JOURN 300: NEWSWRITING and
REPORTING, SPRING 2015 Tuesday/Thursday 4-6 p.m. Integrative Learning Center S413
Open to sophomore, junior and
senior journalism majors. Required for major. Fulfills junior year writing
requirement.
Description and Learning
objectives: Journalism 300 is a hands-on, nuts-and-bolts
news writing and reporting class. Upon completion, you should be able to :
•
Determine what is news
• Identify
and pitch a good story
• Report
and conduct interviews
• Use
the news story "formula," especially leads and nutgraphs
•
Have an understanding of the kinds of stories there are and how to tell them
•
Uphold journalistic principles of
fairness, accuracy, telling the truth and serving the public good
Email
me anytime at maryelizacarey@gmail.com, 413-588-4274
(cell)
Syllabus,
schedule and assignments are posted on the class
blog: Journ300.blogspot.com
REQUIRED TEXT: Melvin Mencher, News
Reporting and Writing (latest edition)
ADDITIONAL REQUIRED READING
AP Style Guide online, assigned
readings TBA and daily newspapers and news magazines. Try to scan online and in
print at least one of the local newspapers including the Collegian, Daily
Hampshire Gazette or Springfield Republican every day. Also be aware of what’s
on the front page of, for instance, the Boston Globe and New York Times. Each
class, one or more students will bring in a newspaper article and comment on
some aspect of the news, news coverage, style, choice of stories or contrast
between coverage. Being conversant with what is in the news is essential to
writing it.
GRADES
Grades
are based on timely and thoughtful completion of in-class and out-of-class
writing assignments and quizzes, multi-media blog, attendance and in-class
participation. Writing criteria include news judgment, clarity of writing,
grammar, accuracy, organization, spelling, conciseness, use of AP style, and
meeting deadlines. Although the big picture things like news judgment and solid
reporting are important, misspelling names and other seemingly minor shortcomings
can ruin a story and your reputation, so they will count. Numerical equivalent
of grades: A=95, A-=92, A-/B+ =90, B+88 etc.
Explanation of how grades are calculated is in the course
schedule/calendar.
ATTENDANCE
Not
making appointments or missing the action will also undermine your career and
the class. You MUST tell me BEFORE class if you are going to be absent for a
legitimate reason. (I read my e-mail regularly and you can call my cell
anytime.) Otherwise you will receive zeroes for the day’s assignments. Please
do not be late or leave early. More than three absences and/or repeatedly being
late or leaving early will result in a significantly lowered final grade, with
the grade being lowered by a full half grade for each absence over three.
CELL
PHONE RINGERS MUST BE TURNED OFF. NO TAPING WITHOUT ASKING FIRST. NO READING
FACEBOOK, UMASS MEMES etc ONLINE DURING CLASS!
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
In-class
writing assignments usually won’t be longer than 2-3 typewritten pages. Most
major assignments are 1,000 words or 4 pages. First drafts must be in turned in
on-time for credit. Not turning in a first draft or turning in an
insufficiently complete first draft will result in a zero for the first draft
and a significantly lower final draft grade. Among your assignments are a
profile (counts for 15 percent of final grade), feature (15 percent), coverage
of a speech (10 percent), issue piece (20 percent) analysis on
deadline and deadline writing assignments (20 percent), blog (10 percent),
minor assignments, quizzes, participation (10 percent).
HONESTY
Any
instance of plagiarism or any other form of cheating is cause for course
failure.
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