep a digital folder with story ideas. Don’t rely on stacks of messy papers. This old school reporting style is inefficient. Keep everything on your computer so you can easily search. Also, back up everything onto external hard drives in case your computer crashes or gets hacked.

A great reporter always leaves a story with a new one in mind . While you’re conducting your interviews, ask people if they know of any other stories that you should look into. Most people like being useful and will often give you story ideas if you ask them. I also encourage you to ask your followers on Twitter and Facebook for story ideas and people to interview.

Not sure where to start? Bookmark USF experts who you can reach out to with questions about your beat. Congratulations, you just started.

Poynter’s NewsU provides a free resource for journalists called “ Introduction to Reporting: Beat Basics .” Here are the key suggestions for beat reporters:

• Make a contact list of all officials, activists, and experts related to your beat.
• Add calendar alerts to remind you to regularly check in on people related to your beat.
• Follow related people and organizations on social media.
• Bookmark websites you should check regularly.
• Add related meetings to your calendar. Decide which meetings you’ll attend.
• Which public records and databases are the most helpful?
• Who are interesting (non-official) people you can feature?
• What are the most important issues on your beat?

Here are some of the resources Poynter suggest you use regardless of the beat you have:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Census Bureau
• DocumentCloud
• Freedom of Information Letter Generator
• Investigative Reporters and Editors’  beat source guide
• Journalism Tools (articles by the Project for Excellence in Journalism)
• Journalist’s Toolbox  from the Society of Professional Journalists
• New York Times’ Navigator
• Open records and meetings laws for every state,  compiled by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Reporter’s Desktop
• Switchboard
• White pages

Courts and Criminal Justice Links

• Cornell University Law School database of state court opinions and legal resources
• “Covering Crime and Justice,”  a guide for reporters on police and court beats compiled by Criminal Justice Journalists
• Covering Criminal Justice, a resource guide published by the Center on Crime, Communities and Culture and Columbia Journalism Review
• The Crime Report
• Criminal Justice Journalists’ guide to reporting about guns
• Death Penalty Information Center
• Findlaw,  database of lawyers and legal cases
• Journalist’s Toolbox crime resources
• LexisNexis,  a subscription service that offers legal, news, public records and business information
• Martindale-Hubbell legal directory
• Pacer,  online service to federal courts
• Poynter’s crime and courts coverage bibliography
• USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism

Local Government Links

• Center for Urban Policy Research
• National Association of Counties
• National League of Cities

Neighborhood or Suburban Links

• Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media
• National Neighborhood Coalition
• National Neighborhood Watch Institute
• Texas Center for Community Journalism

Police and Public Safety Links

• Anti-Defamation League  (source on hate crimes)
• Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence
• Bureau of Justice Statistics
• Center for Sex Offender Management
• Children of the Night  resource on child prostitution
• Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants
• Court Appointed Special Advocates  (CASA), volunteers appointed by judges to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children
• Covering Criminal Justice , a resource guide published by the Center on Crime, Communities and Culture and Columbia Journalism Review
• Criminal Justice Journalists’ guide to reporting about guns *  The Crime Report
• Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma
• FBI crime statistics
• Federal Bureau of Prisons
• Federal inmate locator
• International Association of Arson Investigators
• Justice Department COPS Office
• National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement
• National Center on Institutions and Alternatives
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• National Criminal Justice Reference
• National Drug Intelligence Center
• National Gang Center
• National White Collar Crime Center
• Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Officer.com,  law enforcement news
• Official Directory of State Patrols and State Police
• Police Executive Research Forum
• Police Foundation
• The Sentencing Project
• Tips for Covering Cops (by Chip Scanlan)
• U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
• Learn whether your state prison system has an online inmate locator. For example, check out  Nebraska’s.
• Learn whether your state courts have an online database. For example, check out  Iowa’s.

A Closer Look At 3 Beats: Environment, Health, and Education

Environment beat.

Being on a beat like this means foreseeing cause and effect. There are times when you’re stories will just be a reaction to news events. But, your goal should be to uncover new stories.

One example is understanding that things like sea level rise will inevitably hurt coastal property value. When the value of properties drops, the amount of money local governments can collect from property taxes drops too. What does that mean for your audience? Property taxes pay for schools, police, fire departments, and much more. So the quality of those services will also drop unless local governments find ways to make up the loss. Governments often turn to tax hikes to meet the basic needs communities rely on. So, ask yourself again, how does sea level rise affect your community?

If you’re on an environment beat, you may find some inspiration and context in Al Gore’s 2017 film “ An Inconvenient Sequel .” I encourage you to check out the website and pay attention to the multimedia layout. Draw inspiration from the story ideas and visual representation of data. Part of providing value to your audience is informing them on how they can take action if your story inspires them to do so. Here you’ll find a list of ways your audience can make a difference like:

• how to lower your carbon footprint at home
• where to join a town hall meeting
• how to reach your governor about state regulations
• how to push for clean energy in your city
• find your elected officials’ stance on climate action

You should also subscribe to get emails from the National Wildlife Federation .

