What makes a good obituary?

When a person dies an obituary is written about the person’s life.

According to the book, family and friends consider this an important part of celebrating the person’s death, they often find themselves in a scrapbook commemorating the person’s life.

An important part of writing an obituary is preparing for it.

The writer must collect the name and address of the deceased person, their occupation and age, cause, date and place of death and name of living relatives.

Also the writer must collect, the time and place of the funeral, the burial site and biographical information.

The journalist should apply the same practices to writing an obituary as he or she would when as a news story, when writing the lead and building the body.

In an obituary it is imperative to include the time and place of the funeral and burial, the visitation time(s) if any, survivors, date and place of birth, achievements and memberships of the deceased.

When reporting the cause and circumstance of the death the writer must be careful to watch the language used because it is a very sensitive topic.