Course code:
The main goal of this course is to guide students to produce interesting, accurate, well-written, compelling articles about people, processes, and events. The course aims to give students an understanding of the principles of American journalism, the structure of journalistic writing, the techniques for identifying, sourcing, and gathering information, and insight into how news is disseminated and read, watched, or listened to in the digital age.
Students will produce several short articles for the course, learning the basics of story development, interviewing, research, and covering meetings and events. Students will be tasked with thinking critically, understanding and using news judgment, and developing skills for efficiency and self-critique. They will be introduced to the history of American journalism, the ethics and laws specific to the field, and the modern media landscape. Students will also learn about and practice photojournalism. A final project in the course will include significant research and utilize students’ skills in interviewing, observation, and documentation learned over the term.
Students will be evaluated on the following criteria: the quality of their reporting, the effectiveness of their revisions, and participation in class discussions and peer review sessions. Students taking this course should have sufficient sentence structure, grammatical, and word usage skills to communicate effectively in writing. Students that are not confident in those areas may enroll, but should strongly consider taking the course for credit/no credit.
Prerequisites:
None.
Always visit the Registrar's Office for the official course catalog and schedules.