And How -- An Introduction to the Craft and Art of Journalism
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Link to Hunter's First Full-Blown Gonzo Piece
Read "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved" here.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Schedule for Tuesday, Nov. 29 Through Thursday, Dec. 8
Tuesday, Nov. 29: Begin discussion of the book and watch film, "Into the Wild"
Thursday, Dec. 1: Continue film, "Into the Wild." (Quiz will be moved to Tuesday)
Over the weekend, please review/finish reading Into the Wild.
Begin reading Hell's Angels.
Tuesday, Dec. 6: Quiz/Into the Wild (book and film); review checklist and guidelines for final portfolios. Final portfolios will be due in my office by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15.
Thursday, Dec. 8: Introduction to Gonzo Reportage. Final assignment: One gonzo piece (to be included as your final piece in your portfolio)
*******************
Checklist for Final Portfolios
Please arrange the following 10 pieces (include links or copies of pieces that ran in the Insider, when applicable) in your portfolio in this order:
1. Final Piece/Gonzo Reportage
2. One Revision of One News Brief or Localized National Story (Your choice. The revision should be an example of perfect Associated Press Style, your understanding of basic news concepts, good use of sources and quotes, and your understanding of the structure of a basic news story.)
3. Localized National Story
4. Halloween Piece for Insider
5. News Brief #3(from October 20)
6. News Brief #2 (from September 29)
7. Ross Gay Three-Paragraph Coverage (from September 20)
8. News Brief #1 (from September 11)
9. News Lede (from September 5)
10. Personal Introduction Lede (from August 30)
Please clearly label each piece and arrange in a folder or binder. There will be a drop box outside my office -- FOB 208. Please be sure not to miss the deadline: 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15. If you'd like your portfolio returned, please plan to pick it up next semester or include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Thursday, Dec. 1: Continue film, "Into the Wild." (Quiz will be moved to Tuesday)
Over the weekend, please review/finish reading Into the Wild.
Begin reading Hell's Angels.
Tuesday, Dec. 6: Quiz/Into the Wild (book and film); review checklist and guidelines for final portfolios. Final portfolios will be due in my office by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15.
Thursday, Dec. 8: Introduction to Gonzo Reportage. Final assignment: One gonzo piece (to be included as your final piece in your portfolio)
*******************
Checklist for Final Portfolios
Please arrange the following 10 pieces (include links or copies of pieces that ran in the Insider, when applicable) in your portfolio in this order:
1. Final Piece/Gonzo Reportage
2. One Revision of One News Brief or Localized National Story (Your choice. The revision should be an example of perfect Associated Press Style, your understanding of basic news concepts, good use of sources and quotes, and your understanding of the structure of a basic news story.)
3. Localized National Story
4. Halloween Piece for Insider
5. News Brief #3(from October 20)
6. News Brief #2 (from September 29)
7. Ross Gay Three-Paragraph Coverage (from September 20)
8. News Brief #1 (from September 11)
9. News Lede (from September 5)
10. Personal Introduction Lede (from August 30)
Please clearly label each piece and arrange in a folder or binder. There will be a drop box outside my office -- FOB 208. Please be sure not to miss the deadline: 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15. If you'd like your portfolio returned, please plan to pick it up next semester or include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Reminders
We won't be in our regular class today, Thursday, Nov. 17. Instead, please plan to join Professor Vollmer's class or continue to work independently on your localized pieces. Your pieces are due in class on Tuesday. Please bring a hard copy and an e-copy of your work to class for editing.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Schedule for Tuesday, Nov. 8 and Thursday, Nov. 10
On Tuesday, we'll have the quiz on Joan Didion. Before the quiz, you should be ready to report on the national story you'd like to localize for a UPG audience. I've extended the deadline for localized stories to Thursday, Nov. 17. This should give you time to do research and gather the sources (at least two) you'll need for the piece. Your stories will be due in class for editing workshop and Insider submission on Thursday, Nov. 17.
This Thursday, we'll wrap up our work with Didion. We'll do some editing drills in class, then work on backgrounding your localized pieces.
Over the weekend, please work on your localized pieces.
This Thursday, we'll wrap up our work with Didion. We'll do some editing drills in class, then work on backgrounding your localized pieces.
Over the weekend, please work on your localized pieces.
Monday, November 7, 2011
From Didion's "Why I Write"
Excerpts from Why I Write by Joan Didion
From The New York Times Magazine, December 5, 1976.
******************
Of course I stole the title from this talk, from George Orwell. One reason I stole it was that I like the sound of the words: Why I Write. There you have three short unambiguous words that share a sound, and the sound they share is this:
I
I
I
In many ways writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. Its an aggressive, even a hostile act. You can disguise its aggressiveness all you want with veils of subordinate clauses and qualifiers and tentative subjunctives, with ellipses and evasionswith the whole manner of intimating rather than claiming, of alluding rather than statingbut theres no getting around the fact that setting words on paper is the tactic of a secret bully, an invasion, an imposition of the writers sensibility on the readers most private space.
I stole the title not only because the words sounded right but because they seemed to sum up, in a no-nonsense way, all I have to tell you. Like many writers I have only this one "subject," this one "area": the act of writing. I can bring you no reports from any other front. I may have other interests: I am "interested," for example, in marine biology, but I don’t flatter myself that you would come out to hear me talk about it. I am not a scholar. I am not in the least an intellectual, which is not to say that when I hear the word "intellectual" I reach for my gun, but only to say that I do not think in abstracts. During the years when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley, I tried, with a kind of hopeless late-adolescent energy, to buy some temporary visa into the world of ideas, to forge for myself a mind that could deal with abstract.
In short I tried to think. I failed. My attention veered inexorably back to the specific, to the tangible, to what was generally considered, by everyone I knew then and for that matter have known since, the peripheral. I would try to contemplate the Hegelian dialectic and would find myself concentrating instead on a flowering pear tree outside my window and the particular way the petals fell on my floor. I would try to read linguistic theory and would find myself wondering instead if the lights were on in the bevatron up the hill. When I say that I was wondering if the lights were on in the bevatron you might immediately suspect, if you deal in ideas at all, that I was registering the bevatron as a political symbol, thinking in shorthand about the military-industrial complex and its role in the university community, but you would be wrong. I was only wondering if the lights were on in the bevatron, and how they looked. A physical fact.
I had trouble graduating from Berkeley, not because of this inability to deal with ideas--I was majoring in English, and I could locate the house-and-garden imagery in "The Portrait of a Lady" as well as the next person, "imagery" being by definition the kind of specific that got my attention--but simply because I had neglected to take a course in Milton. For reasons which now sound baroque I needed a degree by the end of that summer, and the English department finally agreed, if I would come down from Sacramento every Friday and talk about the cosmology of "Paradise Lost," to certify me proficient in Milton. I did this. Some Fridays I took the Greyhound bus, other Fridays I caught the Southern Pacific’s City of San Francisco on the last leg of its transcontinental trip. I can no longer tell you whether Milton put the sun or the earth at the center of his universe in "Paradise Lost," the central question of at least one century and a topic about which I wrote 10,000 words that summer, but I can still recall the exact rancidity of the butter in the City of San Francisco’s dining car, and the way the tinted windows on the Greyhound bus cast the oil refineries around Carquinez Straits into a grayed and obscurely sinister light. In short my attention was always on the periphery, on what I could see and taste and touch, on the butter, and the Greyhound bus. During those years I was traveling on what I knew to be a very shaky passport, forged papers: I knew that I was no legitimate resident in any world of ideas. I knew I couldn’t think. All I knew then was what I couldn’t do. All I knew was what I wasn’t, and it took me some years to discover what I was.
Which was a writer.
By which I mean not a "good" writer or a "bad" writer but simply a writer, a person whose most absorbed and passionate hourse are spent arranging words on pieces of paper. Had my credentials been in order I would never have become a writer. Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write. I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear. Why did the oil refineries around Carquinez Straits seem sinister to me in the summer of 1956? Why have the night lights in the bevatron burned in my mind for twenty years? What is going on in these pictures in my mind?
From The New York Times Magazine, December 5, 1976.
******************
Of course I stole the title from this talk, from George Orwell. One reason I stole it was that I like the sound of the words: Why I Write. There you have three short unambiguous words that share a sound, and the sound they share is this:
I
I
I
In many ways writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. Its an aggressive, even a hostile act. You can disguise its aggressiveness all you want with veils of subordinate clauses and qualifiers and tentative subjunctives, with ellipses and evasionswith the whole manner of intimating rather than claiming, of alluding rather than statingbut theres no getting around the fact that setting words on paper is the tactic of a secret bully, an invasion, an imposition of the writers sensibility on the readers most private space.
I stole the title not only because the words sounded right but because they seemed to sum up, in a no-nonsense way, all I have to tell you. Like many writers I have only this one "subject," this one "area": the act of writing. I can bring you no reports from any other front. I may have other interests: I am "interested," for example, in marine biology, but I don’t flatter myself that you would come out to hear me talk about it. I am not a scholar. I am not in the least an intellectual, which is not to say that when I hear the word "intellectual" I reach for my gun, but only to say that I do not think in abstracts. During the years when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley, I tried, with a kind of hopeless late-adolescent energy, to buy some temporary visa into the world of ideas, to forge for myself a mind that could deal with abstract.
In short I tried to think. I failed. My attention veered inexorably back to the specific, to the tangible, to what was generally considered, by everyone I knew then and for that matter have known since, the peripheral. I would try to contemplate the Hegelian dialectic and would find myself concentrating instead on a flowering pear tree outside my window and the particular way the petals fell on my floor. I would try to read linguistic theory and would find myself wondering instead if the lights were on in the bevatron up the hill. When I say that I was wondering if the lights were on in the bevatron you might immediately suspect, if you deal in ideas at all, that I was registering the bevatron as a political symbol, thinking in shorthand about the military-industrial complex and its role in the university community, but you would be wrong. I was only wondering if the lights were on in the bevatron, and how they looked. A physical fact.
