Journalism UA 101- Journalistic Inquiry
Section 006-Spring 2015
Instructor: Professor Sissel McCarthy
E-mail: sisselmccarthy@nyu.edu
Office hours: Monday/Wednesday 11 a.m. -12 p.m. or by appointment in room 641
“The work of writing can be easy only for those who have not learned
to write.” (James Gould Cozzens)
Objective:
This course is an intensive writing workshop designed to teach the basic elements of news writing and reporting. You will learn specific skills, including reporting and interviewing from a diverse and multicultural perspective, hard news and feature writing, as well as writing on deadline and using social media to research and report stories, reach a wider audience and promote your work. You will critique each other and learn through the process of writing and rewriting. You will also gain insight into the ethical and legal issues confronting today’s journalists.
Each of you will create your own online domain where you’ll publish your work and set up social media accounts that you don’t have already (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, etc.) to establish a digital identity and a personal cyber-infrastructure. By creating your own website and social media identity, you will be preparing yourself for digital citizenship and learning about the best practices for digital publication. We will also have a class website, our own Twitter hashtag and an Instagram account, which will help turn this course into an open, networked community.
Required Texts:
Inside Reporting, 3rd Edition, Tim Harrower (buy or rent at Amazon.com: (http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Reporting-Tim-Harrower/dp/0073526177/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407719466&sr=1-3&keywords=harrower)
The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2014, (https://www.apstylebook.com)
Reading Handouts: The Elements of Journalism, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel (On NYU Classes/Lessons)
Online subscriptions:
The New York Times (for college student rate: www.nytimes.com/collegerate )
Assignments:
Reading: For class discussions, reading assignments must be completed by the date that they appear on the schedule. You are also required to read The New York Times each day to stay on top of current events. Special student subscriptions are available. Students will take turns critiquing content and technique at the beginning of each class. There will also be pop quizzes on current events, class lectures and reading assignments.
Writing: Get ready to write… and rewrite! You will be writing news stories in class on a regular basis to learn how to write effectively on deadline. You will also have an assignment each weekend that will take you off campus. These reporting assignments will teach you that news and feature writing can take many forms from vignettes to breaking news stories to Q&A interviews. Our major assignments will include an obituary, a man-on-the-street survey story, a story covering a speech, and a final project profiling a faculty member, campus figure or other noteworthy local individual. All assignments (except for the obituary) must be published on your website and submitted in paper to me on the designated due date at the beginning of class even if you are absent. Deadlines are taken seriously in this course and late assignments will not be accepted except in the case of a documented personal or family emergency. If you are sick and miss class, it’s your responsibility to contact me, make up the work missed and hand in the next homework assignment on time.
Events: There will be as many as three incredible opportunities to see what goes on behind the scenes in the newsroom at CNN, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times plus at least one on-campus, journalism-related speech that you will be required to attend.
Grading:
Your grade will consist of five parts and will reflect all course requirements and material covered. Grading will conform to the Journalism Department’s policy:
A= publishable as is
B= publishable with light editing
C=publishable with a rewrite
D=major problems with facts, reporting, writing
F=missing key facts, containing gross misspellings, plagiarism or libel
In-Class Work and Homework: 25 percent Your work during class time will include pop quizzes on current events, lecture material and reading assignments, deadline writing assignments, weekend reporting assignments and in-class news critiques.
Midterm Exam: 5 percent This in-class exam on 3/30 will include an in-class deadline writing exercise.
Final Deadline Writing Assignment: 10 percent This in-class writing assignment on 5/6 will involve writing a breaking news story on deadline.
Writing Assignments: 50 percent
You will have four formal reporting and writing assignments:
Obituary: 10 percent
MOS Story: 10 percent
Speech Story: 10 percent
Individual Profile: 20 percent
For the first three assignments (obituary, MOS and speech story), you have the option to rewrite these assignments to improve your grade. The revision is due one week from when I hand it back and must include the original assignment. The new and the old grade will be averaged for a final grade. For the Individual Profile assignment, you will submit a first draft to me by the start of class on 4/22. Your work will be critiqued and graded, and you will meet with me individually on 4/29 and 5/4 to discuss how to revise it. This is a mandatory meeting. You will then rewrite it, post the final version on your website and submit a final draft on the last day of class.
Domain and Social Media: 10 percent You will be creating your own website as part of this course and judged on the architecture, presentation, accessibility and content of your domain and social media posts.
