Syllabus

Beginning Newswriting

Online Class version

Beginning newswriting is a three-unit course on the basics of writing for production. The main emphasis is on newspaper writing, but the basics learned in this class largely apply to other communication media as well. Indeed, the inverted pyramid form of writing serves well in any daily written communication. A reporter's job, after all, is to gather information from a variety of sources, synthesize/make sense of it, and disseminate it to others.

Most assignments will be submitted online. Homework assignments will be mailed out at the beginning of each week and some will be due Wednesdays while others will be due Saturdays.

The course is accepted as the lower division newswriting requirement for Journalism, Communication and Broadcast majors by most California State Universities.

Learning to write involves writing and we will do a lot of it this semester. You can count on multiple assignments each week.. These assignments will be short and simple, but are designed to teach you new concepts in writing while getting you in the habit of writing.

Six major objectives of the class include:

 

1. Learning to determine the newsworthiness of story elements;
2. Learning to write stories in the inverted pyramid fashion with logical, easy-to-read leads;
3. Learning to work under deadline pressure and to respect deadlines;
4. Learning where to find information for news stories and how to gather that information;
5. Learning to apply a consistent set of style rules to your writing; and
6. Considering legal issues involved in writing for publication
   
   

You may also want to check the department teaching philosophy.

This syllabus covers:

What You Are Expected to Learn -- Day Class vs. Online Class
Textbooks -- Grading/Assignments -- Attendance and Deadlines
General Timeline -- Course Web Page and E-Mail

 

WHAT YOU ARE EXPECTED TO LEARN

• Preparation of copy
• Use of AP Stylebook
• Inverted Pyramid (story organization)
• Summary leads
    Naming leads
    Delayed ID leads
    Blind leads
    Speech leads
    Single element leads
    Multi-element leads
    S.T.O.P. leads (upcoming events)
• Use of quotes/attribution

• Deadline writing
• Libel and copyright
• The role of visual communication
• Copy editing symbols
• 5Ws and H (news judgment)
• Localizing the news
• Use of multiple sources
• Editing and rewriting
• Covering meetings
• The roles of headlines
• Differences between print and broadcast

DAY CLASS vs. ONLINE CLASS

This class offered both as a traditional day course and as an online course. Both classes will be completing similar assignments, but will follow a different timeline.

Day class students should be in class on a regular basis and complete in-class assignments in class. Homework assignments are due at the beginning of each class. If you miss class or otherwise need to know what is covered in class see the course web page, which is regularly updated. The workbook for the class simulates working for a community newspaper. If we extend that concept, were you to miss a deadline, the paper would have to come out without your story. So, no assignments will be accepted late, for whatever reason, for credit. You may fax or e-mail homework assignments should you need to miss a class.

Online class students will receive assignments via e-mail twice each week. Lectures are available on the course web site. Assignments should be e-mailed to the instructor by the established deadlines. Assignments will be sent out Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. Assignments are due by Wednesday nights and Saturday nights. It is up to the student to make sure the instructor has a correct, working e-mail address. In addition, you may check the online class timeline on the course web site.

Rewriting is an integral part of the writing process. Students who submit workbook assignments by deadline will be allowed to rewrite them, if necessary, for full credit. Late assignments will be returned to the student with comments, but may not be made up for credit. Expect redos. Major assignments described below may not be redone.

TEXTBOOKS
The following texts are required for this class and are available in the campus bookstore:

Newswriting by George Hough (W.C. Brown 1998)

*Practice Exercises in Newswriting by George Hough (W.C. Brown 1998)

Associated Stylebook (Associated Press 1999)

The text can also be purchased online through online bookstores at a substantial savings. But be sure to purchase the 5th edition. For a list of online bookstores see the Cerritos College Distributed Education site.

* CAUTION: Before buying a used workbook check to see if it has any missing or marked up assignments. Generally, purchasing a used WORKBOOK is NOT a good idea. Used TEXTBOOKS, however, generally ARE an economical route.

The workbook for this class is used every day, starting immediately. Either buy it the first week or drop the class. The other books, while essential, can be purchased a little later.

Most assignments will be from the workbook. The text provides additional readings that supplement the lectures and will provide greater understanding of some assignments.