I had trouble graduating from Berkeley, not because of this inability to deal with ideas--I was majoring in English, and I could locate the house-and-garden imagery in "The Portrait of a Lady" as well as the next person, "imagery" being by definition the kind of specific that got my attention--but simply because I had neglected to take a course in Milton. For reasons which now sound baroque I needed a degree by the end of that summer, and the English department finally agreed, if I would come down from Sacramento every Friday and talk about the cosmology of "Paradise Lost," to certify me proficient in Milton. I did this. Some Fridays I took the Greyhound bus, other Fridays I caught the Southern Pacific’s City of San Francisco on the last leg of its transcontinental trip. I can no longer tell you whether Milton put the sun or the earth at the center of his universe in "Paradise Lost," the central question of at least one century and a topic about which I wrote 10,000 words that summer, but I can still recall the exact rancidity of the butter in the City of San Francisco’s dining car, and the way the tinted windows on the Greyhound bus cast the oil refineries around Carquinez Straits into a grayed and obscurely sinister light. In short my attention was always on the periphery, on what I could see and taste and touch, on the butter, and the Greyhound bus. During those years I was traveling on what I knew to be a very shaky passport, forged papers: I knew that I was no legitimate resident in any world of ideas. I knew I couldn’t think. All I knew then was what I couldn’t do. All I knew was what I wasn’t, and it took me some years to discover what I was.
Which was a writer.
By which I mean not a "good" writer or a "bad" writer but simply a writer, a person whose most absorbed and passionate hourse are spent arranging words on pieces of paper. Had my credentials been in order I would never have become a writer. Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write. I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear. Why did the oil refineries around Carquinez Straits seem sinister to me in the summer of 1956? Why have the night lights in the bevatron burned in my mind for twenty years? What is going on in these pictures in my mind?
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Assignment Schedule: Tuesday, Nov. 1, Thursday, Nov. 3
This week, we'll review your news briefs and Halloween pieces from the Insider site. Then we'll move on to an introduction to Joan Didion. Please read Vintage Didion. There will be a quiz on the book and concepts on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
On Thursday, we'll have another round of News Jeopardy. The winning team will get a pass good for 10 points on the Didion quiz. Also, chocolate.
Homework: Please begin scanning the news for national or international stories you might be able to localize for a UPG audience. Come up with five ideas by Thursday and be ready to share your ideas in class. You'll choose one of your ideas and follow through with a story that will be due Thursday, Nov. 10.
On Thursday, we'll have another round of News Jeopardy. The winning team will get a pass good for 10 points on the Didion quiz. Also, chocolate.
Homework: Please begin scanning the news for national or international stories you might be able to localize for a UPG audience. Come up with five ideas by Thursday and be ready to share your ideas in class. You'll choose one of your ideas and follow through with a story that will be due Thursday, Nov. 10.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, Oct. 26 -- Group Work and Extra Credit
Today we'll be talking about your responses to Rick Bragg's work. In small groups, you'll go over your individual written responses. (Group 3 from News Jeopardy, you're exempt from the written assignment, of course, but still should have read the pieces and therefore can offer your good insights.)
Then, consider this question:
What makes a Rick Bragg story different from other kinds of news stories you’ve encountered and what is the effect of Bragg’s technique on you? What is the value of this kind of reportage? What are the risks/challenges?
****
Written/Spoken series tonight! 7 p.m. in the coffeehouse. Featuring two UPG alumni authors -- Adam Matcho (who's also a journalist and columnist for the Tribune Review and the New Yinzer) and Kelly Scarff (who also received her MFA in poetry from Chatham University). Free and open to everyone. Extra credit (bonus points on your next quiz).
Then, consider this question:
What makes a Rick Bragg story different from other kinds of news stories you’ve encountered and what is the effect of Bragg’s technique on you? What is the value of this kind of reportage? What are the risks/challenges?
****
Written/Spoken series tonight! 7 p.m. in the coffeehouse. Featuring two UPG alumni authors -- Adam Matcho (who's also a journalist and columnist for the Tribune Review and the New Yinzer) and Kelly Scarff (who also received her MFA in poetry from Chatham University). Free and open to everyone. Extra credit (bonus points on your next quiz).
Monday, October 17, 2011
Schedule of Assignments: Tuesday, Oct. 18 and Thursday, Oct. 20
Due to a shortage of books in our campus bookstore, we'll cover Rick Bragg through handouts. Handouts will be available on Thursday, Oct. 20. The assignment will be a take-home close reading of Bragg's reportage. The close reading will be due on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
On Tuesday, Oct. 18, we'll play News Jeopardy. You'll compete in teams to answer questions about the latest big news stories. The winning team will be exempt from the written portion of the Bragg assignment this weekend. (Also, there will be chocolate.)
On Thursday, Oct. 20, your latest news briefs are due in class. Please bring one hard copy and an electronic copy of your piece for in-class editing. We'll send your briefs to the Insider by the end of class.
****
On Tuesday, Oct. 18, we'll play News Jeopardy. You'll compete in teams to answer questions about the latest big news stories. The winning team will be exempt from the written portion of the Bragg assignment this weekend. (Also, there will be chocolate.)
On Thursday, Oct. 20, your latest news briefs are due in class. Please bring one hard copy and an electronic copy of your piece for in-class editing. We'll send your briefs to the Insider by the end of class.
****
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Schedule for Class and Assignments: Thursday, Oct. 13
In class, we'll discuss how and when to use quotes.
You'll also choose your next news brief assignment from upcoming events on and off campus. (Event range: Monday, Oct. 27 - Friday, Nov. 4) Your news briefs will be due in class next Thursday, Oct. 20.
These news briefs will be slightly different. You'll need two relevant and distinct sources present and quoted in the stories. We'll discuss relevant and distinct sources in class.
Here's the basic format for your briefs:
First paragraph: Lede (5Ws/1H -- arranged by interest/news value)
Second paragraph: Continuation of lede (residual 5Ws/1H -- arranged by interest/news value)
Third paragraph: First and most relevant/engaging source -- introduced, quoted and properly id'd
Fourth paragraph: Additional information -- transitioning from first source to second source
Fifth paragraph: Secondary source -- introduced, quoted and id'd
Sixth paragraph: Additional information -- transitioning from second source to end quote
Seventh paragraph: Luminous quote from one of your sources -- something memorable, emotion-filled, interesting, human
Eighth paragraph: For more information, contact
Other guidelines:
Follow basic AP Style. Self edit for grammar and spelling and precision. Fact check. Keep your paragraphs very short. Keep sentences short, too. Briefs should be 750 words or less. Bring e-copies to class for workshop.
At home: Please continue reading Rick Bragg's Somebody Told Me. There will be a quiz on the book and on news/events next Tuesday, Oct. 18.
You'll also choose your next news brief assignment from upcoming events on and off campus. (Event range: Monday, Oct. 27 - Friday, Nov. 4) Your news briefs will be due in class next Thursday, Oct. 20.
These news briefs will be slightly different. You'll need two relevant and distinct sources present and quoted in the stories. We'll discuss relevant and distinct sources in class.
Here's the basic format for your briefs:
First paragraph: Lede (5Ws/1H -- arranged by interest/news value)
Second paragraph: Continuation of lede (residual 5Ws/1H -- arranged by interest/news value)
Third paragraph: First and most relevant/engaging source -- introduced, quoted and properly id'd
Fourth paragraph: Additional information -- transitioning from first source to second source
Fifth paragraph: Secondary source -- introduced, quoted and id'd
Sixth paragraph: Additional information -- transitioning from second source to end quote
Seventh paragraph: Luminous quote from one of your sources -- something memorable, emotion-filled, interesting, human
Eighth paragraph: For more information, contact
Other guidelines:
Follow basic AP Style. Self edit for grammar and spelling and precision. Fact check. Keep your paragraphs very short. Keep sentences short, too. Briefs should be 750 words or less. Bring e-copies to class for workshop.
At home: Please continue reading Rick Bragg's Somebody Told Me. There will be a quiz on the book and on news/events next Tuesday, Oct. 18.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Class canceled Thursday, Sept. 29
I'm ill and have to cancel our class tomorrow, Thursday, Sept.
29.
Please take the weekend to re-read "Hiroshima" or dip into Bragg's "Somebody
Told Me." Your quiz on Hersey will be on Tuesday.
We'll begin talking about Bragg next Thursday.
29.
Please take the weekend to re-read "Hiroshima" or dip into Bragg's "Somebody
Told Me." Your quiz on Hersey will be on Tuesday.
We'll begin talking about Bragg next Thursday.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Assignment Schedule: Tuesday, Sept. 27/Thursday, Sept. 29
Tuesday:
Power Point Lecture on Hiroshima (be sure to take notes; it will help with your quiz on Thursday)
Small groups -- News Briefs: Please bring an electronic copy of your news brief. I'll break us into small groups and you'll help each other make the briefs perfect to send to the Insider. I'll visit each group and help with polishing. We'll send these off to the Insider before the end of class. Please remember to print a copy of your brief - and, when your briefs are published, a copy of the Insider's version. Keep these in your portfolio to turn in at the end of the semester.
At home: Finish reading Hiroshima. Study for quiz on Thursday. The quiz will primarily be on the book, but will include a few questions about the latest news, too.
Thursday:
Quiz on Hiroshima and latest news
At Home: Begin reading Rick Bragg, Somebody Told Me
Power Point Lecture on Hiroshima (be sure to take notes; it will help with your quiz on Thursday)
Small groups -- News Briefs: Please bring an electronic copy of your news brief. I'll break us into small groups and you'll help each other make the briefs perfect to send to the Insider. I'll visit each group and help with polishing. We'll send these off to the Insider before the end of class. Please remember to print a copy of your brief - and, when your briefs are published, a copy of the Insider's version. Keep these in your portfolio to turn in at the end of the semester.
