LAST DAY

LAST DAY - FALL 2012 - JOURN 300




Film review grading criteria: A range – Is clearly written with a clear lead and nutgraph; organized and flows well, includes quotes and detailed descriptions of specific scenes; touches, even if briefly, on important themes in the movie, including that Bias’s death had far-reaching ramifications with respect to U.S. drug laws; does not have many typos and AP style errors B range – Does some of the above but not all C-F range – Poor content, not well organized, hard to read, ungrammatical, full of AP errors



Class grading criteria: Profile (counts for 15 percent of final grade), feature (15 percent), coverage of a speech (10 percent), issue piece (20 percent) and review (10 percent), minor papers, including first drafts (10 percent), blog (10 percent), participation/homework, worksheets and quizzes (10 percent).



Re-CAP of some take-away points:

1) First day LEADS

• Follow the lead rules in the book – must be grammatical, no cliches, don’t start with a quote

• Makes an assertion. Is NOT a classic bad lead. Gets to the HEART of the event. (If you had ONE thing to say about the event, what would it be?)

2) Interview practices (blog posts on another student)

• Establish a relationship; don’t interrupt, be prepared with good questions; get the correct spelling of all names

• Ask open-ended details that allow your interviewee to tell you anecdotes; press for DETAILS

3) Speech paper on artist Henry Hargreaves

• Lead needs to get to the heart of the event

• Research in advance and prepare good questions; interview a lot of people who attended for a more lively piece with greater perspective. Go the extra mile and contact the subject of your paper.

4) Event paper on “It’s Your Call” conference

• Lead must get to the heart of the event. If you interview a lot of people, which you should, and they have similar critiques of an event, definitely mention that

5) Interview with Globe reporter Maria Sacchetti

• Research ahead of time. If it’s a writer, read some of her work. Ask probing questions. Lead should get to the heart of her visit.

Maria’s advice: 1) If you have a goal, go for it first. Then reassess. 2) Do your best to tell the true story.3) Don't assume you know; be humble. 4) Work at your writing -- a foreign language if you're trying to learn one -- every day. 5) Appeal everything. 6) Go to job fairs. Wear a suit. Stand in line. Be nice. They might not hire you (but they might remember you). 7) Embrace math. Math is essential. 8) Always be careful and well-prepared when you travel abroad for a story. You don't want anything bad to happen. "Because then you can't tell the story."9) Do your expenses.10) Have fun. Learn salsa dancing, photography. Keep learning.

6) Profile

• A good interview is key! Ask probing questions. Get concrete details and anecdotes. DESCRIBE

7) Election interviews

• Research the candidates and issues; be informed.

• Use your people skills to get voters to talk to you

8) Feature

• Picking a good topic is KEY. Spotting a trend and writing a story that hasn’t been written before is impressive!

9) Issue

• Picking a good topic is KEY.

• Identify experts and contact them ASAP

• Interviewing sources in-person is much better than by phone or email (BEING THERE is key)

• Experts are the ones who offer opinions/analysis. Your sources talk about their personal experiences

10) Review

• Lead should make it clear if you recommend/don’t recommend the movie and why

• Write as you would speak!

11) Summaries

• Synthesize information. Doesn’t have to be in the same chronological order as what you are summarizing

12) Blogs

• Should be well organized and reader-friendly; AP style and grammar should be correct; photos add a lot