Dr. Vivian B. Martin
T/Th
Office: 318 Willard. Tel: 832-2776
Office Hours:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Email: vbmartin@aol.com, martinv@ccsu.edu
http://www.english.ccsu.edu/martin
Goals of the Course:
(1) Further development of the reporting and writing skills needed to write complex news articles.
(2) Greater skill utilizing offline and online information-gathering techniques.
(3) Introduction to journalistic beat coverage of specific areas of society: courts, local government, business, and some special attention to presidential politics.
(4) Deadline reporting and writing.
Students will achieve the course goals by taking on several assignments designed to simulate real-world journalistic activity as closely as possible. Students will use the campus and their hometowns as sources for stories. The main text, Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, will serve as the springboard for several class discussions and reporting assignments. Exposure to issues addressed in the text will provide a foundation for two reporting assignments intended to demonstrate how public policy and politics affect everyday concerns such as unemployment, housing, and healthcare. Moreover, discussions of privacy laws, ethics and other concerns will highlight the challenges journalists navigate.
Required Course Materials:
Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich.
The New York Times (students can purchase at a student rate T/Th)
Computer disk for use on classroom computers (Dell)
Attendance Policy:
You are expected to attend every class. Two cuts per semester will be allowed
without grade penalty. Unexcused absences and/or excessive tardiness may result
in a lowered final grade.
Grading:
A — Excellent work. The work is publishable as is, with only very light editing. The piece shows a mastery of the writing and journalistic principles specific to the task and genre, whether news, features, or opinion.
A-/B+ —Well-written with appropriate use of facts. The article may have a “hole” or need some additional material, but it is free of factual errors and has no more than one or two grammar or punctuation errors.
B— Generally good work. The writing is solid, but the lead needs more work. More factual detail is usually needed. A few (only a few) errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling.
B-/C+ — Awkward phrasing, syntax, grammar, and punctuation have derailed the piece, distracting from the strengths. More reporting may be needed.
C — Average. Several organizational, writing and/or reporting problems. Contains factual errors or insufficient factual information Many spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.
C-/D+ — Generally indicates careless work: Factual errors, grammar and punctuation mistakes; word usage problems. Needs more research.
D/D- — Poor work. Many things have gone wrong. Please meet with me.
F— Please meet with me to discuss the work and set up a plan for improvement.
A late assignment will cost a student one letter grade on that assignment. Missing the deadline by more than a week will mean an automatic F ( zero) for the assignment.
Up to five extra credit points available for a news article published in the Recorder or other news publication. (The article cannot be a class assignment.)
Academic Misconduct:
Disruptive classroom
behavior, cheating, and plagiarism can jeopardize your standing in this class.
Plagiarism, the use of
work ( ideas, words, images, tables, code, mathematical formulas)
other than your own without appropriate attribution, will result in an automatic “F” for the
course, and possibly further
disciplinary action. Do your own work. If you do not know what plagiarism is,
educate yourself. Ignorance of the rules
is not justification for plagiarism. Make sure you understand how to attribute
work for printed and online sources.
Schedule
Due dates and topics for assignments will be announced in class. You will write every week, in and out of the classroom. You will write approximately six articles outside of the class, including an end-of-semester article of 1,000 words. I want to give you as much experience writing about real-life problems as possible; as a result, the schedule is subject to change if breaking news warrants. We will discuss reporting techniques, ethics and writing throughout the semester.
You must read Nickel and Dimed before the end of September; it will serve as springboard for several class discussions and reporting assignments.
Discussion schedule for Nickel and Dimed
Sept. 9: pp. 1-50
Sept. 16: pp. 51-119
Sept. 23: pp. 121-191
Sept. 30: pp. 192-221
Review of components of news story and other basic skills
Community coverage (education, town reporting)
Information gathering ( interviewing, demographic databases)
Making policy issues local
October
Information gathering continued
Political coverage
Freedom of Information/Libel
Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Reporting
Criminal Justice continued
Municipal budget: how the pie gets divided
Reporting and writing with more depth
Reporting and writing with more depth
Review
Exam
Major Graded Assignments*
Assigned news story (600 words) Sept. 14 5%
Database reporting (partially in class) Sept. 21 10%
Politics or Economic Story (800 words) Oct. 19/21 15%
Court coverage (week of Oct 25; due Nov 2) 10%
Municipal meeting ( October or November) 10%
Final article : public affairs issue story, 1, 000 words 25%
Also – Sudden Death ( deadline articles in class); we’ll do 3-4; two will be graded.
Class discussions and activities for which you must prepare will count for about 15% of final grade.
* Dates and weights are approximate; details about each assignment will be given at least one-to-two weeks before due dates.