At home: Finish reading Hiroshima. Study for quiz on Thursday. The quiz will primarily be on the book, but will include a few questions about the latest news, too.
Thursday:
Quiz on Hiroshima and latest news
At Home: Begin reading Rick Bragg, Somebody Told Me
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Assignment Schedule: Week of September 20
Please rely on each week's blog postings -- and not on the syllabus -- for your assignments. We'll be shifting plans a bit, and the blog will provide the most up-to-date information.
For Tuesday, Sept. 20: Attend talk/reading by visiting writer Ross Gay in Powers Hall 117 during class time. Take notes.
Write: Two to three paragraphs from your coverage of the reading. Paragraph 1 = lede; Paragraph 2 = residual information from lede; Paragraph 3 = quote from the most relevant source.
You don't have to bring hard copies to class on Thursday, but be sure to have an e-copy available for editing. Be ready to discuss on Thursday.
For Thursday, Sept. 22: Continue workshop of news briefs. Review coverage of Ross Gay (post-event coverage techniques). Get assignment for next week's news brief (see note from Brian Estadt below). These news briefs will be due in class on Tuesday, Sept. 27. Bring one hard copy of your news brief for me, and an e-copy to edit and send to the Insider during class.
Over the Weekend:
* Read Hiroshima. (Please note: The quiz will be on Thursday, Sept. 29. I'll give a lecture on the book on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The lecture will help you prep for the quiz.)
* Work on your news briefs.
*********
From Brian Estadt:
Go here: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=189KVvQfZNrqYZG9NnzwIST8wJOJOfFOWfKnNh3nBN14
It's the Academic Villages schedule, and the Insider would be interested in previews for any events from Wednesday, Sept. 28, through October 12. Of course, not all of those events are created equally ... it would be much easier to preview an appearance by Sauvity's Mouthpiece, for example, than the October 7 CAFT open discussion (esp. since we already covered the basics of what CATF is in first batch of briefs).
Updates on the campus sports teams also are welcome. These articles, however, should have the latest information, so if they are written early, they should be updated just before they're handed in.
And really, it would be much easier if they were just done — but done thoroughly, with interviews with the coaches and a player or two, per team — a day or two they had to be turned in. Campus sports info: http://www.greensburg.pitt.edu/athletics/home
Basically, anything else happening on campus also is game (bulletin boards are a college journalist's friend), as long as it falls between those dates.
For Tuesday, Sept. 20: Attend talk/reading by visiting writer Ross Gay in Powers Hall 117 during class time. Take notes.
Write: Two to three paragraphs from your coverage of the reading. Paragraph 1 = lede; Paragraph 2 = residual information from lede; Paragraph 3 = quote from the most relevant source.
You don't have to bring hard copies to class on Thursday, but be sure to have an e-copy available for editing. Be ready to discuss on Thursday.
For Thursday, Sept. 22: Continue workshop of news briefs. Review coverage of Ross Gay (post-event coverage techniques). Get assignment for next week's news brief (see note from Brian Estadt below). These news briefs will be due in class on Tuesday, Sept. 27. Bring one hard copy of your news brief for me, and an e-copy to edit and send to the Insider during class.
Over the Weekend:
* Read Hiroshima. (Please note: The quiz will be on Thursday, Sept. 29. I'll give a lecture on the book on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The lecture will help you prep for the quiz.)
* Work on your news briefs.
*********
From Brian Estadt:
Go here: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=189KVvQfZNrqYZG9NnzwIST8wJOJOfFOWfKnNh3nBN14
It's the Academic Villages schedule, and the Insider would be interested in previews for any events from Wednesday, Sept. 28, through October 12. Of course, not all of those events are created equally ... it would be much easier to preview an appearance by Sauvity's Mouthpiece, for example, than the October 7 CAFT open discussion (esp. since we already covered the basics of what CATF is in first batch of briefs).
Updates on the campus sports teams also are welcome. These articles, however, should have the latest information, so if they are written early, they should be updated just before they're handed in.
And really, it would be much easier if they were just done — but done thoroughly, with interviews with the coaches and a player or two, per team — a day or two they had to be turned in. Campus sports info: http://www.greensburg.pitt.edu/athletics/home
Basically, anything else happening on campus also is game (bulletin boards are a college journalist's friend), as long as it falls between those dates.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Spot Reporting Tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 20
Hi Everyone -- We'll be adjusting our schedule just a bit this week. On Tuesday, Sept. 20, we'll be going to PH 117 to hear visiting writer/poet Ross Gay speak in Professor Vollmer's poetry class. You'll be writing a spot-news report about the event. You'll need the 5ws/1 H, of course, plus at least one quote from the event. (The quote should come from the most relevant source for the story.)
For background, here's Ross Gay's bio:
Ross Gay is an American poet and professor. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Against Which (CavanKerry Press, 2006) and Bringing the Shovel Down (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011). His poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Columbia: A Journal of Poetry and Art, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry and Atlanta Review, and in anthologies including From the Fishouse (Persea Books, 2009). His honors include being a Cave Canem Workshop fellow and a Bread Loaf Writers Conference Tuition Scholar, and he received a grant from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts.
Ross Gay was born August 1, 1974 in Youngstown, Ohio and grew up outside of Philadelphia. He received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, and his Ph.D. in American Literature from Temple University. He is a basketball coach, an occasional demolition man and a painter. He has taught poetry, art and literature at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. and Montclair State University in New Jersey. He now teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and in the low-residency MFA in poetry program at Drew University.
****
On Thursday, we'll revisit your news briefs, edit any ones we didn't get to last week, and review this spot reportage.
For background, here's Ross Gay's bio:
Ross Gay is an American poet and professor. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Against Which (CavanKerry Press, 2006) and Bringing the Shovel Down (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011). His poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Columbia: A Journal of Poetry and Art, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry and Atlanta Review, and in anthologies including From the Fishouse (Persea Books, 2009). His honors include being a Cave Canem Workshop fellow and a Bread Loaf Writers Conference Tuition Scholar, and he received a grant from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts.
Ross Gay was born August 1, 1974 in Youngstown, Ohio and grew up outside of Philadelphia. He received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, and his Ph.D. in American Literature from Temple University. He is a basketball coach, an occasional demolition man and a painter. He has taught poetry, art and literature at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. and Montclair State University in New Jersey. He now teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and in the low-residency MFA in poetry program at Drew University.
****
On Thursday, we'll revisit your news briefs, edit any ones we didn't get to last week, and review this spot reportage.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Guide for News Briefs
Guide to News Briefs
• Headline
Give your brief a headline. Avoid to-be verbs. Use the headline and your name in the subject line when sending your brief as a Word attachment. Capitalize the first letter of the central words in the headline.
• By-line: Skip two spaces from your headline. Add your by-line (by xxxxxxxx). Skip two spaces.
• Don’t indent paragraphs. Flush left. Skip two spaces between paragraphs.
• Keep paragraphs and sentences short. Very short. No more than two sentences per paragraph for now.
• Use active voice.
• Be sure you have the most relevant information in the first paragraph, then arrange additional information in descending order.
• Introduce, fully ID and quote a relevant source by Paragraph 3.
• Your last paragraph should provide contact information where readers can find additional details.
• Triple-check for accuracy (facts, grammar, etc.).
• Headline
Give your brief a headline. Avoid to-be verbs. Use the headline and your name in the subject line when sending your brief as a Word attachment. Capitalize the first letter of the central words in the headline.
• By-line: Skip two spaces from your headline. Add your by-line (by xxxxxxxx). Skip two spaces.
• Don’t indent paragraphs. Flush left. Skip two spaces between paragraphs.
• Keep paragraphs and sentences short. Very short. No more than two sentences per paragraph for now.
• Use active voice.
• Be sure you have the most relevant information in the first paragraph, then arrange additional information in descending order.
• Introduce, fully ID and quote a relevant source by Paragraph 3.
• Your last paragraph should provide contact information where readers can find additional details.
• Triple-check for accuracy (facts, grammar, etc.).
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Contact Information for Village Senate and Village Activities
Anyone who ends up covering a Village-centered event, here's useful contact information from Frank Wilson:
"Students in the Village who are the mainsprings of the activities you are
investigating are really better sources than me. All of what we do in the
Village is based on collaboration between students and the directors, with
the driving force being initiatives coming from the students.
Village Senate: (You are encouraged to attend, to see for yourself)
Heather Metro hnm5@pitt.edu
Vanessa Malinowski vmm15@pitt.edu
Fred Mejia fmm11@pitt.edu
Music Scene:
Claire Secen cvs8@pitt.edu
Cody Kraski crk36@pitt.edu
Justin Antoszewski jpa12@pitt.edu
"Students in the Village who are the mainsprings of the activities you are
investigating are really better sources than me. All of what we do in the
Village is based on collaboration between students and the directors, with
the driving force being initiatives coming from the students.
Village Senate: (You are encouraged to attend, to see for yourself)
Heather Metro hnm5@pitt.edu
Vanessa Malinowski vmm15@pitt.edu
Fred Mejia fmm11@pitt.edu
Music Scene:
Claire Secen cvs8@pitt.edu
Cody Kraski crk36@pitt.edu
Justin Antoszewski jpa12@pitt.edu
Monday, September 5, 2011
Story Assignments to Choose From
These will be due via e-mail on Sunday, Sept. 11 by 2 p.m. We'll workshop in class on Tuesday, Sept. 13, then send finished pieces to The Insider.
Guidelines:
You'll need to track down the primary sources for the events. See me if you have questions about who to contact.
The Insider is looking for preview briefs that are between 175 and 275 words, with a single source and direct quote.
The direct quote should NOT be a basic fact. For example, if the basic fact is that the event is the event being previewed is the first spoken/written coffeehouse event of the semester, the direct quote should illuminate or add depth to the basic information. In that situation the quote could be the organizer discussing why people should particpate or what they expect from the semester's lineup of readers.
Again, the quote should not be a statement of the basic facts of the event.
