Instructor: Dr. Corinne Weisgerber                                  

Email: cweisgerber@houston.rr.com                                                                    

Office: 218 Hilliard Hall

Office Phone: 936-857-2229

Office Hours: MWF: 10:00 a.m. ­ 2:00 p.m.

Required Text:

Braden, M. & Roth, R. L. (1997). Getting the message across: Writing for the mass media. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.

Optional Text:

The Associated Press Style Book.

 

Introduction

Welcome to COMM 1013! This course focuses on the writing skills necessary to become an effective media writer. In this class we will learn what it takes to get a message across to a mass audience and how to collect, synthesize and organize information. Specifically, we will focus on three types of media writing: writing for the news, writing for advertising and writing for public relations. My objectives for this course are:

v    To assist you in developing your writing skills

v    To help you understand the differences between writing for the media and other forms of writing

v    To give you an opportunity to discover various job possibilities for media writers; be it in the news, in PR, or in advertising

 

Course Policies

Attendance

Prairie View A&M University requires regular class attendance. Excessive absenteeism, whether EXCUSED OR UNEXCUSED, will result in your course grade being lowered or in assignment of a grade of “F”. Absences are accumulated beginning with the first day of class.

 

There is no such thing as an "excused absence" except in the cases of illness (as confirmed with a doctor's note), documented death in the family, or pre-authorized university activity. Extended illnesses will be dealt with on an individual basis but the instructor MUST BE notified as soon as possible of such situations. Please be aware that absences on an exam day CANNOT be made up.

 

Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class. If you are not present when attendance is taken, or if you are more than 10 minutes late, you will be marked as absent. It is your responsibility to make sure that you sign the attendance sheet each class period before leaving class. You are allowed three absences. After three absences, your final grade will be affected in the following way:

v    4-5 absences ­ drop one (1) letter grade (i.e. from an A to a B)

v    6-8 absences ­ drop two (2) letter grades (i.e. from an A to a C)

v    9-10 absences ­ drop three (3) letter grades (i.e. from an A to a D)

v    11 or more absences ­ drop four (4) letter grades (i.e. from an A to an F)

 

Academic Dishonesty/Cheating/Plagiarism

Prairie View A&M University is dedicated to a high standard of academic integrity among its faculty and students. In becoming part of the Prairie View A&M University academic community, you are responsible for honesty and independent effort. Disciplinary action will be taken against any student who alone or with others engages in any act of academic fraud or deceit.

 

Some examples of academic dishonesty/cheating/plagiarism include, but are not limited to: using another person’s ideas without giving proper credit; making up supporting material by either inventing a source or pretending to have consulted one without actually having done so; making up research results or interview material without having conducted the research/interview, etc. Representing someone else’s ideas as your own constitutes plagiarism. You therefore need to give credit to any source of information used as part of an assignment by either orally quoting your source, and/or identifying your source in the body of your paper. Ignorance of plagiarism is no excuse, so be sure to ask me if you suspect you may be bordering on plagiarism for any assignment in this course.

 

Any work you hand in to me is subject to a plagiarism/academic dishonesty check. Please note that I will not accept the excuse that you simply handed in the “wrong“ work and that any act of academic dishonesty will automatically be reported to the school and result in failure of this course (no second chances given!). It only takes one act of academic dishonesty to fail the entire course.

 

Courtesy

Since everyone in this section will be encouraged to actively participate in class discussions, it is essential that full courtesy is awarded to your classmates. Intentional class disturbances­which may distract another classmate or a class lecture or discussion—that blatantly disrupt course study or a speaker’s concentration (for example: distracting discourse, keeping your cell phone on during class, accepting a cell phone call during class, or listening to personal audio) will result in a penalty of absence from the class being recorded for those involved in the distracting behavior.

 

Cell Phones

As a courtesy to your teacher and to your class mates, please make sure at the beginning of each class period that your cell phones are turned off.

 

Readings

The reading of the assigned chapters in the text will always precede lecture and class discussions. The reading assignments are listed in the class schedule below.

 

24-7 Rule and Grade Records

When graded materials are returned, you must wait 24 hours before discussing your grade with me. This is to allow you to think calmly about the grade and your performance and to formulate a rational basis for discussion. You will also only have seven days in which the grade is open for discussion. After these seven days have passed, you can no longer discuss the grade.

 

You are responsible for keeping all graded work until the end of the semester in case there is any question about grades or whether or not an assignment has been turned in. If you question a grade, or whether your grade has been recorded, you need to be able to provide me with the original, graded assignment.

