Written assignment
format and details
Format
for written assignments:
Each
story or editorial 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]
RPW 262-01
Dr. Dallas
[date]
Then
skip a line and center the title of your story or editorial.
Skip another line and begin. At the end, put "#" or "30" centered
at the bottom to indicate the end of your story. Your
work should be ready to turn in upon arrival in class.
|
Assignment
details:
|
| Class
discussions, News groups & News story rewrites |
10
points |
| The
Elements of Journalism editorials |
33 points |
| Class
newsletter |
22 points |
| Feature
story -- draft |
5 points |
| Feature
story -- final |
10
points |
| Course
portfolio on CD |
10 points |
| Final
exam |
10 points |
| 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. |
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. Each
student will be given multiple opportunities to share their
story with the class, for feedback, for clarification of connection
with the original story, and for other connections to consider.
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]
RPW 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
12)
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
8.
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
14.
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.