“An Inconvenient Sequel” is an update to the documentary “ An Inconvenient Truth ” that Gore helped create in 2006. You can find dozens of environmental resources to use in your reporting here:  http://an-inconvenient-truth.com/links-and-resources/  

Health Beat

If you’re on a health beat, you may want to watch the documentary “ Fed Up .” The film was released in 2014. The trailer got more than 11 million views on YouTube by 2017. There’s clearly an interest in this content. The creators of this film did an exceptional job making easy to understand visuals about sugar in foods and what it does to your body. I encourage you to create similar multimedia content to help your audience quickly consume complex information.

The film’s website has a list of sharable statistics like:

• Individuals who drink one to two sugar-sweetened beverages per day have a  26 percent higher risk  of developing type II diabetes.
• 98% of food related ads  that children view (3920/year) are for products high in fat, sugar, sodium.

The site also lists some of their sources:

• Kick the Can
• Lasater G, Piernas C, Popkin BM. Beverage patterns and trends among school-aged children in the US, 1989-2008. Nutr J. 2011;10:103
• Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine: Trends in the nutritional content of television food advertisements seen by children in the United States
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• Obesity Action Coalition
• OnlineNursingPrograms.com Via: Forbes
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Food and beverage marketing to children and adolescents research brief
• Whole Health Source

Looking for story ideas? Here are just a few you can find on the “Fed Up” website.

• What Should You Really Eat? A Healthy Eating Plate
• A Shopping Guide: Good Food on Tight Budget
• Real Food, Not Junk Food
• The 10 Day Detox
• Recipes to Cook Seasonally
• Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children
• Cooking Medium Raw
• Leave out the Sugar and Cook with the Soul, Soul Food Recipes
• Fat Land: How we got overweight
• UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight
• An Organic Manifesto 
• What Should I Cook? Tips from Mario Batali
• Vegan Cooking Recipes 
• Don’t Eat this Book!
• Why Diets Fail 
• Kitchen Tips

Education Beat

Poynter suggests using the following resources on your education beat:

• Education Resource Information Center
• Education Writers Association
• Council of the Great City Schools
• Journalist’s Toolbox education resources
• Journalist’s Toolbox school violence resources
• National Center for Education Statistics
• National Education Association
• U.S. Department of Education
• Great Schools

Higher Education

The CNN film “ Ivory Tower ” looks at student debt and higher education institutions. It reveals how the business of higher education changed in the past few decades.

PBS NewsHour interviewed filmmaker Andrew Rossi about the rising costs and if college is still worth it.

CNN’s website provides several breakout stories related to the film. There are lots of powerful statistics and animations. Much of this information was collected in 2014, so you’ll want to confirm updated numbers if you use any of these. I encourage you to review them here:  http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2014/11/18/ivory-tower-education-debt.cnn/video/playlists/ivory-tower/

Here are some of the videos I found most valuable:

• Is college worth the cost?
• This is how an online college gets made
• Students build their own dorms to lower tuition
• From homeless to Harvard

College Sports

The EPIX original documentary “ Schooled: The Price of College Sports ” interviewed former student athletes and experts about the business and controversy around college sports.

Campus Sexual Assault

The documentary “ It Happened Here ” explores campus sexual assault. The film features five young survivors and shows what they’re doing to change the way schools handle sexual assault.

Here are some resources from the film’s website:

• It’s On Us
• SSAIS – Stop Sexual Assault in Schools
• SAFER – Students Active For Ending Rape
• Generation Progress
• Jules C. Irivn-Rooney J.D.  – President, Title IX and Clery Act Consulting, LLC
• Rebecca Leitman Veidlinger, Esq . –  Sexual misconduct attorney.
• Culture of Respect
• End Rape on Campus
• Know Your IX
• It Happened Here Discussion Guide

Public Schools

A great resource for education reform is TEACHED . The non-profit project is a series of films about racial inequality in America’s education system. I encourage you to raise your awareness by checking out their videos. They may inspire you to think of new story ideas.

Here’s one of the video descriptions from the  TEACHED YouTube channel :

The latest in the TEACHED short film series, “Code Oakland” examines the evolution of Oakland through the eyes of social entrepreneurs determined that youth of color not be left on the sidelines as Silicon Valley expands into the city that is home to the second largest black community in California. Kalimah Priforce, whose first success as a social justice rebel was a hunger strike at the age of eight, and Kimberly Bryant, a successful electrical engineer turned founder of Black Girls Code, are organizing large-scale hackathons to teach youth how to redesign the future through coding. Joined on the national stage by #YesWeCode founder Van Jones, their work represents the cusp of a movement changing both the face and use of technology in America. But is Silicon Valley ready to be hacked?

