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English 262, section 01 -- Introduction to Journalism

NOTE: This syllabus may change as class needs dictate.

1. General information 2. Course information 3. Overview and Objectives 4. Homework & schedule 5. Assignments & Grading

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Required Texts:

• Kovach, Bill & Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism. Rev. Upd. Three Rivers Press, 2007. ISBN 0307346706: this text forms the basis for thinking about journalism and is used to write weekly editorials. Cappon, Rene. The
• Lewis, Jon. The Mammoth Book of Journalism. Carroll & Graf, 2003. ISBN 0786711698: this text offers samples of news writing to explore and discuss changes in journalistic writing over a period of time.
• Associated Press Guide to News Writing. 3rd ed. Arco, 1999. ISBN 0768919797 -or -
  Arco. The Associated Press Guide to News Writing. Peterson's, 2005. ISBN 0768919797: this text is a reference guide to writing, and offers samples for review.

Other resources:

• Student Technology Center, 2nd floor, Zahnow Library http://www.svsu.edu/stc
• The Writing Center, 3rd floor, Zahnow Library http://www.svsu.edu/writingcenter/
• Research assistance at SVSU Zahnow Library here
• Information Technology Services @ SVSU here
• English Department grading rubric here [downloads RTF file]
• Your local public library *elsewhere*
• Pop Cap Games (Chuzzle!) here

 

 

 

This course helps you develop the skills to gathering news and learn how to "tell the story." It becomes important to think about accuracy and fairness in reporting, as well as consider the relevance of the story, the usefulness of the information, and ultimately the readers' interest. [animation courtesy of the animation factory]
Print news	newspapers pamphlets magazines brochures
Electronic news	blogs, radio, websites, zines
Visual news	documentaries, photos, television, cable
Reminders:
Reviewing the Attendance policy, the Assignments policy, and the SVSU policies is beneficial. You will also find specifics on grading and the minimum effort.
If you need to contact me by e-mail at "fidallas@svsu.edu," the subject line should contain your last name, course and section number [for example, using my name the subject line would be: Dallas, English 262-01] to prevent your e-mail from being misplaced as possible spam. Please ensure that you use your SVSU e-mail account for a reply within 48 hours, otherwise a reply may take up to 96 hours. If I feel the question's response would be of benefit to the entire class, I may place the anonymous question and response in a FAQ section of VSpace.

 

 

 

 

ENGL262: News reporting and writing. Emphasis on stylistic elements peculiar to journalism. Prerequisite: ENGL 111.

Ok, Charlene is doing her morning exercises.

Overview: This course is designed as a balance between theory and application, with a critical analysis component. For the theory, we will read and discuss some underlying concepts about journalism. For the application, we will write and produce a class weekly newsletter. For the in-between critical analysis, we will read news stories from our text and locate other news stories to critique and examine.

Course objectives are designed to enable students to: develop strategies for for critical reading and analysis of texts [editorials, class discussions, news story rewrites] write an effective, researched article [feature story] gain experience in writing, distributing, and receiving feedback on journalistic work [class newsletter] collaborate in groups and project teams [class discussions, news groups, class newsletter].

If you need to contact me by e-mail at "fidallas@svsu.edu," the subject line should contain your last name, course and section number to prevent your e-mail from being misplaced as possible spam.

NOTE 1: We will be doing some of our editing in class, so you may wish to use a flash drive or other portable document carrier to have immediate access to your work. Depending on e-mail may not be wise, and leaving your work on your home computer may result in you having to retype printed documents. You can also use the "M" drive or VSpace resources section in your VSpace workspace.

NOTE 2: You may turn in your assignment early if you know you are going to miss a class. I do not accept assignments via e-mail. For each day (or portion thereof) that your assignment is late, two (2) points will be deducted. Lost flash drives, M drive problems, incompatible software versions, or 'homework on computer at home' are not legitimate excuses for late work.

NOTE 3: All responses and work for the course (course portfolio) will be burned to CD and turned in at the final examination period. You may wish to make a copy for yourself, as the course portfolio will not be returned.

Course weekly schedule:
Activities are DUE on the date indicated by the course schedule. Please review to plan your time wisely.
Class days: M = Monday; W=Wednesday
Assignments: indicated by bold text
Texts: EJ=The Elements of Journalism; APG=The Associated Press Guide to News Writing; MBJ=The Mammoth Book of Journalism

Class discussions, News groups & News story rewrites -- 10 points:
Each student will be expected to contribute to the class discussions and participate in news group consultations. We also will rewrite news stories from The Mammoth Book of Journalism to reflect a local perspective.

Class discussions: class discussions are to assist you on gleaning important points and concepts from the assigned readings. If something from the reading is confusing or difficult to grasp, the shared knowledge of the class may help.

News groups: while the editorial teams' main purpose is to work on the editions of the class newsletter, there will be occasions where smaller news groups (consisting of the same members as the editorial teams) will discuss issues in class.

News story rewrites: Read the assigned story, and rewrite it to show a local connection. This connection could be general (education, society, crime, politics, war) or a more specific commentary on the human condition. The challenge is to find a connection in the news stories from The Mammoth Book of Journalism to show the continuing saga of life. Your rewrite should follow the assignment format listed below, and consist of 100 to 150 words. Give your story a title. The goal here is not just to summarize the news story, but to find some connection with a contemporary situation.

