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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "JRN 221-1"
COURSE NAME: "Writing for the Media"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring Semester 2012
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Mancini Rosamaria
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: MW 16:00-17:15
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: EN 110 with a grade of C or above
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is an introduction to journalistic writing and news gathering. You will learn the structure and style for news and feature stories, interviewing techniques for quotation and attribution, as well as the basics of communication law, especially libel, and the basics of public relations. We will also consider some underlying political and philosophical issues in journalism.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

This course will require that you write some stories from provided facts, but it will emphasize “real world” reporting and writing. You will be assigned a reaction story, which will require you to interview a number of people about a current news issue. Later, you will write a profile, which will require you to conduct an in depth interview of a person, department or club.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:


This course will give you the basic skills needed to report and write news and feature stories in a clear and effective way that takes into account your responsibility as a reporter.

KEY SKILLS TAUGHT:

-Identify News

-How to Interview

-How to Structure a News Story

-Associated Press Style

-What is Media Law/Ethics

-Basics of Public Relations
TEXTBOOK:
Book TitleAuthorPublisherISBN numberLibrary Call NumberCommentsFormatLocal BookstoreOnline Purchase
Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method Carole RichWadsworth9780495004233     
Associated Press StyleAssociated PressAssociated Press 978-0-917360-55-8     
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
 <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">GRADING POLICY:</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">ASSESSMENT METHODS:</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Attendance/Class Participation&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;20 percent</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Reaction Story&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;15 percent</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Profile Story&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;25 percent</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Assignments/Quizzes&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;20 percent</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Final Exam&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;20 percent</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Attendance: More than three absences makes &ldquo;B&rdquo; your maximum grade. This policy should cover most emergencies during the semester &ndash; please contact me via e-mail if you will be out.&nbsp; If you find you will be missing more classes, you must contact me during the emergency and outline your plans for keeping up. It is not acceptable to miss additional classes and hand in work at the end of the semester, even if you had &ldquo;good reasons&rdquo; for being out. Please be on time, I will take attendance each class and if you are late it&rsquo;s your responsibility to tell me that you&rsquo;re present.&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Class Participation: You should take active part in the class discussions and have exercises, reading and stories done on time.&nbsp; You, as a reporter, should be curious and you should ask questions - there are no stupid questions. </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">News writing: You will write two stories from actual sources and several in-class from provided facts. A number of these stories, including the reaction and profile stories, will go through two drafts. It&rsquo;s important to remember that you must check facts and spelling of names in your stories, mistakes happen, but they should be avoided at all costs. These assignments must be turned in on time or your grade will suffer. I will ONLY accept late assignments the class after they are due.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Reaction Story</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">A reaction story reports the views of a large number of people on an important news issue. You will select the news issue, but I will approve it. You will start with five sources, but eventually expand your reporting to include more people. Your story will not necessarily include 20 sources, but a professional journalist often &ldquo;over-reports&rdquo; to assure that they have strong useful material. For this class, the experience in interviewing is also valuable. Interview a wide variety of ages and types of people.&nbsp; [Tip: To get solid statements from your sources, ask them to respond to the arguments of people on the other side.] The reaction story is a basic story type, but provides challenges in interviewing, organizing transitions, quotation and paraphrase, identifying sources and keeping the reader interested. We will study a number of professional models, some of which you will find yourself. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">I encourage you to consider subjects of interest to the John Cabot community and to do your interviewing among John Cabot students, staff and faculty.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Profile Story&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Pick an interesting student as the subject of your profile, or a John Cabot academic department or club. You should not be intimately related to your subject. If it is a club, you should not be a member. You may write about a department in which you are a major or minor. Again, I will approve your subject.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">A profile is not a biography or history. It focuses on news or some point of interest. For a person profile, you must interview the subject plus at least three people who know him or her. For a club or department interview a variety of officials, club president or department head, plus members or majors. Gather background information as appropriate &ndash; biographical dates, personal statistics, club budget, number of majors and faculty in a department.&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">The profile should state the interesting quality of the person in the lead, perhaps through a scene or anecdote. Background information and description should be worked gracefully into the story where appropriate. Don&rsquo;t just dump the information or description in one section.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Quizzes/Assignments</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: skia;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">You will have news/AP style quizzes. The quizzes will test whether you have been following the news. They will also test whether you understand AP style.</span> </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Clipping exercises </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">This exercise requires you to study news writing as a model for your own work. You will clip examples of a type of story or journalistic technique we are studying and often analyze it. This is a straightforward assignment, but you can earn a poor grade for sloppy, careless work. Tape the clip neatly to an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet and clearly label what it is &ndash; hard news lead, reaction story, profile. Please make sure you find new stories, not editorials or columns. These will be discussed in class after they are assigned, but you should keep them in folder because they will be collected and graded.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: futura condensed;">Final Exam: You will take a final exam that covers information from the textbook, AP Stylebook and lectures.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-family: skia;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p> 

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:

Assessment Guidelines for assigning main letter grades: A, B, C,D, and F.

A:  Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensiveknowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.

B:  This is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.

There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.

C:  This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.

D:  This level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.

Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.

F: This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.


-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
See Assessment Criteria
ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

CLASS SCHEDULE and ASSIGNMENTS

Week 1
16, 18 January
Course Introduction 
Reading: Rich, Chap. 1 

Basic news story and story ideas
Reaction Story Assignment
Analysis of reaction story
Reading: Rich, Chap. 2 and 3

Week 2
23, 25 January
Sources and interviewing techniques
Hand in three ideas for reaction stories. Please write a few paragraphs describing the news issue, why it is newsworthy and what angles you would pursue. 
Reading: Rich, Chap. 4 and 5

Leads and nut graphs
Clip a hard news lead and an anecdotal lead. 
Reading: Rich, Chap. 6 and 7

Week 3
30 January, 1, 3 February
Story structure
Reading: Rich, Chap. 8 
Reaction story, draft 1, due


Week 4
6, 8 February
Storytelling and features
Reading: Rich, Chap. 9

Accuracy and media law
Reading: Rich Chap. 13

Week 5 
13, 15 February
Ethics
Reading: Rich, Chap. 14 

Multicultural sensitivity
Reading: Rich, Chap. 15

Week 6
20, 22 February
Lab 
Reaction story, final draft, due

Global journalism
Reading: Rich, Chap. 16

Week 7
26, 28 Febraury
Profiles
Profile assignment
Analysis of a profile
Reading: Rich, Chap. 22

Prepare two ideas for a profile. Please write a few paragraphs describing why the person or club is interesting and what would be your news peg. Be ready to discuss in class, a decision on your subject will be made today. Clip a profile from a newspaper or magazine.

Week 8
5, 7, 9 March
Web journalism
Reading: Rich, Chap. 12

Speeches, news conferences and meetings
Clip a story about a speech or meeting. 
Reading: Rich, Chap. 18

Week 9
12, 14 March
Lab
Profile assignment, draft 1, due [NO EXCEPTIONS]

Week 10
26, 28 March
Beat reporting
Reading: Rich, Chap. 17

Government/Crime stories 
Reading: Rich, Chap. 19 and 20

Week 11
2,4 April
Business News
Reading: AP Stylebook

Outside Reporting Assignment

Week 12
11 April
Lab 
Profile assignment, final draft, due [NO EXCEPTIONS]

Week 13
16, 18 April
Broadcast writing
Reading: Rich, Chap. 11

Public Relations
Reading: Rich, Chap. 10

Week 14
23 April
Media jobs, internships and resumes
Reading: Rich, Chap. 23