A National Disgrace

Dan Rather created an investigative documentary about public schools called “A National Disgrace.” Here is the full film and description from The Rathers Reports YouTube channel:

This special two-hour report documents a pivotal year and a half in the Detroit Public Schools, set against a backdrop of history and the plight of one student desperate to succeed despite the odds. “A National Disgrace” is part historical documentary, part investigative report and part personal profile detailing the political strife, corruption, and systemic breakdown during the tumultuous 2009-2010 school year when the state of Michigan imposed new leadership on the school district. The result is a searing portrait of a local tragedy that asks the question, does the situation in Detroit demonstrate how we view public education? Is the real “national disgrace” the fact that something like this could happen at all?

Segregation

Charter Schools

Standardized Testing

Additional Resources

Additional reading.

• Beat Reporting: What Does it Take to Be the Best?  by Chip Scanlan
• Breaking and Entering: How to Dissect an Organization  by Eric Nalder
• Commandments of Beat Coverage  by John Sweeney
• Finding and developing story ideas  by Steve Buttry
• The Heart of the Beat  by Chip Scanlan
• Living on the Beat  by Robin Sloan
• Turn the Beat Around  by Diana Sugg
• Writing About Place: The Boundaries of a Story  by Jeff Klinkenberg

Reporter Organizations

• Arena Football League Writers Association
• Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors
• Association of Food Journalists
• Association of Health Care Journalists
• Criminal Justice Journalists
• Football Writers Association of America
• Investigative Reporters and Editors
• Military Reporters and Editors
• National Association of Science Writers
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers
• North American Agricultural Journalists
• Obituary Writers
• Outdoor Writers Association of America
• Religion Newswriters Association
• Society of American Business Editors and Writers
• Society of American Travel Writers
• Society of Environmental Journalists
• U.S. Basketball Writers Association

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Published by jeanetteabrahamsen.

I am an instructional designer and TV news instructor at the University of South Florida. My passion for innovating learning led me to pursue my PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Instructional Technology. I love creating media to enhance eLearning and foster online engagement. I teach students to create multimedia stories for broadcast, web and social media platforms. I lead the Florida Focus class where students produce daily news shows that air on Tampa's PBS station. My reporting classes collaborated with Tampa's NPR station to produce award-winning stories. I am an Emmy Award-winning journalist. I produced thousands of hours of TV news in some of America's largest media markets at Tampa's NBC station, San Diego's ABC station and the San Diego Union-Tribune. I also produced immersive 360-degree virtual tours at the University of South Florida and reported for Hashtag Our Stories. View more posts

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assigned to a beat

• Thread starter evergreenhomeland
• Start date Dec 11, 2013

evergreenhomeland

Senior member.

• Dec 11, 2013

Hello everyone: How to understand " assigned to a beat " in following sentences? experience a trouble? Well,I think you get the point about bad nouns. (Don’t worry—in aminute I’ll tell you about good nouns.) Ibring this up today because most of you will soon be assigned to abeat in one of New York’s neighborhoods. Ourcity has been greatly enriched in recent years by immigrants fromevery corner of the world, but their arrival has also brought amultitude of complex urban problems. The source is the essay " Writing English as a Second Language " by William Zinsser from The American Scholar . Thanks in advance  

MilkyBarKid

A 'beat' is an area of a city allocated to a police officer to patrol.  

Oh, Can you give me a reference link?  

evergreenhomeland said: Oh, Can you give me a reference link? Click to expand...

OK, I found a reference on Wiki( beat police officer ) .  

• Dec 12, 2013

You don't believe the dictionary?  

No, I want detailed info about the word. I had been assigned to a beat.(Even that country does not use the word)  

Member Emeritus

Even that country does not use [not "used"] the word. Click to expand...

Thanks for your notice. In Japan, new comers must register for a residential card in a local Urban office. Officers there does not explicitly mention some sort of "a beat".  

Thomas Tompion

I hope you are clear, EGH, that Zinsser is saying that these young journalists will be working in a part of the city, just as policemen as assigned to particular parts of a city (their beats). He's using a metaphor, likening the journalists to policemen. They will encounter bad nouns, just as policemen encounter bad people.  

Oh my god, I am completely wrong. Now I got it.  

Thomas Tompion said: I hope you are clear, EGH, that Zinsser is saying that these young journalists will be working in a part of the city, just as policemen as assigned to particular parts of a city (their beats). He's using a metaphor, likening the journalists to policemen. They will encounter bad nouns, just as policemen encounter bad people. Click to expand...

evergreenhomeland said: So they got such an assignment to write various articles about the area he or she is responsible for? Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your kind explanation.  