Your story assignment will be based on one of the following events (assignments made in class):
* Wednesday, September 14 ☮ 8pm in The Coffeehouse — Live Music: Michelle Lewis
* Thursday, September 15 ☮ 7pm in Campana Chapel — Exploring the “F” Word:What is Feminism? Kick off La Cultura event. Join a panel of faculty,staff and students to explore this word and its multiple meanings. Intro by Dr. Elisa Beshero-Bondar, Moderator – Dr. Pilar Herr, Panelists – Sheila Confer, Dr. Estela Llinas, Dr. Bill Rued, Judy Vollmer, Justin Reed
* Friday, September 16 ☮ 11:45 in Village Hall 101 — Campus Alliance for Free Thought (CAFT)
* Monday, September 19 ☮Noon in Village Hall 101 — Village Senate Meeting - All interested student are welcome to attend or join
* Monday, September 19 ☮ 9pm in The Coffeehouse — Open Mic Night – Acoustic instruments only
* Thursday, September 22 ☮ 5:30 pm in Village Hall 101 — Dinner/Discussion: Join us as we get to know Dr McAlister a little better. Students attending will pick the discussion topics on arrival. YOU MUST SIGN UP on Sheila’s door (Village Hall 102). IS there a faculty member you would like to invite to dinner? Let Sheila know by emailing sec10@pitt.edu. (NOTE: This preview should be about the faculty/student dinners in general — what they are intended to do and so forth — not a focus primary on this one professor.)
* Thursday, September 22 ☮ 7pm in Village Hall 118 — La Cultura Film Series
* Friday, September 23 ☮ 8pm in The Coffeehouse — Keep It Local Fridays: Live music by the Panther Hollow String Band featuring Pitt-Greensburg’s own Dan Mudry, Systems Analyst from the Computer Center
* Monday, September 26 ☮Noon in Village Hall 101 — Village Senate Meeting - All interested student are welcome to attend or join
* Tuesday, September 27 ☮ 7pm in the Coffeehouse — Written/Spoken Series
In addition to those 10, there are so opportunities for sports coverage, including:
* Womens/Mens soccer — Preview the game that next game — including date, time & location — after our Sept. 14 publication & recap early season so far -- team record, top players, comment from coach. Reporter should update info so it's current as of Sept. 13.
* Women's volleyball — Preview the game that next game — including date, time & location — after our Sept. 14 publication & recap early season so far -- team record, top players, comment from coach. Reporter should update info so it's current as of Sept. 13.
* Women's tennis — Preview the game that next game — including date, time & location — after our Sept. 14 publication & recap early season so far -- team record, top players, comment from coach. Reporter should update info so it's current as of Sept. 13.
Guidelines:
You'll need to track down the primary sources for the events. See me if you have questions about who to contact.
The Insider is looking for preview briefs that are between 175 and 275 words, with a single source and direct quote.
The direct quote should NOT be a basic fact. For example, if the basic fact is that the event is the event being previewed is the first spoken/written coffeehouse event of the semester, the direct quote should illuminate or add depth to the basic information. In that situation the quote could be the organizer discussing why people should particpate or what they expect from the semester's lineup of readers.
Again, the quote should not be a statement of the basic facts of the event.
Your story assignment will be based on one of the following events (assignments made in class):
* Wednesday, September 14 ☮ 8pm in The Coffeehouse — Live Music: Michelle Lewis
* Thursday, September 15 ☮ 7pm in Campana Chapel — Exploring the “F” Word:What is Feminism? Kick off La Cultura event. Join a panel of faculty,staff and students to explore this word and its multiple meanings. Intro by Dr. Elisa Beshero-Bondar, Moderator – Dr. Pilar Herr, Panelists – Sheila Confer, Dr. Estela Llinas, Dr. Bill Rued, Judy Vollmer, Justin Reed
* Friday, September 16 ☮ 11:45 in Village Hall 101 — Campus Alliance for Free Thought (CAFT)
* Monday, September 19 ☮Noon in Village Hall 101 — Village Senate Meeting - All interested student are welcome to attend or join
* Monday, September 19 ☮ 9pm in The Coffeehouse — Open Mic Night – Acoustic instruments only
* Thursday, September 22 ☮ 5:30 pm in Village Hall 101 — Dinner/Discussion: Join us as we get to know Dr McAlister a little better. Students attending will pick the discussion topics on arrival. YOU MUST SIGN UP on Sheila’s door (Village Hall 102). IS there a faculty member you would like to invite to dinner? Let Sheila know by emailing sec10@pitt.edu. (NOTE: This preview should be about the faculty/student dinners in general — what they are intended to do and so forth — not a focus primary on this one professor.)
* Thursday, September 22 ☮ 7pm in Village Hall 118 — La Cultura Film Series
* Friday, September 23 ☮ 8pm in The Coffeehouse — Keep It Local Fridays: Live music by the Panther Hollow String Band featuring Pitt-Greensburg’s own Dan Mudry, Systems Analyst from the Computer Center
* Monday, September 26 ☮Noon in Village Hall 101 — Village Senate Meeting - All interested student are welcome to attend or join
* Tuesday, September 27 ☮ 7pm in the Coffeehouse — Written/Spoken Series
In addition to those 10, there are so opportunities for sports coverage, including:
* Womens/Mens soccer — Preview the game that next game — including date, time & location — after our Sept. 14 publication & recap early season so far -- team record, top players, comment from coach. Reporter should update info so it's current as of Sept. 13.
* Women's volleyball — Preview the game that next game — including date, time & location — after our Sept. 14 publication & recap early season so far -- team record, top players, comment from coach. Reporter should update info so it's current as of Sept. 13.
* Women's tennis — Preview the game that next game — including date, time & location — after our Sept. 14 publication & recap early season so far -- team record, top players, comment from coach. Reporter should update info so it's current as of Sept. 13.
Writing for the Insider: A Style Guide
Every media outlet uses a stylebook to ensure consistency from sentence to
sentence and from article to article. Like most new outlets, The Insider uses “The
Associated Press Stylebook” for general style guidelines. Since our readership
primarily is limited to the Pitt-Greensburg community, we have some campus-
specific styles you should be aware of. These are some of the basic style issues that
regularly confront The Insider staff. If you aren’t sure of how a word should be
spelled, capitalized or punctuated, check the stylebook and dictionary.
And:
Journalists drop the comma before “and” in a series. Ex: Our flag is red,
white and blue.
Attribution:
Very rarely will you need to use anything other than “said” for attribution. You might be tempted to jazz things up with more descriptive or active attribution verbs. Don’t. It’s bad writing to claim that your sources laugh, smirk,
smile their words. Spend your extra time coming up with powerful, effective non-
attribution verbs. That said, “asked,” is, obviously, fine for attribution.
Active/Passive construction:
In fiction, an argument can been made for the artistic use of passive sentence construction. In journalism, there is no argument. Especially not for beginners. Stick to the active voice with your writing. Have your subjects do something instead of having something done to them.
Contractions:
Some publications encourage contractions while others never use them. The Insider encourages the use of contractions.
Dates & Times:
We drop “:00” from times at the top of the hour — it’s 3 p.m., not 3:00 p.m. Also, if we list a group of times that do not pass noon or midnight, we only use the a.m./p.m. designation once, after the last one listed. Ex. She has classes
at 8, 9 and 10 a.m. He has class from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. If a p.m. time were added to
her list of classes, it would look like this: She has classes at 8, 9 and 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
It’s essential that you also check out the time element, times, midnight, noon and a.m. p.m. entries in your “AP Stylebook.”
Descriptions in general:
Try to avoid descriptor overkill. Don’t bombard readers will all the detail all at once. The best way to do this is to scatter the descriptors among the source’s first few references in your article.
For example, let’s say it’s essential to inform readers that Jane Doe is 43, a
resident of Mt. Pleasant, a mother of two and a history professor.
Sure, you could introduce her to readers like this: Jane Doe of Mt. Pleasant, 43,
a history professor and mother of two, agrees with the students.
But c’mon, you’re writing a story, not a resume. Why should the reader have
to wade through all of that descriptors to discover the action of the sentence?
Instead, make your sentences a little more artful with this sort of approach:
History professor Jane Doe agrees with the students. Doe, a 43-year-old mother of two,said she would expect her children to stand up for their rights like the Pitt-Greensburg protestors.
“This is what we want from students — to look at this information with a
critical eye and decide for themselves,” said Doe, of Mt. Pleasant.
Also, when a title or descriptor exceeds two words, place it after the name
and offset it with commas.
Wrong: Senior secondary education major Sarah Peterson said she was excited
to …
Right: Sarah Peterson, a senior secondary education major, said she was
excited to ...
Also right: Senior Sarah Peterson, a secondary education major, said she was
excited to …
Hyphen or dash?
§ This “-“ is a hyphen. This “—“ is a dash.
§ A hyphen connects words. A dash can be used in place of a comma.
§ Dashes are especially useful when you have a series in a phrase that
would be offset by commas. Ex. The limited selection of colors — they had only yellow, brown and purple cars — prompted her to buy elsewhere.
§ Some word processors automatically convert two side-by-side hyphens into dashes. If it doesn’t and you don’t know how to create one, just leave two dashes without a space between them.
§ Both hyphens and dashes are explained in the punctuation section in the back of your stylebook. It’s only about 10 pages long, but it’ll clear up some common misunderstandings.
Identifying faculty and administration:
Never abbreviate “professor.” Don’t capitalize it. Use that title only on first
reference; on subsequent references, just use the professor’s last name.
Avoid overidentification. For most stories, it is enough to simply identify a
faculty member as an “English professor” instead of a “professor of English in
the Pitt-Greensburg writing department.”
Always lowercase titles that are offset by commas after a name.
As per AP, do not capitalize titles that essentially are job descriptions.
