JOUR 21A News Writing and ReportingSECTION 1 / Room L-42. Tuesday/Thursday 9:30 to 10:45 a.m.
Instructor
Information
Name: Cecilia Deck
Email: ceciliadeck@sbcglobal.net. Include JOUR 21a in your subject line.
Office Location: L-41Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. in Room L-42
COURSE OBJECTIVESJournalism 21A-- News Writing and Reporting gives students the fundamentals of
journalistic writing by offering instruction and practice in news writing and reporting, including analysis of print, digital and broadcast news stories. Students
concentrate on the language and style of news writing, the organization and
structure of news stories, the lead and the basic story types as they gain
practical writing experience. (Prerequisite: English 1A)
TEXTBOOKS
AND SUPPLIES
Required
textbooks and other reading materials:
- Inside Reporting: A Practical Guide to the Craft of
Journalism 2e by Tim Harrower.
- The Associated Press Stylebook (any edition 2007 and later) and
a college dictionary.
Required supplies:
- A 1-inch binder to hold the workbook
ATTENDANCE POLICIES
Attendance is mandatory. You are responsible for any missed
classes or assignments. You must attend every class for the first two weeks of
the quarter or you may be dropped. If you miss more than two classes before the last day to drop with a W, I will drop you. Each class you miss after two will impact your grade at the rate of 20 points per class missed. On the
brighter side, I give prizes for perfect and near-perfect attendance.
CLASS POLICIES
Class starts at 9:30 a.m. Plan to be on time. Chronic lateness will count against participation points. Students who exhibit inappropriate college classroom behavior will be
docked points and/or asked to leave the classroom. Examples of
inappropriate behavior during class include disturbing others; talking
when someone else is talking; sleeping, using MP3 players, phones or video games; texting; working on other class assignments during class,
inappropriate touching of others; and entering and leaving class
excessively while in session.
REQUIREMENTS - Read the textbook
- Complete
homework quizzes, assignments and stories
- Do live reporting as assigned
- Rewrite
assignments as required.
- Complete a midterm
exam and a class presentation
- Participate in
class discussion and share your work with others when requested.
- Bring the JOUR 21a Handbook and Inside Reporting to class every
day.
DEADLINES
Deadlines must be
met. Stories
and most homework assignments are due in class at 9:30 a.m. We will review some homework assignments in
class. Late assignments will be graded on a lower scale -- no exceptions. No document dumps: The pedagogy of JOUR 21a is that students write and rewrite, learning how to improve their work. Assignments will have a cut-off date a week after the deadline.
SUBMISSION OF STORIES
AND ASSIGNMENTS
Submit everything in hard copy unless otherwise assigned. I am not responsible
for stories lost because of system failures in your computer, the e-mail
network or in my computer. Save all
of your stories and assignments in a portfolio. Rewrites must be turned in within a week as hard copies with originals attached.
If you must e-mail a rewrite, scan and send the original graded story with it.
GRADING POLICY
10 points - First day report 40 points / Attendance,
professionalism, participation, on time
50 points / AP Quizzes
450 points / Homework exercises, chapter quizzes, workbook
40 points / Midterm 350 points / Live reported stories
50 points / Class
Presentation 10 points / Final Report
1000 points total
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Students
must adhere to professional standards, meet deadlines and follow rules of
punctuation, grammar, spelling and style. To earn an A in the
course, in addition to 900 or more points, a student must turn in all
assignments, complete all live reporting assignments and not miss more than two classes.
A=900-1000, B=800-899,C=700-799, D=600-699, F=599 or less
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Length requirements are guidelines to how many words I think you should need to
tell the story. Never pad a story. Tell your stories concisely, but with enough
details to tell the reader the who, what, where, when, why, how and "so what"
of a story. You will be penalized for omitting important facts.
Errors of spelling, punctuation, grammar and AP style will result in the loss
of points and a lower grade. Typos are
considered spelling errors. Use a dictionary. Use the AP Stylebook to check and the
class Handbook to check AP.
WARNING: A factual error, such as
misspelling someone's name, will result in a lower grade. A gross error, such
as a potentially libelous statement, plagiarism, fabrication, etc., could
result in an F for a story. Reporters
must get the facts right!
ACADEMIC
DISHONESTY
Journalists have only one thing to offer: credibility. Making things up --
quotes, people in stories, facts -- and stealing the words of another writer or
failing to give proper attribution to information obtained from other sources
are deadly sins in journalism.
If you engage in academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, fabrication and
cheating, you may fail the course and I will report you to the Dean of
Instruction.
DROPPING THE CLASS
Please be aware of the drop dates on the class schedule. I may drop students who have excessive absences or who are not keeping up with assignments. Students who disappear and do not drop by the final "Drop with W" deadline will receive an F.
EXTRA CREDIT Maximum 100 total
points of Extra Credit/Bonus
- Complete
quizzes for Chapter 2, 5 or 10 -- up to 10 points each.
- Take JOUR 62 - Media Freelancing and achieve an A, B or C. Write a two-page report explaining how what you learned related to JOUR 21a. Up to 25 points.
- Write
extra stories (does not include stories for requirements of JOUR 61 and 62. You can get a maximum of 25 extra points per story by
writing assigned news or feature stories for La Voz. Submit to me a hard copy and evidence that you turned
the story in on deadline. You may earn a maximum of 75 points by writing
extra stories.
- Get
your news or feature story published in a commercial newspaper. Turn in a
clipping with your byline for up to 25 extra points; maximum 75 extra
points.
- Go
see a journalism speaker and write a 2-page story or report. Speakers in a class
in which you are enrolled do not count! Up to 25 points.
- Complete
NewsU.org courses as assigned. Up to 40 points each. See me for more information.
- Have an informational interview with a media or public relations professional (not someone you meet in class) about his or her career; write a 2-page report. Up to 25 points. See me for more information.
I reserve the right to make changes to the
greensheet, schedule, grade breakdown and assignments at any time!
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