Here's How to Cover a Journalism Beat Effectively

Learning and Schmoozing Are Key

• Writing Essays
• Writing Research Papers
• English Grammar
• M.S., Journalism, Columbia University
• B.A., Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Most reporters don’t just write about anything and everything that pops up on any given day. Instead, they cover a “beat,” which means a specific topic or area.

Typical beats include the cops, courts, and city council. More specialized beats can include areas like science and technology, sports or business. And beyond those very broad topics, reporters often cover more specific areas. For instance, a business reporter may cover just computer companies or even one particular firm.

Here are four things you need to do to cover a beat effectively.

Learn Everything You Can

Being a beat reporter means you need to know everything you can about your beat. That means talking to people in the field and doing lots of reading. This can be especially challenging if you’re covering a complex beat like say, science or medicine.

Don’t worry, no one’s expecting you to know everything a doctor or scientist does. But you should have a strong layperson’s command of the subject so that when interviewing someone like a doctor you can ask intelligent questions. Also, when it comes time to write your story, understanding the subject well will make it easier for you to translate it into terms everyone can understand.

Get to Know the Players

If you’re covering a beat you need to know the movers and shakers in the field. So if you’re covering the local police precinct that means getting to know the police chief and as many of the detectives and uniformed officers as possible. If you’re covering a local high-tech company that means making contact with both the top executives as well as some of the rank-and-file employees.

Build Trust, Cultivate Contacts

Beyond just getting to know the people on your beat, you need to develop a level of trust with at least some of them to the point where they become reliable contacts or sources. Why is this necessary? Because sources can provide you with tips and valuable information for articles. In fact, sources are often where beat reporters start when looking for good stories , the kind that don’t come from press releases. Indeed, a beat reporter without sources is like a baker without dough; he’s got nothing to work with.

A big part of cultivating contacts is just schmoozing with your sources. So ask the police chief how his golf game is coming along. Tell the CEO you like the painting in her office.

And don’t forget clerks and secretaries. They are usually the guardians of important documents and records that can be invaluable for your stories. So chat them up as well.

Remember Your Readers

Reporters who cover a beat for years and develop a strong network of sources sometimes fall into the trap of doing stories that are only of interest to their sources. Their heads have become so immersed in their beat they’ve forgotten what the outside world looks like.

That may not be so bad if you’re writing for a trade publication aimed at workers in a specific industry (say, a magazine for investment analysts). But if you’re writing for a mainstream print or online news outlet always remember that you should be producing stories of interest and import to a general audience.

So when making the rounds of your beat, always ask yourself, “How will this affect my readers? Will they care? Should they care?” If the answer is no, chances are the story’s not worth your time.

• Reporting on the Courts
• Tips for Producing Great Trend Stories
• What Is a Beat Reporter?
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• A Look at Different Kinds of Journalism Jobs and Careers
• 6 Ways Reporters Can Avoid Conflicts of Interest
• What is Hyperlocal Journalism?
• The Basics of Associated Press Style
• Understanding Citizen Journalism
• Why Reporters Should Avoid Checkbook Journalism
• Building an Impressive Journalism Clip Portfolio
• Finding Stories to Cover in Your Hometown
• What Is a Breaking News Story?
• Why Bloggers Can't Replace the Work of Professional Journalists
• Learn to Write News Stories
• The Pros and Cons of Getting a Journalism Degree in College

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Kenna Griffin

A practical resource for writers.

15 Ways to Work Your Beat

July 24, 2023 by Kenna Griffin

Newsrooms aren’t the chaos you see on TV and in the movies. In real-life newsrooms, there’s more of a method to who does what, not just a bunch of yelling and paper throwing. The organization is because of the beat system. This approach to assignments helps ensure that everyone in the newsroom has a job to do and nothing gets missed.

No matter what type of writing you do, you should be an expert in your niche, the people in it, and how to cover it, just like a beat reporter is. 

I’ve helped thousands of writers improve their writing. I’ve earned a full-time living writing and teaching writing for more than two decades. And I know that learning how to cover a beat can help you become an expert in any coverage area.

In this post, you’ll learn what a beat is and 15 ways to work one. 

What is a Beat? 

A beat is a reporter’s assigned area of coverage. Beats help to organize the newsroom, allowing reporters to be “everywhere” for the public by ensuring that ample attention is given to each area of coverage. They also allow reporters to become experts in their coverage areas, identifying stories that best serve their audiences and developing trusted, reliable sources.

What Traits Does a Great Beat Reporter Have?

Every reporter and their approach to working a beat is different. But reporters possess certain traits that make them better at working a beat. And, let’s face it, the better you are at coverage, the more sought-after beat assignment you’ll get. So, it pays to hone in on these traits. 

Not a journalist? That’s OK! You still want to embrace these traits that help you cover your niche with professional curiosity and rigor.

