Bonfils was known for her undercover reporting and her ability to get good news stories, even though women reporters weren't welcomed. Under her pen name "Annie Laurie," she wrote stories on boxing matches, Mormons who had more than one wife, leper colonies, and natural disasters.
In 1900, to get the story of a tidal wave that had destroyed a town in Texas, Bonfils dressed up as a teenage boy who was there to do relief work. She got into the disaster area on a police boat, and was the first woman and first reporter there. One time, she pretended to faint in the street, in order to see how good San Francisco's ambulances and hospitals were. Her resulting story, which exposed the rude harassment by the male attendants, caused reforms to take place. She also covered murder trials, went undercover as a cannery worker, was a war correspondent, and wrote on drugs.
Her stories that were sympathetic towards the disadvantaged, or reported on tragedies, were part of a writing style called "Sob Sister Journalism." She wanted people to feel sorry for the people she wrote about, and packed a lot of emotion into her writing. Although some people thought this style of writing was too dramatic, many people enjoyed the real-life stories.
Besides simply writing about social problems, Bonfils personally did things to change them. She started San Francisco's first community Christmas tree, raised funds for a children's hospital, saved the jobs of people who worked at street corner flower stands, and stopped businessmen from demolishing the Palace of Fine Arts, which still stands today.
Bonfils may have "sobbed" about things, but she also tried to help people, in addition to educating readers about the problems. Find something you can not only write about, but help with. For example, are there students with learning disabilities at your school? Find out what learning disabilities are, and write about them for a class or for your school paper. Then, see if you can help those students by tutoring them in reading or math. Another example could be recycling. Does your school have bins in which students and teachers can place recyclable paper, glass, plastics, and metals? Find out why recycling is good, and help your school recycle. If they don't have a program, see what you can do about starting one.