Read the AP stylebook’s doctor entry. It calls for reporters to include “Dr.”
before a name only for medical doctors, not academics. The exception to that
rule is if the person is being quoted in the context of their area of expertise
— for example, you’d use Dr. Tom Berg if Tom Berg has a doctorate in art
history and he’s being quoted in a story about art. Since pretty much all of
the faculty on this campus who have doctorates are teaching courses in their
area of expertise, it stands to reasons that The Insider does use this courtesy
title — but, as with all courtesy titles, it is used on first reference only.
See what AP says on the matter by checking out your stylebook’s entries for
academic titles, professor and titles.
Identifying students:
In addition to the basic AP style of listing first and last names on first reference and using only surnames on subsequent references, we want to know what year — freshman, sophomore, junior, senior — a student is. To limit the number of commas in a sentence, we prefer the class status to precede the student’s name.
Example: Sophomore Tom Ebbets agreed … instead of Tom Ebbets, a sophomore, agreed …
For general campus news and features, it isn’t necessary to identify a student’s field of study. But when it is relevant to the story — such as identifying
someone as an English writing major in a story about downsizing the writing
program — be sure to include the student’s field of study.
Numbers:
There are a lot of specialized styles concerning the use of numbers. The numerals entry (and the other stylebook entries it lists, particularly addresses, ages, course numbers, dates, decades, dimensions, fractions, monetary units, room numbers) in your stylebook is one of the most essential ones to study. A few of the very basics:
§ If a number starts a sentence, spell it out — or, better yet, restructure
the sentence so it doesn’t begin with a number. This rule supercedes
all but one other numbers-related style rule. The lone exception?
Years. It would be technically correct to publish this sentence: 1991
was a great year for music.
§ If it’s a single-digit number, spell it out. If it’s two digits or more, use
the Arabic figure.
§ Ages — regardless of if you’re talking days, moths or years — are
Arabic figures. Even single-digit ages.
§ Seriously, read the numerals entry. There’s a lot of numbers-related
rules out there.
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg/Pitt-Greensburg/UPG:
The preferred style when referring to our campus is Pitt-Greensburg. We try to avoid the full name unless it appears in a direct quote. This is because we all know what Pitt-Greensburg is and the full name is unwieldy — 11 syllables is a bit much to have to write over and over. Always use Pitt-Greensburg on first reference.
Background: A couple of years ago, campus President Sharon Smith told campus employees that the commonly used UPG wasn’t acceptable because the acronym wasn’t easily understood outside of the campus community. She directed employees to refer to the campus either by its full name or Pitt-Greensburg.
The Insider is not a university employee, so her directive does not apply to
us. Our primary audience is the Pitt-Greensburg community, and our readers
immediately understand what UPG stands for. Therefore, it is acceptable to use UPG.
We haven’t yet made it a style rule, but we’ve found that “UPG” works best as an
adjective and “Pitt-Greensburg” works best as a noun.
Spacing: There is only one space at the end of sentences.
sentence and from article to article. Like most new outlets, The Insider uses “The
Associated Press Stylebook” for general style guidelines. Since our readership
primarily is limited to the Pitt-Greensburg community, we have some campus-
specific styles you should be aware of. These are some of the basic style issues that
regularly confront The Insider staff. If you aren’t sure of how a word should be
spelled, capitalized or punctuated, check the stylebook and dictionary.
And:
Journalists drop the comma before “and” in a series. Ex: Our flag is red,
white and blue.
Attribution:
Very rarely will you need to use anything other than “said” for attribution. You might be tempted to jazz things up with more descriptive or active attribution verbs. Don’t. It’s bad writing to claim that your sources laugh, smirk,
smile their words. Spend your extra time coming up with powerful, effective non-
attribution verbs. That said, “asked,” is, obviously, fine for attribution.
Active/Passive construction:
In fiction, an argument can been made for the artistic use of passive sentence construction. In journalism, there is no argument. Especially not for beginners. Stick to the active voice with your writing. Have your subjects do something instead of having something done to them.
Contractions:
Some publications encourage contractions while others never use them. The Insider encourages the use of contractions.
Dates & Times:
We drop “:00” from times at the top of the hour — it’s 3 p.m., not 3:00 p.m. Also, if we list a group of times that do not pass noon or midnight, we only use the a.m./p.m. designation once, after the last one listed. Ex. She has classes
at 8, 9 and 10 a.m. He has class from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. If a p.m. time were added to
her list of classes, it would look like this: She has classes at 8, 9 and 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
It’s essential that you also check out the time element, times, midnight, noon and a.m. p.m. entries in your “AP Stylebook.”
Descriptions in general:
Try to avoid descriptor overkill. Don’t bombard readers will all the detail all at once. The best way to do this is to scatter the descriptors among the source’s first few references in your article.
For example, let’s say it’s essential to inform readers that Jane Doe is 43, a
resident of Mt. Pleasant, a mother of two and a history professor.
Sure, you could introduce her to readers like this: Jane Doe of Mt. Pleasant, 43,
a history professor and mother of two, agrees with the students.
But c’mon, you’re writing a story, not a resume. Why should the reader have
to wade through all of that descriptors to discover the action of the sentence?
Instead, make your sentences a little more artful with this sort of approach:
History professor Jane Doe agrees with the students. Doe, a 43-year-old mother of two,said she would expect her children to stand up for their rights like the Pitt-Greensburg protestors.
“This is what we want from students — to look at this information with a
critical eye and decide for themselves,” said Doe, of Mt. Pleasant.
Also, when a title or descriptor exceeds two words, place it after the name
and offset it with commas.
Wrong: Senior secondary education major Sarah Peterson said she was excited
to …
Right: Sarah Peterson, a senior secondary education major, said she was
excited to ...
Also right: Senior Sarah Peterson, a secondary education major, said she was
excited to …
Hyphen or dash?
§ This “-“ is a hyphen. This “—“ is a dash.
§ A hyphen connects words. A dash can be used in place of a comma.
§ Dashes are especially useful when you have a series in a phrase that
would be offset by commas. Ex. The limited selection of colors — they had only yellow, brown and purple cars — prompted her to buy elsewhere.
§ Some word processors automatically convert two side-by-side hyphens into dashes. If it doesn’t and you don’t know how to create one, just leave two dashes without a space between them.
§ Both hyphens and dashes are explained in the punctuation section in the back of your stylebook. It’s only about 10 pages long, but it’ll clear up some common misunderstandings.
Identifying faculty and administration:
Never abbreviate “professor.” Don’t capitalize it. Use that title only on first
reference; on subsequent references, just use the professor’s last name.
Avoid overidentification. For most stories, it is enough to simply identify a
faculty member as an “English professor” instead of a “professor of English in
the Pitt-Greensburg writing department.”
Always lowercase titles that are offset by commas after a name.
As per AP, do not capitalize titles that essentially are job descriptions.
Read the AP stylebook’s doctor entry. It calls for reporters to include “Dr.”
before a name only for medical doctors, not academics. The exception to that
rule is if the person is being quoted in the context of their area of expertise
— for example, you’d use Dr. Tom Berg if Tom Berg has a doctorate in art
history and he’s being quoted in a story about art. Since pretty much all of
the faculty on this campus who have doctorates are teaching courses in their
area of expertise, it stands to reasons that The Insider does use this courtesy
title — but, as with all courtesy titles, it is used on first reference only.
See what AP says on the matter by checking out your stylebook’s entries for
academic titles, professor and titles.
Identifying students:
In addition to the basic AP style of listing first and last names on first reference and using only surnames on subsequent references, we want to know what year — freshman, sophomore, junior, senior — a student is. To limit the number of commas in a sentence, we prefer the class status to precede the student’s name.
Example: Sophomore Tom Ebbets agreed … instead of Tom Ebbets, a sophomore, agreed …
For general campus news and features, it isn’t necessary to identify a student’s field of study. But when it is relevant to the story — such as identifying
someone as an English writing major in a story about downsizing the writing
program — be sure to include the student’s field of study.
Numbers:
There are a lot of specialized styles concerning the use of numbers. The numerals entry (and the other stylebook entries it lists, particularly addresses, ages, course numbers, dates, decades, dimensions, fractions, monetary units, room numbers) in your stylebook is one of the most essential ones to study. A few of the very basics:
§ If a number starts a sentence, spell it out — or, better yet, restructure
the sentence so it doesn’t begin with a number. This rule supercedes
all but one other numbers-related style rule. The lone exception?
Years. It would be technically correct to publish this sentence: 1991
was a great year for music.
§ If it’s a single-digit number, spell it out. If it’s two digits or more, use
the Arabic figure.
§ Ages — regardless of if you’re talking days, moths or years — are
Arabic figures. Even single-digit ages.
§ Seriously, read the numerals entry. There’s a lot of numbers-related
rules out there.
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg/Pitt-Greensburg/UPG:
The preferred style when referring to our campus is Pitt-Greensburg. We try to avoid the full name unless it appears in a direct quote. This is because we all know what Pitt-Greensburg is and the full name is unwieldy — 11 syllables is a bit much to have to write over and over. Always use Pitt-Greensburg on first reference.
Background: A couple of years ago, campus President Sharon Smith told campus employees that the commonly used UPG wasn’t acceptable because the acronym wasn’t easily understood outside of the campus community. She directed employees to refer to the campus either by its full name or Pitt-Greensburg.
The Insider is not a university employee, so her directive does not apply to
us. Our primary audience is the Pitt-Greensburg community, and our readers
immediately understand what UPG stands for. Therefore, it is acceptable to use UPG.
We haven’t yet made it a style rule, but we’ve found that “UPG” works best as an
adjective and “Pitt-Greensburg” works best as a noun.
Spacing: There is only one space at the end of sentences.
Friday, September 2, 2011
The Insider Wants You
The Insider, our online campus newspaper, is looking for photographers. Please e-mail Brian Estadt, the Insider advisor, at brianestadt@gmail.com if you're interested. The Insider can provide camera equipment and training, as needed.
Also, in addition to the stories you'll be doing for The Insider in class, there are openings for specialty writers of all kinds. If you'd be interested in writing a column, doing regular features on local culture, reviewing music and movies and more, please send Brian a note.