Traits of a great beat reporter include:

• Deep Knowledge. You must have a deep understanding of the area you cover, regardless of whether it’s sports or mental health. You need to understand the current issues and players and the history and context of the beat.
• Curiosity. Great reporters are endlessly curious. They always want to learn more, dig deeper, and discover what is happening behind the scenes. They don’t take things at face value, always questioning what they’re told.
• Networking Skills. You’ll never get the scoop without people. Being a beat reporter means cultivating sources and building relationships with people in the field. This networking takes time, patience, and good interpersonal skills. Once people trust you, they’ll share information with you that they normally wouldn’t.
• Writing Skills. Writing clearly, succinctly, and engagingly is a key skill. If you can’t unpack a challenging topic for your audience, you don’t understand it well enough.
• Ethics. A great beat reporter has high ethical standards and is committed to nothing but the truth. This value means avoiding potential conflicts of interest and being fair and accurate in their reporting.
• Adaptability. The news cycle is constantly changing, and a beat reporter needs to be able to adapt quickly. You might need to change a story at the last minute, work late to cover a breaking news event, or learn about a new topic quickly.
• Resilience. Reporting can be tough, with long hours, seemingly constant deadlines, and dealing with difficult or sensitive subjects. A great beat reporter must have the resilience to keep going even when things get tough.
• Investigative Skills. A great beat reporter can dig deeper and make connections that others miss. It requires research, attention to detail, and thinking critically and analytically.
• Attention to Detail. A beat reporter must pay close attention to detail. Accuracy is paramount, and the little things matter.
• Time Management. Journalists often work under strict deadlines. A good beat reporter knows how to manage their time effectively, prioritizing tasks and ensuring they can complete their work on time.

How the Beat System Applies to Other Types of Writing

I referenced it earlier, but it’s worth getting into more. The ability to work a beat well is just one of the skills I learned from journalism that has applied in other areas of my professional life. I am insatiably curious, which serves me well in teaching, writing, and editing. Dare I say it even serves me well in life? 

I truly believe that learning how to work a beat well will help make you a better writer. You’ll never long for something to write about — that’s for sure.

Knowing how to work a beat can help you as a:

• Author. Authors usually write in a certain genre (e.g., mystery, romance, science fiction, etc.) or subject matter (e.g., stories about immigrant experiences, novels set in a certain time period or location, etc.). Knowing how to work a beat allows you to become steeped in this world and craft.
• Screenwriters. Like authors, screenwriters often specialize in particular types of stories or genres, developing a deep understanding of the conventions, themes, and structures that work best in that area.
• Copywriters. In marketing and advertising, copywriters often specialize in a certain industry or type of copy. Knowing how to work a beat means understanding how to apply your expert skills to an individual industry or several.
• Technical Writers. Technical writers must be able to communicate complex information in a way that people can understand it, just like a beat reporter.
• Content Writers. You know who is one of the greatest authorities in and on any area? The journalist who covers it. Understanding how to work a beat helps a content writer know how to become immersed in a niche.
• Academic Researchers. In academia, researchers focus on specific areas within their field of study, allowing them to develop deep expertise and contribute to the body of knowledge in that area. It means having a deep understanding of what’s there and how to build on it in a meaningful way.

In short, knowing how to delve into an area so deeply can benefit any writer because all writers are specialists in some part of the craft and in the area they’re writing for/about.

15 Tips for Working Your Beat

Now that you understand how helpful knowing beats are, how does this approach to information-gathering work? How do you learn how to work a beat? Here are 15 of my best tips.

1. Know A Lot 

Have you ever heard someone referred to as a “jack of all trades and a master of none”? This cliche sort of describes journalists. Journalists know a little bit about many topics because it’s their job to become quasi-experts on whatever they cover. They have to do this to master journalism.

To be a “master” journalist, you must be naturally curious and love learning. You need to learn as much as you can about what you’re covering as quickly as possible. The more you know, the better stories you will identify, the more intelligent questions you’ll ask, and the more effectively you will serve the public.

2. Understand the Area’s Background

Research the area you’re assigned to cover. You don’t have to go back to Aristotle and the beginning of thought in your area, but understanding the foundations is essential.

What are the big stories that have happened there? What are important ongoing stories that you’ll need to follow up on? You need to know the beat’s history and what’s important to the people there now.

3. Know the Law

Understand the laws that govern your beat. What information are you legally entitled to, and where can you get it? What information should you request but know you may not get because it legally doesn’t belong to the public? Knowing the law in your beat helps establish and build your credibility. It also helps you know where the sensitive areas may be so you can study how to present them fairly and accurately. And it leads to better stories and more advanced coverage for your readers.

4. Meet People

Introduce yourself to the people you’re going to cover. Make them part of your professional network.

If a well-liked reporter is leaving that beat, ask him/her to take you out and introduce you to sources. This helps lend you that reporter’s credibility.

If not, take business cards to distribute and just go introduce yourself to key people in your beat. Can’t meet up in person? No problem. Introduce yourself online. LinkedIn anyone?

