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Journalism 310: Writing, Reporting and Ethics III Fall 2013, 4-6:45 P.M. Mondays, MZ 360

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Journalism 310: Writing, Reporting and Ethics III Fall 2013, 4-6:45 P.M. Mondays, MZ 360 Journalism 310: Writing, Reporting and Ethics III Fall 2013, 4-6:45 p.m. Mondays, MZ 360 Instructor: Tim Whyte Telephone: Cell 661-305-3462; Business Office 661-297-9498 e-mail: [email protected] Personal Twitter: @TimWhyte Class Twitter: @CSUNWhyteJ310 Office hours:1-4 p.m. Mondays and 1-2 p.m. Fridays. (MZ337, across from third-floor elevator.) Prerequisite: C or better in J210. Course Description: Journalism 310 is a core course for journalism majors. Students will examine various genres of feature writing, story-telling and specialized journalism, while developing skills and techniques for feature reporting and in-depth, multi-source journalism. They will learn how to apply traditional as well as new- er forms of explanatory storytelling to their writing, and emphasis will be placed on ethics and ethical issues. Multimedia storytelling options will be utilized. Equipment 1) “Feature & Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes,” (Sumner/Miller), 3rd edition, electronic or hard copy acceptable. 2) “The Associated Press Stylebook,” any recent edition, electronic or hard copy acceptable. Course Requirements: You are expected to have basic typing skills and a functional knowledge of the English language, including spelling, punctuation and grammar. You will be working under deadline pressure and are required to meet deadlines, just as you would if you were working for a media organization. Work will not be accepted after deadline unless verifiable evidence exists of a compelling reason. Regular attendance in class is crucial in order to earn a passing grade, as there will be exercises and quizzes during class. Academic Integrity: All work must be based on original reporting. The Journalism Department is committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and integrity. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating will not be tolerated. Anyone caught cheating will receive a failing grade in the class and will be reported to the university for possible further disciplinary action. For additional explanation of the behavior defined as academic dishon- esty, and a more detailed discussion of disciplinary procedures, consult the current CSUN catalog. Please also remember that much of the information posted on the Internet is protected by U.S. copyright laws. Passing this information off as your own is a violation of CSUN’s plagiarism policy, and carries the penalties outlined above. Diversity: As in all courses offered by the Journalism Department, students in this course are strongly encour- aged to broaden their journalistic experiences, with the instructor’s help, by including in their work people and subjects such as ethnic, racial and religious minorities; the elderly, disabled and poor; gay men and lesbians; and other similar groups. The intent is to ensure that student work reflects the diversity of the community. Grading, Accuracy, Copy Editing and Prep: Articles should be written in Microsoft Word OR Pages. All copy should be double-spaced and free of typing, spelling and grammatical errors. Your name, date, word count and story slug must be included in the upper left or upper right corner of all stories. Grades will be markedly low- ered if assignments contain an undue number of spelling and grammatical errors. Grades will be based on a standard percentage scale corresponding to letter grades: 90 percent or better (A) is considered “outstanding”; 80 percent or better (B) is considered good, solid work; 70 percent or better (C) is considered average; 60 percent or better (D) is barely passable; and, grades below 60 percent are considered failure. Any “gross factual error” — a misstatement of fact, misspelling of a proper name, etc. — will carry a minimum penalty of a 10-percent deduction on the assignment. Your grade in the class will be determined by your percentage of available points. An estimated 900 to 1,000 points will be possible in the entire semester. Extra credit: Extra credit opportunities will be offered at the instructor’s discretion. Class Conduct: While we will use technology in class, it is expected that your use of technology (computers, iPads, smartphones) will be limited to class work. No fantasy football, no phone calls, no online poker, etc. Articles: The majority of your grade will be based on writing and reporting assignments. You will be given time to work on some assignments in class, but you will also need to spend time working on assignments outside of class. Specific instructions for outside assignments will be provided on an ongoing basis. In addition to weekly in-class assignments, you will write several outside feature stories and produce a final reporting/writing project. The project, due at the end of the semester, will be a feature package including a main story, sidebars, and