Publishing your work in The Insider now is a great step toward building a portfolio that can help you get a job in journalism or public relations later on. It's also a great way to connect with other writers and the campus community. Oh, and there are those 15 minutes of fame Andy Warhol always talked about.
Also, in addition to the stories you'll be doing for The Insider in class, there are openings for specialty writers of all kinds. If you'd be interested in writing a column, doing regular features on local culture, reviewing music and movies and more, please send Brian a note.
Publishing your work in The Insider now is a great step toward building a portfolio that can help you get a job in journalism or public relations later on. It's also a great way to connect with other writers and the campus community. Oh, and there are those 15 minutes of fame Andy Warhol always talked about.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Post Your Ledes Here
Post your events/news brief ledes in the comments section below by 2 p.m. on Monday. We'll cover these in workshop on Tuesday.
Happy weekend!
Happy weekend!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Excerpt from Orwell's "Politics & the English Language"
A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:
1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
And he will probably ask himself two more:
1. Could I put it more shortly?
2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one's meaning as clear as one can through pictures and sensations. Afterward one can choose -- not simply accept -- the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impressions one's words are likely to make on another person. This last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and vagueness generally. But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails.
I think the following rules will cover most cases:
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never us a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase -- some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, or other lump of verbal refuse -- into the dustbin, where it belongs.
The Importance of Being Brief
Thank you to Jim Heynen who called attention to this in his essay, "Becoming Your Own Best Critic." Heynen's essay first appeared in Brevity. See it here: http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/craft/craft_heynen1_10.htm
Here are two versions of the last paragraph of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. The first was written by Secretary of State William Seward; the second is Lincoln’s revision.
Seward’s draft:
I close. We are not, we must not be, aliens or enemies, but fellow-countrymen and brethren. Although passion has strained our bonds of affection too hardly, they must not, I am sure they will not, be broken. The mystic chords which, proceeding from so many battle-fields and so many patriot graves, pass through all the hearts and all the hearths in this broad continent of ours, will yet again harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angels of the nation. (84 words)
Lincoln’s revision:
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. (75 words)
The two versions also appear in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book TEAM OF RIVALS and again in the January 2009 issue of The New Yorker.
Let's talk about the difference between the two versions. Let's talk depth, effect, voice. And brevity, of course.
Here are two versions of the last paragraph of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. The first was written by Secretary of State William Seward; the second is Lincoln’s revision.
Seward’s draft:
I close. We are not, we must not be, aliens or enemies, but fellow-countrymen and brethren. Although passion has strained our bonds of affection too hardly, they must not, I am sure they will not, be broken. The mystic chords which, proceeding from so many battle-fields and so many patriot graves, pass through all the hearts and all the hearths in this broad continent of ours, will yet again harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angels of the nation. (84 words)
Lincoln’s revision:
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. (75 words)
The two versions also appear in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book TEAM OF RIVALS and again in the January 2009 issue of The New Yorker.
Let's talk about the difference between the two versions. Let's talk depth, effect, voice. And brevity, of course.
Level Green ready for 220th birthday bash | YourPennTrafford.com
Here's a nice example of a good local news story. Notice the lede. How many of the 5Ws and 1 H are included there? Where does the first source/quote show up in the story? Notice the sentence lengths, the paragraphs lengths. How clear is the story? Easy to follow, easy to understand? Why? We'll talk about this and more during our class discussion of news writing basics and good writing.
Level Green ready for 220th birthday bash | YourPennTrafford.com
Level Green ready for 220th birthday bash | YourPennTrafford.com
Monday, August 29, 2011
Introduction to You (and ledes)
Please answer the following questions:
Who are you? (full identifying information, including your name, your age, your year/standing in school, your major)
What are you doing in this class?
Where are you from?
When did you arrive at Pitt Greensburg?
Why did you choose Pitt-Greensburg and your major?
How did you decide college was important?
Then add one surprising (fun) fact about yourself -- something you'd think others would be interested to know. Be specific.
Now, write three paragraphs. The first paragraph should include the who, the what, the where, the when. The second paragraph should include the why and the how. The third paragraph should include the surprising fact. Pay attention to precision. Spelling and grammar count. Use short sentences and active voice.
Post your introduction to the blog in the comments section below.
Who are you? (full identifying information, including your name, your age, your year/standing in school, your major)
What are you doing in this class?
Where are you from?
When did you arrive at Pitt Greensburg?
Why did you choose Pitt-Greensburg and your major?
How did you decide college was important?
Then add one surprising (fun) fact about yourself -- something you'd think others would be interested to know. Be specific.
Now, write three paragraphs. The first paragraph should include the who, the what, the where, the when. The second paragraph should include the why and the how. The third paragraph should include the surprising fact. Pay attention to precision. Spelling and grammar count. Use short sentences and active voice.
Post your introduction to the blog in the comments section below.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Welcome
Welcome to Intro to Journalism!
Now, our first lesson: See that exclamation point? Here's the rule in journalism. Use one exclamation point once every seven years and then only when you mean it. So there goes seven years' worth of exclaiming. Still, it feels worth it. Welcome.
(BTW, There are no rules with exclamation points when it comes to e-mails and tweets and most non-news blogs, so you can always get your emoting out that way.)
Our course syllabus appears below. Please feel free to print a paper copy, though it's good to be green, even if it's not easy. Ask Kermit the Frog.
Please check this blog site regularly for schedule updates, assignment details, news and useful links and more. Register as a follower of this blog now -- you'll be posting responses to assignments and more throughout the semester.
Here's to a great semester. Note: I had to repress that exclamation point. Limits are limits.
****
Introduction to Journalism / English Writing 0550 / CRN 54843
Course Meets in 138 McKenna Hall T/H 10 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
Professor Jakiela
208 Faculty Office Building
Office Extension: #7481 (724-836-7481)
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays Noon-1 p.m. and by appointment
E-Mail: lljakiela@gmail.com, loj@pitt.edu
Required Texts:
The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual
The Associated Press Guide to News Writing
Hiroshima, John Hersey
Somebody Told Me, Rick Bragg
Vintage Didion, Joan Didion
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
Hell's Angels, Hunter S. Thompson
If you’re not already familiar with the on-line versions of major newspapers and news networks, as well as blog sites, you’ll want to start with the list under Places to Go. Please feel free to add your own favorite sites to the mix. Keeping up to date on all things news will help you with the weekly quizzes in this course.
***
When asked why he rewrote the final chapter of A Farewell to Arms 44 times, Ernest Hemingway answered: “To get the words right.”
Hemingway was a journalist before he was a great novelist. All journalists – if they’re dedicated to their craft – struggle to master the techniques and skills that became Hemingway hallmarks. The precise use of language and surprising, luminous details. Sharp, unflinching reportage. Meaningful dialogue recorded by a well-tuned ear. A clean, well-ordered story crafted by a critical and an inquisitive mind.
But how does one begin?
This class does not promise to churn out Hemingways, but it will help you to do several things you may not have been able to do before:
* You will learn the basics of journalism – the 5 Ws/1H; how to get it right, write it fast, write it well.
* You’ll learn how to use standard industry techniques – including the classic Inverted Pyramid and Associated Press Style – to shape stories.
* You’ll take a close look at the different kinds of articles that appear in newspapers and new-media sites, and you will develop critical skills that will help you both as a writer and consumer of news.
* You’ll craft basic news stories, features, and editorial pieces.
* You’ll discover how the Internet goes on changing the way we write and receive news, and how old media and new media are working together to change the information landscape.
* You’ll begin to understand the ethical and legal responsibilities of the profession, as well as the role of the media in American society.
One thing all serious writers agree on: you can’t be a writer if you don’t read. And so, as you can tell from the list of required texts, we’ll be doing a lot of reading in this class. Through our readings, I hope you’ll develop a sense of the history of the profession and begin to imagine your own place in it.
As for our primary textbook, The AP Guide to News Writing – consider it the drill instructor for the course. We’ll do quite a lot of writerly push-ups. The exercises should help you develop basic news writing and reporting skills. While all good writing has much in common, journalism is a very particular version of the virus, and it’s one that requires repeat exposures.
In addition to all of this, we’ll spend considerable time reading and critiquing the work of journalists in the local, national, and student press. And you will, of course, be writing, revising and editing your own work and offering feedback regarding your classmates’ work throughout the term.
Ideally, once you get the hang of things, your work will be passed to the UPG student newspaper, The Insider, for possible publication. Editors from The Insider will visit early in the semester to talk about the kinds of stories they’d be interested in, and about what they think makes for good campus news.
***
The Details
Deadlines
One of the primary lessons in journalism is -- a deadline is sacred. Therefore, I will not accept late work.
A Few Words About Content
You need to take your work seriously. If you’re bored with what you write, your readers will be bored, too.
Care enough to go beyond mediocrity. Caring and being curious are two hallmarks of good journalists.
An important note: When you need to interview sources for your stories, do not interview friends and family members. Do not make up quotes or facts. Be precise when you quote a source. Use a recording device if you can. In this class, you will be held to professional journalists’ ethical standards. Failure to uphold ethical standards in your work will result in failure in the course.
Technically Speaking
Be accurate. Observe proper formats. Consult the AP Stylebook, a composition handbook, and/or a dictionary each time you encounter problems with spelling, grammar, or style.
Assignments should be free of technical errors. Assignments containing grievous technical and/or factual errors will be returned to you unread. You will need to correct the errors and return the work to me by the next class period in order to receive credit for the assignment.
Quizzes
As beginning journalists, it is important that you keep up with the news (how’s that for obvious?). The Internet provides wide access to a variety of news sources. To ensure that you keep current, we will have news quizzes (sometimes disguised as News Jeopardy! -- more fun, same concept).
We will also have several quizzes based on the assigned readings. You’ll note that readings-quizzes usually come after a weighty reading assignment. The combined quizzes will account for 25 percent of your grade in the course.