 

Student Academic Appeals Process:

Authority and responsibility for assigning grades to students rests with the faculty. However, in those instances where students believe that miscommunication, errors, or unfairness of any kind may have adversely affected the instructor’s assessment of their academic performance, the student has a right to appeal by the procedure listed in the Undergraduate Catalog (pp. 49-51) and by doing so within thirty days of receiving the grade or experiencing any other problematic academic event that prompted the complaint.

 

American Disabilities Act (ADA)

Students with disabilities who believe they may need an adjustment in this class are encouraged to contact the Office of Disabilities services at (903) 857-2693/2694 as soon as possible. Once you receive a letter of adjustment from the office, please make an appointment with me to discuss appropriate adjustments for this class.

 

Grades                                                                                                                       Grading Scale

Feature Story                                                            200 (20%)                               90-100=A

Ad Copy                                                                    150 (15%)                               80-89=B

Final Exam News Release                                       150 (15%)                               70-79=C

Vocabulary Project                                                  250 (25%)                               60-69=D

In-Class Writing/Quizzes                                       250 (25%)                               Below 60=F

 

 

CLASS SCHEDULE

 

Week 1
Mon. 01/12	Course Introduction
Wed. 01/14	The Media ch.1
Frid. 01/16	The Media ch.1
Week 2
Mon. 01/19	No Class ­ Martin Luther King Holiday
Wed. 01/21	The Message ch. 2
Fri. 01/23	The Message ch. 2
Week 3
Mon 01/26	The Message ch. 2
Wed. 01/28	The Search ch.3
Frid. 01/30	The Search ch.3
Week 4
Mon. 02/02	Introduction to News Writing ch. 4
Wed. 02/04	Introduction to News Writing ch. 4
Frid. 02/06	Introduction to News Writing ch. 4
Week 5
Mon. 02/09	Writing for the Print and Online Media ch. 5
Wed. 02/11	Writing for the Print and Online Media ch. 5
Frid. 02/13	Writing for the Print and Online Media ch. 5
Week 6
Mon. 02/16	Writing Feature Stories ch. 7
Wed. 02/18	Writing Feature Stories ch. 7
Frid. 02/20	In Class Critiques * Feature Story Draft Due
Week 7
Mon. 02/23	Writing Feature Stories ch. 7
Wed. 02/25	Opinion Writing ch. 8
Frid. 02/27	Opinion Writing ch. 8 * Vocabulary Project Due (1st part)
Week 8
Mon. 03/01	Media Conference -- (Hilliard Hall)
Wed. 03/03	Opinion Writing ch. 8
Frid. 03/05	In Class Critiques * Feature Story Due
Week 9
Mon. 03/08	No Class ­ Spring Break
Wed. 03/10	No Class ­ Spring Break
Frid. 03/12	No Class ­ Spring Break
Week 10
Mon. 03/15	Writing for the Broadcast Media ch. 6
Wed. 03/17	Writing for the Broadcast Media ch. 6
Frid. 03/19	Introduction to Advertising ch. 10
Week 11
Mon. 03/22	Writing Advertisements ch. 10 & 11
Wed. 03/24	Writing Advertisements ch. 10 & 11
Frid. 03/26	Writing Advertisements ch. 10 & 11
Week 12
Mon. 03/29	The Ad Copy ch. 10 & 11
Wed. 03/31	Writing Ads for the broadcast media ch. 11
Frid. 04/02	Writing Ads for the broadcast media ch. 11
Week 13
Mon. 04/05	Intro to Public Relations ch. 9
Wed. 04/07	Presentation of Advertisements * Ad Copy Due
Frid. 04/09	No Class ­ Good Friday (Student Holiday)
Week 14
Mon. 04/12	Public Relations Writing ch. 9
Wed. 04/14	Public Relations Writing ch. 9
Frid. 04/16	Public Relations Writing ch. 9 * Vocabulary Project Due
Week 15
Mon. 04/19	Public Relations Writing ch. 9
Wed. 04/21	Public Relations Writing ch. 9
Mon. 04/23	Mass Media Writing Professions & Course Evaluations
Week 16
Mon. 04/26	Assign Final Assignment (News Release)
Wed. 04/28	No Class -- Study Day
Week 17
Wed, 05/05	FINAL ASSIGNMENT DUE BY 1:30 PM (turn in to my office: 218 Hilliard)

 

ASSIGNMENTS

FEATURE STORY:

For your first assignment in this class, you will write a feature story based on a topic of your choice Make sure that you interview at least two people, and maybe several others for this story. Please indicate on the cover page what type of feature story you chose to write (news feature; personality profile; human interest story; personal experience narrative; or historical feature). Your finished feature story should be 4-6 pages long (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12 point font). Please note that making up interview data without actually having conducted an interview constitutes academic dishonesty and will result in failure of this course.