In addition to workbook assignments, there will be spelling quizzes at the beginning of each class period. Each quiz will equal the weight of one assignment. Online class students likely will be given an alternative assignment to the spellilng quizzes.

• Observation of the press is important in this course. Students should read regularly the campus newspaper and one major daily newspaper.
  
  
• Students are expected to learn to use the Associated Press Stylebook and should bring one with them on a regular basis. In addition to requiring AP style with writing assignments, there may be occasional AP Stylebook assignments covering the areas of abbreviation, capitalization, punctuation and use of numbers.
  
  

Workbook assignments and spelling quizzes count as one point. With workbook assignments, you will generally be given the full point of credit for turning it in on time if it is of satisfactory completion and quality; otherwise you will be given an opportunity to redo it for full credit. With some workbook assignments and spelling quizzes a percentage of the full point will be earned (i.e. scoring 8 of 10 on the spelling quiz will earn .8 points).

In addition to workbook assignments and quizzes, there will be non-workbook newsgathering and newswriting assignments. Non-workbook assignments will carry extra weight as follows:

1-3 each
1-2 each
1 each

The grading scale is as follows: 90% = A . . . 80%=B . . . 70%= C . . . 65%=D

Grade reports will be e-mailed to you on a periodic basis. It is your responsibility to report any errors on the report.

DEADLINE ASSIGNMENT
The deadline assignment gets away from the workbook and requires you to work under deadline pressure. In it you will be tested on your knowledge of newsworthiness, newsgathering skills, writing skills and editing skills, all in one class period. No redos will be allowed on this assignment. Online students will be given an alternate assignment.

CITY COUNCIL ASSIGNMENT
CITY COUNCIL is a computerized news gathering simulation. It is a complex assignment that requires you to put into practice most of the skills and techniques learned this semester. You will have extra time to work on this assignment, but consider it a term paper/final project for the class. It is weighted so that it is difficult to pass the class without succesfully completing it. No redos will be allowed on this assignment.

ATTENDANCE and DEADLINES
Regular attendance, as with a paying job, is expected. The deadline for homework assignments are there to train you to meet deadlines. Late stories may be turned in for comments, but will not receive credit. If you experience computer problems or will be away from your e-mail, you may still get credit by following one of the following guidelines on or before the day the assignment is due.

• Fax the homework assignment to the journalism office at (562) 467-5044. The fax must be received by 4 p.m.
  
  
• Mail the homework assignment and make sure the envelope contains the postmark indicating that it was mailed on the due date.

Late assignments are not accepted. However, your instructor knows that everyone screws up once in a while, so a 5 percent adjustment will be made to compensate for missed/late assignments (i.e., if we do the equivalent of 100 assignments, you'll only be held responsible for 95; if you do all 100 the points from the extra five will be counted as bonus points). Late assignments often will be marked up so that you may learn from them, even if you do not receive credit for them.

One of the concepts used in class will be that of team coaching. That is, you are encouraged to work with others to evaluate your understanding of stories before they are written. STORIES SHOULD BE YOUR OWN, THOUGH.

Students who do not maintain a completion rate of 66 percent of the assignments for a period of one week or more may be dropped from the class.

 

NOTEBOOKS
Each student should keep an AccoPress binder with marked stories and handouts. The binder serves several purposes: 1) A compilation of marked stories will serve as a personalized reference manual for the student; 2) Repeating individual problems will show up, helping both student and instructor to address individual needs; 3) Notebooks may be collected occasionally for review by instructor.

 

COURSE WEB PAGE
The web page for this course is located at www.rcameron.com/journalism/20. Technology is a big part of journalism today and if you are not familiar with use of the world wide web now is a good time to become familiar. Indeed, some of your assignments for this class will be available only through the world wide web. The web site contains this syllabus and links to other web sites that may be valuable for you.
 
Your first assignment will be to send the instructor an e-mail message from an address that grade reports and other announcements can be sent. Use of the school e-mail system is discouraged; we will help you set up a free hotmail or yahoo account if you wish.

If you need to correspond with your instructor, use this address:

Instructor = rcameron@cerritos.edu

When contacting the instructor by e-mail, please preface each message subject line with "J20:" to help identify which course you are taking.