multimedia storytelling tools, such as audio, video and photography. During the semester, you should expect to report the following articles and spend some time outside class doing so: • Blog Posts: You are expected to start a blog or, if you already have one that you would like to use, post to it weekly. Topics can be anything of your choosing, but should be relevant to news events, current cultural trends, issues in journalism, your views on issues covered in class, etc. Your blog must also meet standards for originality, attribution and legal use of materials generated by others. You will submit your blog URL to the instructor and you will receive cumulative points throughout the semester for the quality of your blog posts. (Spelling, style and grammar count.) Blog will be worth the equivalent of a 750-word feature story. • News Feature: A feature story following up on a current news event or issue. Your story must have a news hook. Topic to be approved in advance by instructor. Three-live-source rule appplies. • Special Interest: A feature story about a special interest topic. (For example: fitness, culture, fashion, travel, camping, health care, child care, mental health, music, etc.) Topic to be approved in advance by instructor, but you are encouraged to be creative. Three-live-source rule appplies. • Personality Profile: A feature story about an interesting person. Topic to be approved in advance by instruc- tor. Three-source rule IS in effect, so if your subject is one of your sources, at least two others must be inter- viewed. • Final Feature Package: Due at semester’s end. A feature story and multimedia package on a topic of your choice, with approval from the instructor. Three-live-source rule appplies. Your package will include a full-length version of the article, prepped for a magazine or similar publication, as well as multimedia package elements to accompany your article. These elements may include video, photographs, graphics, sidebars, or any other storytelling tools that help make your package compelling to readers. The deadlines for each of these stories are noted on the schedule on the last page of the syllabus. The dead- lines are staggered through the semester, but you would be well-advised to be working on them simultaneous- ly. Once you hit the first deadline, one of these pieces is due approximately every three weeks. Drafts: One week before each outside reporting assignment is due, you will turn in a draft copy of your article for a penalty-free, no-grading evaluation by the instructor. When time allows, you will spend a few minutes go- ing over the article with the instructor and discussing ways to improve it. You will not be graded on the quality of your writing until the final version is turned in -- this is an opportunity to improve your writing -- but you will earn a smaller, separate grade for your draft that will be based ONLY on its level of completion. Word counts, sources and notes: Article word counts are targets and there is some “wiggle room.” If an assignment is within 10 percent of the assigned word count (either above or below), your grade will not be affected. If a story is more than 10 percent too long or too short, points may be deducted at the instructor’s discretion. ALL outside reporting stories must include at least three “live” sources. The definition of what con- stitutes a “live” source will be discussed in class. The instructor reserves the right to request copies of your original interview or coverage notes, recordings, etc., and your grade may be impacted if notes or recordings are unavailable when a writing assignment is due. Twitter: If you do not already subscribe to Twitter, please do so. We will, on an ongoing basis, use Twitter for classwork. It is HIGHLY recommended that you establish a Twitter account that you only use for school purpos- es, separate from any personal account you may have. Also, once you have established your Twitter account for class use, please follow our class Twitter account: @CSUNWhyteJ310. By following this account you will enable the instructor to check your tweets on assignments for credit. Socrative: We will routinely use the Socrative app for in-class polls and interactive, “on-the-fly” quizzes. You can log in using your own device (iPad, laptop, smartphone) or using the desktop computers in class. Whyte’s Socrative room number: 147547 In-Class Assignments: In-class assignments will be completed during lab time of most class meetings. Some of the in-class assignments are listed on the class schedule (page 4) and some will be added as we go. Some will be collaborative group assignments, and some will be individual exercises. Reading: Reading assignments should be completed before the class meeting for which they are listed. Slide- show presentations will be made available to students to supplement the reading materials. These will often be discussed briefly at the beginning of class, although some of these “lectures” will be abbreviated to allow more time for class activities.
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