Tuesday/Thursday 11 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Lab on Tuesday from 2-3:50 p.m.
To introduce you to journalistic writing and principles of good journalism. Upon successful completion of the class you should:
1. develop a news sense and have the ability to write a news story
2. know about AP style
3. possess the ability to conduct an interview and gather information
4. understand basics of covering general news, meetings, speeches
5. be able to work under deadline pressure
Each student must write four stories suitable for publication in The Wichitan. Each must be three to five pages in length. All copy must be typed and double-spaced and in Times 12-point font, black ink. Topics must be approved by the instructor beforehand. Coverage should be thorough with multiple sources, if possible. Students are expected to come up with their own story ideas. All stories must be related to college life.
In the lab, you'll write about real world topics such as drownings, robberies, murders, etc. The instructor will hand out a set of facts for you to write from under deadline pressure.
These four major assignments will be due at the beginning of the class period on the due dates. They must be ready when the professor calls for them. If they are being printed at that time on the printer in the classroom they will not be accepted so have your work ready BEFORE you come to class.
All copy must be typed and double-spaced and in Times 12-point font, black ink. Coverage should be thorough with multiple sources, if possible. Bring your own jump drive or device to save your stories.
You are required to turn in a copy of your notes for each story the class period before the story is actually due. This shows me that you did not wait until the last minute to do your interviews. If you fail to turn in your notes on the due date you’ll be penalized one letter grade.
Rewrites may be required. Don’t be offended because 99 percent of students do rewrites. Usually, additional information is needed or a lead needs to be reworked. Failure to rewrite a story within a week will result in an “F” for that assignment even if it has a grade on it. If your story is timely you may be expected to do a rewrite in a narrower time frame because news is perishable. It’s vital that you finish what you start and strive to do your best. Stories must include names of persons interviewed, dates they were interviewed and their phone numbers. Put this information at the bottom of your story. Failure to do so will result in the loss of one letter grade for that story. You will still be required to furnish this information or the story will turn into an “F”.
Deductions will be made for mistakes in spelling, AP style and grammar. Watch for these in all your writing. Keep a folder of all your stories and lab work in case a question arises about your grade.
No late work will be accepted because newspapers and magazines are very deadline conscious.
My grading system:Your four major stories will be averaged and count as one-half of your final grade. Lab assignments, quizzes and homework will be totaled and averaged and count as one-half of your final grade. Letter grades will be awarded on all assignments (A, B, C, etc.)
Attendance will be kept. Students who miss more than four class periods and/or lab sessions will be automatically dropped from the course. Students who come in after the class roll is checked will be counted absent. I may lock the door so tardy students can’t enter after class begins and disturb everyone. Please don’t knock on the door. Come back next time on time. Makeup work will be allowed in the case of official school activities if the student furnishes me a letter or note from the sponsoring coach, professor or dean. In the spirit of fairness to everyone I will drop the two lowest lab scores at the end of the semester to compensate you for any bad luck you might have had.
Plagiarism and cheating:The MSU Student Honor Creed, written and adopted by the 2002-2003 MSU Student Senate, includes the statement: “As an MSU student, I pledge not to lie, cheat, steal, or help anyone else to do so.”
You are expected to abide by it. Plagiarism and cheating include, but are not limited to: fabricating stories and sources, copying material from other publications without crediting the author, turning in another student’s work as your own, and copying quiz answers from another person. ANYONE CAUGHT CHEATING OR PLAGIARIZING OR MAKING THINGS UP WILL RECEIVE AN ‘F’ FOR THE COURSE. By enrolling in this course, the student expressly grants MSU a “limited right” in all intellectual property created by the student for the purpose of this course. The “limited right” shall include but shall not be limited to the right to reproduce the student’s work product in order to verify originality and authenticity, and educational purposes.
All major stories will be handed over to the editor of The Wichitan for possible publication. On request, I may ask you to furnish the story to the editor either on a disk or by email (wichitan@mwsu.edu). Whether a story is published or not will not affect your grade. The determination for publication rests solely with the editor. I have no control over what runs in The Wichitan. When you interview a subject make it clear that what you write may end up in the paper. Don’t interview roommates, close friends or people with whom you are engaged in a relationship unless you clear it with me. Don’t interview family members or close relatives unless you talk to me first. Don’t write about yourself unless you talk to me first. Reporters rarely write about themselves but there are exceptions. Avoid using anonymous sources. As a practice, publications frown on quoting unnamed parties. There are exceptions to this rule such as naming a rape victim so talk to me first.
Note: Periodically, the editor of The Wichitan has story ideas that need completion. If you take an assignment from the editor (which must go through me if it is for this class), you must complete it by the editor’s deadline not the class deadline. Even though I might require a story on a certain date, if the editor wants it earlier then that’s when it’s due. Students who agree to do one of these stories MUST DO IT. Failure to do so will obviously leave the newspaper staff in a bind. Students who say they will write a story for The Wichitan and fail to do so will receive an “F” for that assignment. That person will get to take no more Wichitan stories for class credit.
Fix cellular phones so I can’t hear them. No text messaging either. I consider phones annoying and disruptive so keep them out of sight. Your final grade will be reduced by one letter grade each time a cell phone or other device goes off in class or you’re caught text messaging or if I see you being distracted by such devices. Keep iPods and the like out of your ears or I’ll confiscated them. Class is not the place to surf the Internet, check email or play with the computers. Anyone caught using the computers during lectures will be dropped a letter grade each time s/he is caught. Disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Anyone being disruptive will be dropped from the course. Do not bring food or drinks into the classroom/lab. This is a departmental rule that will be enforced.
If your parents want to know your grades or talk with me about them or your stories tell them to forget it. I won’t give out grades or talk with parents about your performance or lack of it. This is a private matter between you and me. If you think you have been treated unfairly you are, of course, entitled to appeal any grade or complaint through normal university channels. A committee has been set up for this specific purpose. Fight your own battles. Don’t expect your parents to do it for you.
Ideas discussed in class are not to be given to other publications on or off campus without first discussing it with me. I probably won’t allow it. If you work for another publication or media outlet you cannot steal class ideas or run class articles without first talking to me. Would you like it if we discussed your story idea in class and it turned up in The Times Record News written by someone else? Use common sense. Ideas discussed in class cannot be used for the campus television station until after they are published in The Wichitan. Likewise, don’t steal an idea from the campus TV station and use it as the basis for a story for this class. Be clear that I am not talking about spot news events that occur but special and often unique story ideas that arise in the classroom. If you think you’re confused seek me out. If I can prove this rule has been violated by anyone that person will receive an “F” on that assignment. It is not our job to “feed” other publications. Any worthy newspaper or magazine would fire you if they discovered you were giving ideas and/or stories to competitors.
Compliance with American Disabilities Act:Any student with a disability that may prevent full participation in this class should notify the instructor to ensure that alternatives may be found to provide the student with full class participation.