 

Along with your feature story, you will hand in a document in which you:

1. Explain why you think your topic makes a good feature story
2. Explain how you prepared yourself for the interviews/what type of backgrounding you did
3. Explain why you picked your interviewees and why you think they are appropriate sources
4. Identify your interviewees’ name, title and contact information

 

You will be evaluated on both the feature story and your answers to the questions above. Evaluations will be based on the following criteria:

1. Is the topic original, unusual or entertaining, or would it be of interest to a large number of people?
2. Have the appropriate sources been interviewed?
3. Is the story well organized?
4. Does the lead engage the reader without giving away the whole story?
5. Can the audience visualize the setting and the people from your descriptive detail?
6. Are the quotes dramatic and colorful?
7. Is the story well written and free of grammatical and spelling mistakes?
8. Does the accompanying document address all 4 issues outlined above?

 

AD COPY

This assignment is supposed to give you hands-on experience in writing advertising copy for a print ad. For this assignment, you will work with a visual created by students in the Photojournalism class. You will receive a picture they took to advertise the PV campus, and create advertising copy for both a print ad and a billboard featuring that same visual. For this assignment, you thus need to:

1. Write a creative platform for your ads
2. Write an ad copy for a print ad featuring the visual (including a headline, lead-in, body copy & closing)
3. Write an ad copy for a billboard featuring the visual

 Pick one of the visuals below to use for your billboard & print ad. These visuals were created by the students in Dr. Butler's photojournalism class.

VOCABULARY PROJECT:

This is a semester-long project designed to help you improve your vocabulary and to get you into the

habit of looking up words in a dictionary. For this assignment, you need to:

1. Underline or write down every word that you come across in your weekly readings (for school or leisure) that you are unfamiliar with.
2. Once a week, look up those words in a dictionary.
3. Record the word and its dictionary definition in a Word document that you will add to each week. On the first page of your project, indicate what dictionary you used. I will expect you to use the same dictionary throughout the semester.
4. For each word that you record, write a sentence using the word. Please note, that you cannot simply copy a sentence from the dictionary. The goal is to use the word in a sentence that you came up with yourself. Copying a sentence from the dictionary, or taking a sentence from the

dictionary and altering it slightly, will result in a zero for the whole project.

This is a semester-long project that is worth 25% of your final grade. As such, you will have to devote a considerable amount of time to this project. I expect at least a page of vocabulary per week, meaning that your final project needs to be no less than 14 pages. I will collect the project midway through the semester to make sure that you stay on track. You will not receive a grade at that time, but failure to hand in a project will result in an automatic 2-letter grade loss on the final grade for this assignment. Since I will collect the first part of the project on week 7, you are expected to have completed 7 pages. Projects that are handed in with considerably less work completed, will also receive a 2-letter grade deduction on the final grade for this assignment.

Please note that this is an individual assignment and that I will expect to see an individual effort on everyone’s part. Should you copy someone else’s vocabulary project, you will automatically fail this course.

 

FINAL EXAM NEWS RELEASE:

Your final exam in this class will consist of an out-of class PR writing activity. You will be asked to write a news release based on information you will be provided with during our last day of class (Monday, April 26). You will receive the assignment in class on Monday, April 26, and will have to turn it in no later than Wednesday, May 5 at 1:30 pm. Please note that you cannot simply cut-and-paste and rearrange the information provided for your news release. Doing so constitutes plagiarism and results in failure of the entire course.

Your news release will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Proper news release format & style
2. Newsworthy content
3. Proper grammar
4. Proper spelling

 

IN-CLASS WRITING ASSIGNMENTS/QUIZZES:

Since this class is a skills class and since the best way to improve your writing is by practicing it, we will spend a considerable amount of time completing in-class writing assignments. These writing assignments will be collected at the end of class and graded on a pass/fail basis. Please note that you will NOT be allowed to make up any in-class writing assignments and that class attendance is therefore crucial. Occasionally, we may also have a short quiz at the beginning of class. These quizzes are designed to encourage you to complete your weekly reading assignments.