Attendance and Participation
You must attend class and complete all written assignments. If you must miss class due to an emergency or an illness, it is your responsibility to contact me.
If you miss more than three classes during the semester, your grade will drop by one letter for each additional absence. Also, I expect you to come to class on time and to be prepared. Failure to do so will result in a recorded absence.
Your participation in class is essential, and 25 percent of your grade will depend upon it.
In short, please come to class, be prepared, speak up, and take an active interest in your own progress.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses. Cheating is defined as the attempt, successful or not, to give or obtain aid and/or information by illicit means in meeting any academic requirements, including examinations. Plagiarism is defined as the use, without proper acknowledgement, of the ideas, phrases, sentences, or larger units of discourse from another writer or speaker. If you plagiarize and/or cheat in this course, you will be in danger of failing the course.
Final Portfolios
You’ll need to save the original copies of all the stories you do this term. At the end of the semester, you’ll return these pieces to me, along with at least one dramatic revision of a piece of your choice.
(Note: I may ask you to revise any piece at any time. This revision would be mandatory, and would be included as part of your portfolio. It would not, however, replace your final revision.)
Your final portfolio, along with successful completion of your initial drafts and completed written exercises, will account for the remaining 50 percent of your grade in the course.
Conferences
We will meet in conferences once during the term. The conference will give us a chance to talk one-on-one about your work. The conferences are mandatory. Time-permitting, I will cancel our regular classes during a conference week. Failure to attend your conference will be recorded as a class absence.
Office Hours
Please stop by my office during office hours, or schedule an appointment for another time. I’m happy to meet with you to discuss your work at any time during the term.
Written Work
Once again, your written work will account for 50 percent of your grade in this course. Although the following list is subject to change at any time, here’s roughly what your workload will be:
Exercises and short assignments: 10
Analysis Piece/Short Critique: 2
Articles: One or more of each of the following (subject to change)--
Event/speech/meeting coverage
Obituary
Simple news story
Complex news story
Profile
Commentary and/or Gonzo piece
Total of seven pieces at approximately 300-800 words each
Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Lou Ann Sears in the Learning Resources Center located on the first floor of the Faculty Office Building. You should do this as early as possible in the term. The LRC will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.
********************************************************
About the instructor: Lori Jakiela is the author of the memoir Miss New York Has Everything (Warner/Hatchette), and three poetry collections -- The Mill Hunk's Daughter Meets the Queen of Sky (Finishing Line, 2011), Red Eye (Pudding House Press, 2010) and The Regulars (Liquid Paper Press, 2001). Another poetry collection -- Spot the Terrorist! -- will be published by Word Tech press in 2012. Her second memoir, The Bridge to Take When Things Gets Serious, will be published in January 2013. Her essays have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Creative Nonfiction, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Pittsburgh City Paper, The Tribune Review, and elsewhere.
Her poems and essays have been widely anthologized in the U.S. and the U.K., and her work regularly appears in many literary magazines, including 5 AM, Chiron Review, KGB BarLit, River Teeth, Nerve Cowboy and elsewhere.
She has been a columnist for the Tribune Review company, and her column "Here and Now" received a 2010 Golden Quill Award for Best Column Writing from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. She's a speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, an associate professor of English at Pitt-Greensburg, and on the faculty of Chatham University's low-residency MFA program.
****
Tentative Schedule of Assignments for the first month – This will change. Guaranteed.
Tuesday, Aug. 30
Course Introduction/review of syllabus
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2/Guide to News Writing
2. Find one example of good writing (according to the guidelines in your text and according to you as a consumer of news/words) and one example of awful writing. Clip and bring to class. Be prepared to discuss. (Save examples for your portfolio.)
3. Remember to review the links under Places to Go, if you still subscribe or regularly read print news, you may bring a newspaper to class.
Thursday, Sept. 1
Review of the latest news
Lecture: What is news? What makes writing good?
Introduction to using the AP Stylebook (make sure you bring your stylebooks to class for every class meeting)
Small group work – Writing samples
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 3/Guide to News Writing (Leads)
2. Find two examples (you guessed it). One great lead. One cruddy lead. Bring both to class and be ready to discuss. (Save examples for your portfolio.)
3. Also, practice writing a lead of your own. Choose an event from the UPG Campus Calendar as the subject for your lead. Follow the guidelines in the AP text. Try to answer as many of the 5 Ws/1 H in your lead as necessary (that’s Who, What, When, Where, Why, How/How Much). Have fun and don’t worry – you can make mistakes. Just be careful with spelling and grammatical/factual precision.
4. Post your lead to this blog by 2 p.m. Sunday. We'll review select leads in class.
Tuesday, Sept. 6
Leads
Small group work: More leads
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 4/Guide to News Writing (Periods).
2. Now, write your first news story. This story will be about an upcoming event on campus. Choose an event that interests you. You can find events and details on the campus calendar (www.pitt.edu/~upg). Before you try to write the story, be sure you have all the necessary information (5Ws/1H). Be sure to contact and interview two relevant sources. Be sure to identify the sources, quote them directly in your story, and provide contact information (phone numbers and/or e-mail addresses) for fact-checking purposes.
3. Again, you can bobble around a bit and make mistakes, but I do expect you to write in the English language. Grammar and common-sense elements count. 300- 500 words. E-mail your story to me by 2 p.m. on Sunday. Email to: lljakiela@gmail.com
Also, bring a hard copy of your story to class on Tuesday. I’ll bring in copies of select stories.
Thursday, Sept. 8
News and readings quiz
Lecture and discussion: Writing that first news story
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 5/Guide to News Writing (Journalese).
2. Continue to work on your first news story. Remember, your story is due via e-mail by 2 p.m. on Sunday. Don’t miss your deadline.
Tuesday, Sept. 13
Review first news stories/workshop
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 6 and Chapter 7/Guide to News Writing (Tone/Attributions)
2. Begin revising your first news stories based on readings and class discussions.
3. Begin reading Hiroshima
Thursday, Sept. 16
Continue discussion and workshop of first news stories
Assignments:
1. Continue reading Hiroshima
2. Finish revising your first news story. E-mail your revisions to me by 2 p.m. on Sunday. E-mail to lljakiela@gmail.com. Bring your finished draft to class on Tuesday. I’ll bring in a few select revisions for discussion.
Tuesday, Sept. 20
News story revisions
Lecture: Background on Hiroshima
Assignments:
1. Finish reading Hiroshima
2. Read Chapter 8/Guide to News Writing (Quotes: Your Words or Mine?) and be ready to discuss Hersey’s use of quotes in Hiroshima
Thursday, Sept. 22
Quiz on Hiroshima and news
Discussion of Hiroshima
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 9 and Chapter 10/Guide to News Writing (Color and Pseudo-Color)
3. Find two examples (again): one that reveals the power of vivid, luminous writing and the other that reveals the weak nature of clichés. Clip and bring to class. Be ready to discuss.
Tuesday, Sept. 27
Color vs. Pseudo-color/Lecture and Discussion
Assignments:
1. Attend an event and cover it. 500 words. E-mail your story to me by 2 p.m. next Sunday. Your focus should be on vivid quotes, color/luminous details and description (as well as the usual 5Ws/1H).
2. Begin reading selections from Somebody Told Me.
October Preview: Begin Beat Coverage. Each of you will be part of a team of reporters assigned a beat for one month. Beats will include campus events, SGA, administration, faculty, student life, sports and more.
Now, our first lesson: See that exclamation point? Here's the rule in journalism. Use one exclamation point once every seven years and then only when you mean it. So there goes seven years' worth of exclaiming. Still, it feels worth it. Welcome.
(BTW, There are no rules with exclamation points when it comes to e-mails and tweets and most non-news blogs, so you can always get your emoting out that way.)
Our course syllabus appears below. Please feel free to print a paper copy, though it's good to be green, even if it's not easy. Ask Kermit the Frog.
Please check this blog site regularly for schedule updates, assignment details, news and useful links and more. Register as a follower of this blog now -- you'll be posting responses to assignments and more throughout the semester.
Here's to a great semester. Note: I had to repress that exclamation point. Limits are limits.
****
Introduction to Journalism / English Writing 0550 / CRN 54843
Course Meets in 138 McKenna Hall T/H 10 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
Professor Jakiela
208 Faculty Office Building
Office Extension: #7481 (724-836-7481)
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays Noon-1 p.m. and by appointment
E-Mail: lljakiela@gmail.com, loj@pitt.edu
Required Texts:
The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual
The Associated Press Guide to News Writing
Hiroshima, John Hersey
Somebody Told Me, Rick Bragg
Vintage Didion, Joan Didion
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
Hell's Angels, Hunter S. Thompson
If you’re not already familiar with the on-line versions of major newspapers and news networks, as well as blog sites, you’ll want to start with the list under Places to Go. Please feel free to add your own favorite sites to the mix. Keeping up to date on all things news will help you with the weekly quizzes in this course.
***
When asked why he rewrote the final chapter of A Farewell to Arms 44 times, Ernest Hemingway answered: “To get the words right.”
Hemingway was a journalist before he was a great novelist. All journalists – if they’re dedicated to their craft – struggle to master the techniques and skills that became Hemingway hallmarks. The precise use of language and surprising, luminous details. Sharp, unflinching reportage. Meaningful dialogue recorded by a well-tuned ear. A clean, well-ordered story crafted by a critical and an inquisitive mind.
But how does one begin?
This class does not promise to churn out Hemingways, but it will help you to do several things you may not have been able to do before:
* You will learn the basics of journalism – the 5 Ws/1H; how to get it right, write it fast, write it well.
* You’ll learn how to use standard industry techniques – including the classic Inverted Pyramid and Associated Press Style – to shape stories.
* You’ll take a close look at the different kinds of articles that appear in newspapers and new-media sites, and you will develop critical skills that will help you both as a writer and consumer of news.
* You’ll craft basic news stories, features, and editorial pieces.