Don’t ask for anything during these visits. They are just for introductions and the beginning step toward establishing a strong professional relationship.

While meeting everyone in your beat initially is impossible, don’t focus solely on meeting the movers and shakers. People like administrative assistants and the group who gather at the local coffee shop will be some of your best sources of ideas and information. Don’t forget to meet them.

5. Understand Expectations

Understand what your editors expect you to produce from your beat. How many stories do they expect, and how frequently? What stories are they interested in? What do they consider the most important aspects of your beat? As the old saying goes, “News is whatever the editor thinks it is.” You should at least understand your editor’s expectations from your area.

6. Be There

There is no substitute for personal contact with your sources, especially when you’re new to a beat. You need to develop relationships with the people who work and live in your beat so they will trust you, rely on you, and help you provide important information. Don’t try to work your beat from your office chair. Go out into your beat every chance you get.

Here’s more on why you should leave your desk .

7. Be Immediate

Be ready when big news breaks in your beat. Have a sense of urgency and understand when something needs to be covered in person and live. Know when you need to pivot your existing content plans. Business, as usual, doesn’t work when there’s an opportunity for real attention or a need for breaking coverage.

8. Identify Great Sources

It won’t take long for you to identify which sources are easy to talk to, readily available, don’t mind being interviewed, and give great information. Knowing the strong, quotable sources in your beat is important because they are key to your coverage success. It’s equally important not to rely too heavily on them, making it seem like they are your only sources.

Know who the foundational figures are in your area. Be ready to quote them but also to add new voices to the mix.

9. Question Every Story

Working a beat means you’ll have more ideas than you have time. Question the value of writing every story and the cost of not doing so.

Every story you write means a different story won’t get told.

Ask yourself how important each topic is to your readers. If you don’t know, then you need to get to know your audience better and question what they want and expect from you.

Also, don’t forget about stories. Just because something doesn’t happen for your immediate deadline doesn’t mean it’s not newsworthy . Keep a running list of story ideas so you’re never without content plans. If something isn’t decided or a question can’t be answered right then ask the source when you should contact them again, mark it on your calendar, then always follow up.

Here’s more on finding story ideas .

10. Get Answers

Never let a question go unanswered. Ask a question as often as you have to until you get an answer or the source outright refuses to answer. Doing so means your readers never will wonder why you didn’t ask or accuse you of not asking tough questions on purpose.

On a related note, be sure you understand the answers you receive. If you don’t, you need to ask the source to explain. It’s unacceptable to end an interview without understanding your source’s answers. Stay until you figure out what’s going on.

Never assume that everyone else understands except you. As soon as you do that, your editor will ask you what something means, and you’ll look incompetent when you can’t.

Check out these 10 Simple Steps for Stronger Reporting .

11. Do a Favor

A quick way to build relationships with sources is to do favors, if possible. I added that “if possible” because you certainly shouldn’t do anything illegal or unethical for a source. But if you can bring them a few extra copies of a newspaper they’re in, put an item in a calendar listing for them, or assign a photographer for their organization’s positive (but still newsworthy) photo opportunity. People will help people who help them.

12. Accentuate the Positive

News doesn’t have to be negative. Don’t forget to write about the positive things in your beat. We need and want happy stories. Sources will resent you if you only contact them when there’s an issue. Every beat has positive, fun stories too. Don’t forget to write them.

13. Protect Your Sources

If you tell someone you’ll keep information off the record, keep it off. Keep that secret if you promise not to say who told you a piece of information. Sources who trust you are invaluable.

14. Be Accurate

It should go without saying, but just in case… be accurate. The people in your beat will shut down and make it extremely difficult for you to do your job if they don’t trust you to get information right. Plus, no one wants to be known as the reporter who can’t get it right. Do everything you can to ensure all of the information you release is accurate, fair, and balanced. Failure to do so will make it difficult for you to keep a job in any type of writing.

15. Know Your Role

You spend so much time relationship building in your beat that it can become difficult to report negative things or tell a client no. You will end up reporting something negative about a source who you really like. You will have to tell your favorite client that you won’t do something for them because it isn’t a sound practice. People will surprise you with the things you do. Remember that your job is to do the right thing, however inconvenient it may be. Never dedicate yourself to anything but the truth.

Working a Beat Means Expertise

Working a beat well is difficult. Most of your work is never seen by your readers because it includes things like content development, relationship building, time management, and balancing reporting for multiple mediums while still doing in-depth research.

Perhaps the best advice for working a beat is to understand that the work never is done. There’s always one more edit that can be done or one more story to be written.

You have to develop an understanding of the people who care about your coverage area and what they need and want from you, then you have to set personal limits.

Do as much as you can to cover your beat to the fullest in the time that you have. Really, that’s all anyone can ask.

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Article contents

Beat journalism and reporting.