Assignment format for editorials, news story rewrites & feature story assignments:
Each assignment will be typed, single-spaced, with one-inch margins. Use Arial 12 point, Bookman Old Style12 point, or Century Gothic 11 point fonts. The top of the paper should be formatted as such:

[your name]
English 262-01
Dr. Dallas
[date]

Then skip a line and center the title of your editorial or story. Skip another line and begin your editorial or story. Your article should be within the word requirement listed for the assignment. Your work should be ready to be turned in upon arrival in class. For each calendar day (or portion thereof) that your assignment is late, two (2) points will be deducted. Lost flash drives, M drive problems, incompatible software versions, or 'homework on computer at home' are not legitimate excuses for late work.

The Elements of Journalism editorials -- eleven editorials of 3 points each for a total of 33 points:
These editorials will take the form of an opinion as if from the OpEd Page of a newspaper. Each editorial will follow the assignment format listed above and range from 250 to 275 words. Your editorial should:

1. glean the main ideas from the chapter
2. cover the good points and list items of agreement
3. cover the bad points and list questionable concepts
4. offer your opinion on salient points or items to consider for future writing

Think about function, style, tone, and mechanics. Your OpEd should not “answer” the points listed above, but should incorporate them in your editorial.

Remember: For each day your editorial is late, two points are deducted.

Class newsletter -- 22 points (eleven points for each issue based upon publisher & peer evaluation):
The class newsletter is a collaborative effort. The publisher is Dr. Dallas. There will be three editorial teams which will produce the newsletter in cycles:

editorial team 1: issues 2 (week 3) and 5 (week 9)
editorial team 2: issues 3 (week 5) and 6 (week 11)
editorial team 3: issues 4 (week 7) and 7 (week 13)

Issue 1 will be produced by the publisher, in order to give you an idea of the class newsletter expectation. The editorial teams will determine & produce the content for the newsletter, distribute it, and assess reader feedback on the stories. The newsletter will be letter (8.5 x 11) paper size, two columned, two sheets, with front and back coverage each, including the banner masthead. Editorial teams will have a shared discussion board at VSpace to discuss article topics, facilitate article reviews and comments, and will assess editorial team efforts through a newsgroup peer evaluation.

Editorial teams not involved with producing the current issue should offer feedback on proposed content from current editorial team. More details on story type and length will be provided in class.

Feature story -- 15 points total; rough draft is worth 5 points and final version is worth 10 points:
One outcome of this course will be to write a feature story suitable for publication. Students will have the option to pursue any story interest of their choosing. Stories could be submitted to The Valley Vanguard, the PTW online journal, a local newspaper, an SVSU organization newsletter, or other venue for publication consideration. The feature story follow the assignment format listed above, and the specifics below:

Rough draft: A minimum of 350-words, single-spaced, rough draft feature story will explore an interest of your choosing. The rough draft will cite at least three credible outside sources or references, is worth 5 points, and is due week 12.

Final version: A minimum of 600-words and a maximum of 750-words, single-spaced, feature story will explore an interest of your choosing. This story will cite at least five references or outside sources--four print and one electronic. The final version with five credible outside sources or references is worth 10 points and is due week 15.

Course Portfolio -- 10 points:
Your commentaries, newsletter submissions, and feature story will be burned to CD. Your work should be saved as .RTF files. This item is due at the final exam period. This CD should be burned before the final examination period, and you should verify the readability of the contents by checking on a computer other than the one used to burn your files--if you can't read it, neither can I. This CD will not be returned, so you should make your own copy if so desired.

The assignments and corresponding file names are as follows:

EOJ editorial 1 -- eoj1.rtf
EOJ editorial 2 -- eoj2.rtf
EOJ editorial 3 -- eoj3.rtf
EOJ editorial 4 -- eoj4.rtf
EOJ editorial 5 -- eoj5.rtf
EOJ editorial 6 -- eoj6.rtf
EOJ editorial 7 -- eoj7.rtf
EOJ editorial 8 -- eoj8.rtf
EOJ editorial 9 -- eoj9.rtf
EOJ editorial 10 -- eoj10.rtf
EOJ editorial 11 -- eoj11.rtf
News story rewrite 1 -- nsr1.rtf
News story rewrite 2 -- nsr2.rtf
News story rewrite 3 -- nsr3.rtf
News story rewrite 4 -- nsr4.rtf
News story rewrite 5 -- nsr5.rtf
News story rewrite 6 -- nsr6.rtf
News story rewrite 7 -- nsr7.rtf
News story rewrite 8 -- nsr8.rtf
News story rewrite 9 -- nsr9.rtf
News story rewrite 10 -- nsr10.rtf
News story rewrite 11 -- nsr11.rtf
News story rewrite 12 -- nsr12.rtf
Class newsletter article 1 -- cna1.rtf
Class newsletter article 2 -- cna2.rtf
Feature story rough draft -- fsrd.rtf
Feature story final -- fsf.rtf

Final exam -- 10 points:
The final exam will consist of a group project and an individual response to a journalistic query. Follow the assignment format above for preparing your response. Check your print balance before the final examination to ensure that you will be able to print and turn in the final response.