* You’ll discover how the Internet goes on changing the way we write and receive news, and how old media and new media are working together to change the information landscape.
* You’ll begin to understand the ethical and legal responsibilities of the profession, as well as the role of the media in American society.
One thing all serious writers agree on: you can’t be a writer if you don’t read. And so, as you can tell from the list of required texts, we’ll be doing a lot of reading in this class. Through our readings, I hope you’ll develop a sense of the history of the profession and begin to imagine your own place in it.
As for our primary textbook, The AP Guide to News Writing – consider it the drill instructor for the course. We’ll do quite a lot of writerly push-ups. The exercises should help you develop basic news writing and reporting skills. While all good writing has much in common, journalism is a very particular version of the virus, and it’s one that requires repeat exposures.
In addition to all of this, we’ll spend considerable time reading and critiquing the work of journalists in the local, national, and student press. And you will, of course, be writing, revising and editing your own work and offering feedback regarding your classmates’ work throughout the term.
Ideally, once you get the hang of things, your work will be passed to the UPG student newspaper, The Insider, for possible publication. Editors from The Insider will visit early in the semester to talk about the kinds of stories they’d be interested in, and about what they think makes for good campus news.
***
The Details
Deadlines
One of the primary lessons in journalism is -- a deadline is sacred. Therefore, I will not accept late work.
A Few Words About Content
You need to take your work seriously. If you’re bored with what you write, your readers will be bored, too.
Care enough to go beyond mediocrity. Caring and being curious are two hallmarks of good journalists.
An important note: When you need to interview sources for your stories, do not interview friends and family members. Do not make up quotes or facts. Be precise when you quote a source. Use a recording device if you can. In this class, you will be held to professional journalists’ ethical standards. Failure to uphold ethical standards in your work will result in failure in the course.
Technically Speaking
Be accurate. Observe proper formats. Consult the AP Stylebook, a composition handbook, and/or a dictionary each time you encounter problems with spelling, grammar, or style.
Assignments should be free of technical errors. Assignments containing grievous technical and/or factual errors will be returned to you unread. You will need to correct the errors and return the work to me by the next class period in order to receive credit for the assignment.
Quizzes
As beginning journalists, it is important that you keep up with the news (how’s that for obvious?). The Internet provides wide access to a variety of news sources. To ensure that you keep current, we will have news quizzes (sometimes disguised as News Jeopardy! -- more fun, same concept).
We will also have several quizzes based on the assigned readings. You’ll note that readings-quizzes usually come after a weighty reading assignment. The combined quizzes will account for 25 percent of your grade in the course.
Attendance and Participation
You must attend class and complete all written assignments. If you must miss class due to an emergency or an illness, it is your responsibility to contact me.
If you miss more than three classes during the semester, your grade will drop by one letter for each additional absence. Also, I expect you to come to class on time and to be prepared. Failure to do so will result in a recorded absence.
Your participation in class is essential, and 25 percent of your grade will depend upon it.
In short, please come to class, be prepared, speak up, and take an active interest in your own progress.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses. Cheating is defined as the attempt, successful or not, to give or obtain aid and/or information by illicit means in meeting any academic requirements, including examinations. Plagiarism is defined as the use, without proper acknowledgement, of the ideas, phrases, sentences, or larger units of discourse from another writer or speaker. If you plagiarize and/or cheat in this course, you will be in danger of failing the course.
Final Portfolios
You’ll need to save the original copies of all the stories you do this term. At the end of the semester, you’ll return these pieces to me, along with at least one dramatic revision of a piece of your choice.
(Note: I may ask you to revise any piece at any time. This revision would be mandatory, and would be included as part of your portfolio. It would not, however, replace your final revision.)
Your final portfolio, along with successful completion of your initial drafts and completed written exercises, will account for the remaining 50 percent of your grade in the course.
Conferences
We will meet in conferences once during the term. The conference will give us a chance to talk one-on-one about your work. The conferences are mandatory. Time-permitting, I will cancel our regular classes during a conference week. Failure to attend your conference will be recorded as a class absence.
Office Hours
Please stop by my office during office hours, or schedule an appointment for another time. I’m happy to meet with you to discuss your work at any time during the term.
Written Work
Once again, your written work will account for 50 percent of your grade in this course. Although the following list is subject to change at any time, here’s roughly what your workload will be:
Exercises and short assignments: 10
Analysis Piece/Short Critique: 2
Articles: One or more of each of the following (subject to change)--
Event/speech/meeting coverage
Obituary
Simple news story
Complex news story
Profile
Commentary and/or Gonzo piece
Total of seven pieces at approximately 300-800 words each
Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Lou Ann Sears in the Learning Resources Center located on the first floor of the Faculty Office Building. You should do this as early as possible in the term. The LRC will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.
********************************************************
About the instructor: Lori Jakiela is the author of the memoir Miss New York Has Everything (Warner/Hatchette), and three poetry collections -- The Mill Hunk's Daughter Meets the Queen of Sky (Finishing Line, 2011), Red Eye (Pudding House Press, 2010) and The Regulars (Liquid Paper Press, 2001). Another poetry collection -- Spot the Terrorist! -- will be published by Word Tech press in 2012. Her second memoir, The Bridge to Take When Things Gets Serious, will be published in January 2013. Her essays have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Creative Nonfiction, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Pittsburgh City Paper, The Tribune Review, and elsewhere.
Her poems and essays have been widely anthologized in the U.S. and the U.K., and her work regularly appears in many literary magazines, including 5 AM, Chiron Review, KGB BarLit, River Teeth, Nerve Cowboy and elsewhere.
She has been a columnist for the Tribune Review company, and her column "Here and Now" received a 2010 Golden Quill Award for Best Column Writing from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. She's a speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, an associate professor of English at Pitt-Greensburg, and on the faculty of Chatham University's low-residency MFA program.
****
Tentative Schedule of Assignments for the first month – This will change. Guaranteed.
Tuesday, Aug. 30
Course Introduction/review of syllabus
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2/Guide to News Writing
2. Find one example of good writing (according to the guidelines in your text and according to you as a consumer of news/words) and one example of awful writing. Clip and bring to class. Be prepared to discuss. (Save examples for your portfolio.)
3. Remember to review the links under Places to Go, if you still subscribe or regularly read print news, you may bring a newspaper to class.
Thursday, Sept. 1
Review of the latest news
Lecture: What is news? What makes writing good?
Introduction to using the AP Stylebook (make sure you bring your stylebooks to class for every class meeting)
Small group work – Writing samples
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 3/Guide to News Writing (Leads)
2. Find two examples (you guessed it). One great lead. One cruddy lead. Bring both to class and be ready to discuss. (Save examples for your portfolio.)
3. Also, practice writing a lead of your own. Choose an event from the UPG Campus Calendar as the subject for your lead. Follow the guidelines in the AP text. Try to answer as many of the 5 Ws/1 H in your lead as necessary (that’s Who, What, When, Where, Why, How/How Much). Have fun and don’t worry – you can make mistakes. Just be careful with spelling and grammatical/factual precision.
4. Post your lead to this blog by 2 p.m. Sunday. We'll review select leads in class.
Tuesday, Sept. 6
Leads
Small group work: More leads
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 4/Guide to News Writing (Periods).
2. Now, write your first news story. This story will be about an upcoming event on campus. Choose an event that interests you. You can find events and details on the campus calendar (www.pitt.edu/~upg). Before you try to write the story, be sure you have all the necessary information (5Ws/1H). Be sure to contact and interview two relevant sources. Be sure to identify the sources, quote them directly in your story, and provide contact information (phone numbers and/or e-mail addresses) for fact-checking purposes.
3. Again, you can bobble around a bit and make mistakes, but I do expect you to write in the English language. Grammar and common-sense elements count. 300- 500 words. E-mail your story to me by 2 p.m. on Sunday. Email to: lljakiela@gmail.com
Also, bring a hard copy of your story to class on Tuesday. I’ll bring in copies of select stories.
Thursday, Sept. 8
News and readings quiz
Lecture and discussion: Writing that first news story
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 5/Guide to News Writing (Journalese).
2. Continue to work on your first news story. Remember, your story is due via e-mail by 2 p.m. on Sunday. Don’t miss your deadline.
Tuesday, Sept. 13
Review first news stories/workshop
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 6 and Chapter 7/Guide to News Writing (Tone/Attributions)
2. Begin revising your first news stories based on readings and class discussions.
3. Begin reading Hiroshima
Thursday, Sept. 16
Continue discussion and workshop of first news stories
Assignments:
1. Continue reading Hiroshima
2. Finish revising your first news story. E-mail your revisions to me by 2 p.m. on Sunday. E-mail to lljakiela@gmail.com. Bring your finished draft to class on Tuesday. I’ll bring in a few select revisions for discussion.
Tuesday, Sept. 20
News story revisions
Lecture: Background on Hiroshima
Assignments:
1. Finish reading Hiroshima
2. Read Chapter 8/Guide to News Writing (Quotes: Your Words or Mine?) and be ready to discuss Hersey’s use of quotes in Hiroshima
Thursday, Sept. 22
Quiz on Hiroshima and news
Discussion of Hiroshima
Assignments:
1. Read Chapter 9 and Chapter 10/Guide to News Writing (Color and Pseudo-Color)
3. Find two examples (again): one that reveals the power of vivid, luminous writing and the other that reveals the weak nature of clichés. Clip and bring to class. Be ready to discuss.
Tuesday, Sept. 27
Color vs. Pseudo-color/Lecture and Discussion
Assignments:
1. Attend an event and cover it. 500 words. E-mail your story to me by 2 p.m. next Sunday. Your focus should be on vivid quotes, color/luminous details and description (as well as the usual 5Ws/1H).
2. Begin reading selections from Somebody Told Me.
October Preview: Begin Beat Coverage. Each of you will be part of a team of reporters assigned a beat for one month. Beats will include campus events, SGA, administration, faculty, student life, sports and more.
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