• Melanie Magin Melanie Magin Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• , and  Peter Maurer Peter Maurer Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.905
• Published online: 26 March 2019

Beat reporting refers to thematic specialization and routines (places to go, people to see) in journalism. The term reflects the distinction between general assignment reporters and specialized (beat) reporters covering a specific area (beat) as well as the subject-matter or geographic divisions between areas of reporting by which media organizations seek to structure the social environment they cover. Beat reporting marks the beginning of modern journalism. It was invented at the end of the 19th century in the United States with the aim to increase the efficiency of journalistic work. Thus it relates to the professionalization and rationalization of newspaper journalism and the transformation of newspapers into a mass product. In everyday work, beat reporting has undeniable advantages. It saves resources since beat reporters are very experienced on their beat and know well where and how to get exactly the information they need. Due to their long-term relationship of trust with relevant sources, beat reporters obtain exclusive, trustworthy, and newsworthy information. Along with this specialization come, however, several challenges; for example, the diversity of views represented in a beat might be limited, which can also affect the diversity of news coverage. At the extreme, this can even lead to pack journalism as a form of groupthink. Concerning the reporter–source relationship, there are three risks of losing professional distance: (a) If beat reporters become too loyal toward their sources, they can be instrumentalized; (b) being too adversarial toward their sources might entail a loss of trust and an increasing cynicism of the audience; (c) if beat reporters start feeling like advocates of their own interests, they might behave as activists rather than detached observers. Most recently, online journalism has changed the understanding of beat journalism (e.g., data journalism, local online beat) compared to the traditional understanding. Research on beat journalism has so far focused on stable, high-income democracies and on the political beat as the most fundamental and prominent beat.

• beat journalism
• beat reporting
• journalism studies
• journalist–source relations
• journalistic routines
• news journalism
• pack journalism
• political beat
• professionalization

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Beaming to reflect the beat (a.k.a. rebeaming)

Beams help communicate to the reader how long beats are and where each beat starts. When given a rebeaming exercise, the rhythms have been beamed incorrectly because they are not doing a good job of clarify information about each beat. It is your job to fix it so that the start of each beat is notated as clearly as possibly and that notes that should be beamed together, are beamed together. Note, you are only changing the look of the music, the sound must be exactly the same. This is the equivalent of spelling a word correctly. For example, "phraug" and "frog" sound the same, but the second way is the proper way to spell it. To beam music to reflect the beat, follow this procedure:

• Find the length of the beat
• Divide the measure into beat-length groups
• If necessary, "break apart" note values and re-connect them with ties
• Within each beat, beam anything that can be beamed

More Information Below:

Example in Simple Meter

Example with "breaking apart" note values.

Example in Compound Meter

First, find out is find out how long a beat is in the given meter. Below is a summary of simple meter signatures, their number of beats, and their beat lengths:

Next, divide the measure in question into beat-length groups. In 3/4, which has quarter-note beat lengths for example, I'd take this ...

... and I would group together the notes with circles like this to clarify the beats while I work:

Now, I consider each of my circled beats separately. Anything that can be beamed within each beat needs to be beamed together. Only notes that can have flags can be beamed together, so eighths, sixteenths, thirty-second notes can be beamed (because they have flags), but quarters, half notes, and whole notes cannot (because they don't have flags).

The music is now properly beamed because the span of each beat is now very clear. The final product looks like this:

Often you'll run into a situation where the a beat is unclear because it starts in the middle of a longer note like below:

Notice that you'll have trouble finding the end of beat 1 and the beginning of beat 2 when you start circling beats:

In situations like these, you'll need to "break apart" the longer notes and stitch them back together using a tie. Notice how I took the problematic note, the quarter note, and broke it into two eighth notes that I tied together:

This maintains the original sound. Initially it was a 1/4 note, but an 1/8 + 1/8 = 1/4. In the original there was only one attack point, but when I broke it into two eighths, I've created two attack points so I used a tie to combine the two eighth notes and prevent the second eighth from receiving an attack. Now, that we've made it possible to see all the beats, our new version looks like this:

Now we can start the process from the beginning and circle all the beats:

Then, anything that can be beamed within each beat needs to be beamed together:

Example in Compound Meters

For compound meters, the process is exactly the same. The most important question is, "how long is a beat in the meter you're working with?" When that question is answered incorrectly, it causes a lot of confusion. Many people are incorrectly taught that the top number of a meter signature tells you how many beats there are. That's only the case for simple meters and it is simply not true for compound meters. In compound meters, the top number tells you how many total beat divisions are in each measure. In 6/8, for example, each measure has six eighth notes, but not six beats. In a compound meter, the real beats can be divided into three, equal-length divisions. That means that you can take 3 of 6/8's beat divisions (the eighth notes), add them together, and you'll get the length of a single beat in 6/8, which is a dotted quarter note. Remember, if you can't find the true length of the beat, you will not be able to rebeam properly, so consider this paragraph carefully, or go review compound meters before continuing.

Here's a summary of some compound meters and the length of their beats:

Let's beam this measure below which is in a compound meter:

Just like before, the first step is to determine the length of the beat. In 6/8, beats are a dotted quarter-note long. I'll divide the measure into beat-length groups and circle each one:

I hope that helps!

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of assignment in English

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• It was a jammy assignment - more of a holiday really.
• He took this award-winning photograph while on assignment in the Middle East .
• His two-year assignment to the Mexico office starts in September .
• She first visited Norway on assignment for the winter Olympics ten years ago.
• He fell in love with the area after being there on assignment for National Geographic in the 1950s.
• act as something
• all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) idiom
• be at work idiom
• be in work idiom
• housekeeping
• in the line of duty idiom
• join duty idiom

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assignment | American Dictionary

Assignment | business english, examples of assignment, collocations with assignment.

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a child's toy in the shape of a small person or baby

Treasure troves and endless supplies (Words and phrases meaning ‘source’)

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Beat Journalism and Reporting

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Other forms: assignments

Whether you’re an international spy with a new mission or a high school student with math homework — when you get an assignment , you’d better do it! An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do.

The word assignment is just the noun form of the common verb assign , which you use when you want to give someone a duty or a job. When you assign something, that something is called an assignment . The word can also refer to the act of distributing something. If you are distributing new office furniture at work, you might say, “ Assignment of the new chairs will begin tomorrow.”

• noun an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor) see more see less types: show 6 types... hide 6 types... school assignment , schoolwork a school task performed by a student to satisfy the teacher writing assignment , written assignment an assignment to write something classroom project a school task requiring considerable effort classwork the part of a student's work that is done in the classroom homework , prep , preparation preparatory school work done outside school (especially at home) lesson a task assigned for individual study type of: labor , project , task , undertaking any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted
• noun a duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces) “a hazardous assignment ” synonyms: duty assignment see more see less types: show 10 types... hide 10 types... guard , guard duty , sentry duty , sentry go the duty of serving as a sentry fatigue , fatigue duty labor of a nonmilitary kind done by soldiers (cleaning or digging or draining or so on) charge , commission , mission a special assignment that is given to a person or group reassignment assignment to a different duty sea-duty , service abroad , shipboard duty naval service aboard a ship at sea shore duty naval service at land bases fool's errand a fruitless mission mission impossible an extremely dangerous or difficult mission martyr operation , sacrifice operation , suicide mission killing or injuring others while annihilating yourself; usually accomplished with a bomb secondment the detachment of a person from their regular organization for temporary assignment elsewhere type of: duty work that you are obliged to perform for moral or legal reasons
• noun the act of putting a person into a non-elective position synonyms: appointment , designation , naming see more see less types: show 6 types... hide 6 types... nomination the act of officially naming a candidate co-optation , co-option the act of appointing summarily (with or without the appointee's consent) delegacy the appointment of a delegate ordinance , ordination the act of ordaining; the act of conferring (or receiving) holy orders recognition designation by the chair granting a person the right to speak in a deliberative body laying on of hands laying hands on a person's head to invoke spiritual blessing in Christian ordination type of: conclusion , decision , determination the act of making up your mind about something
• noun the act of distributing something to designated places or persons “the first task is the assignment of an address to each datum” synonyms: assigning see more see less types: allocation , storage allocation (computer science) the assignment of particular areas of a magnetic disk to particular data or instructions type of: distribution the act of distributing or spreading or apportioning
• noun (law) a transfer of property by deed of conveyance synonyms: grant see more see less types: apanage , appanage a grant (by a sovereign or a legislative body) of resources to maintain a dependent member of a ruling family land grant a grant of public land (as to a railway or college) type of: transferred possession , transferred property a possession whose ownership changes or lapses
• noun the instrument by which a claim or right or interest or property is transferred from one person to another see more see less type of: instrument , legal document , legal instrument , official document (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right

Vocabulary lists containing assignment

The Dawes Act, or General Allotment Act of 1887, was a law that allowed the U.S. government to take Native American tribal lands and divide them into 40 acre lots for individual Native Americans. The goal was to break up communal tribal lands and speed the assimilation of Native Americans into American society. The Dawes Act caused great suffering with much of the land winding up in the hands of white settlers.

Learn these words from the autobiography by David Lubar (Inside: Level B, Unit 4). Here are our links to the selections of "Every Body Is a Winner": The Human Machine; My Fabulous Footprint , The Beat Goes On; All Pumped Up , Two Left Feet, Two Left Hands , How Coach Told Me; Bionics Here are our links to the units of Level B: Unit 1 , Unit 2 , Unit 3 , Unit 4 , Unit 5 , Unit 6 , Unit 7 , Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A , Level B , Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary

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Establishing a beat system

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