Resources:
https://www.namecheap.com
http://www.namesilo.com
https://www.newsu.org/wordpress-tutorial
http://www.jtoolkit.com/wp/wordpress-basics/
http://hc.weebly.com/hc/en-us/sections/200354313-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Weebly
Final Note: Your final grade in the course is not necessarily a strict mathematical average. I reserve the right to move your grade up or down as much as five points based on your class participation and attendance. Attendance and participation in class discussions is expected. Average participation and attendance will not affect your grade either way. Exceptional engagement and participation will improve your final grade while a lack of participation will definitely hurt your final grade. On-time attendance at every class is also expected and habitual tardiness will lower your grade. We will start promptly at 12 p.m. Students are allowed two unexcused absences, but any absences beyond those will damage your grade. If you miss more than five classes in total (including the two unexcused absences), you will fail the course. Absences for illness or personal emergencies need to be documented in writing. Any in-class assignment including news quizzes cannot be made up, but I offer at least one extra credit assignment to replace your lowest quiz grade.
NYU Writing Center:
The NYU Writing Center is located at 411 Lafayette, 4th Floor and offers students help with their writing at every stage of the writing process. You can make an appointment at http://www.nyu.edu/cas/ewp/html/writing_center.html
Student Wellness Center:
NYU's Student Health Center (SHC) is another campus resource and service center for all matriculated students. It offers appointment and walk-in medical and counseling services at either no cost or very reduced cost to all NYU students, regardless of insurance coverage. You can make an appointment at http://www.nyu.edu/life/safety-health-wellness/student-health-center.html Students with disabilities should contact the Moses Center to determine your disability status and obtain appropriate accommodations and services. For more information, go to http://www.nyu.edu/content/nyu/en/life/safety-health-wellness/students-with-disabilities.html
Accuracy:
Accuracy is the Holy Grail of journalism. All of your writing will be judged for factual accuracy as well as correctness in numbers and math, spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage and AP style. Your grade will reflect your command of these basics. The misspelling of any name or place or a significant factual error in an assignment, story or exam will result in a 10-point deduction. This policy reflects the belief that accuracy is the cornerstone of good journalism and that such errors cannot be tolerated.
Plagiarism:
Integrity and credibility are the two pillars of journalism. All work submitted in this class must be your original work. Any student presenting someone else’s work, whether off the Internet or from another publication or from a classmate will receive an F. All quotes must be authentic and reported by you alone. You will be required to turn in a contact sheet for all assignments and sources and quotes will be spot-checked. Any violations will be reported to the director of the journalism program.
Tentative Schedule:
Week 1: Introduction and What is News and Who Decides What is News?
Monday, January 26: Class orientation, review of syllabus, and plagiarism statement. Class introductions. Homework: NYT/Twitter/Instagram set-up.
Wednesday, January 28: Harrower, chapters 1-2. Kovach and Rosenstiel handout on NYU Classes/Lessons, http://mashable.com/2012/05/29/instagram-for-beginners/
Weekend reporting: Instagram assignment on Super Bowl Event or AP Daybook event
Week 2: Newswriting Style, Domain Building Workshop and Social Media Primer
Monday, February 2: Harrower, chapter 3, pages 299-303.
Wednesday, February 4: “Why Everyone Should Register a Domain Name”, Dan Gilmor, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/28/why-everyone-should-register-domain-name Domain building with NYU’s Michael Shade. Guest speaker: Daniel Victor, Social Media Editor, The New York Times. Weekend Reporting: AP Style Take-home test due 2/9.
Week 3: Writing News Leads
Monday February 9: Basic Leads.
Wednesday, February 11: Alternative Leads. Weekend reporting: Notes, Quotes and Details on Valentine’s Day story.
Week 4: CNN Tour and Using all Five Senses in Reporting
Monday February 16: President’s Day-No Class
Wednesday, February 18: CNN Tour. Harrower, chapter 9 and pages 74-75 on Observation. Weekend reporting: CNN Newsroom Observation
Week 5: Story Structure
Monday, February 23: Harrower, pages 50-51. In-class writing for the web.
Wednesday, February 25: Story Structure continued. Domain architecture due. Weekend reporting: TBA
Week 6: Writing Obituaries and Library Research Presentation
Monday March 2: Harrower, pages 92-94. 228-229. Go over Obituary assignment announced, due 3/11.
Wednesday, March 4: Library Presentation with Journalism Librarian Katy Boss, Bobst instruction lab 619. Weekend Reporting: Obituary Assignment.
Week 7: Quotations and Attribution and Finding and Cultivating Sources
Monday, March 9: Harrower, chapters 4-5, plus pages 248-253.
Wednesday, March 11: Finding, evaluating and cultivating sources. Obituary assignment due. Individual Profile story guidelines announced. Rough draft due 4/22. Sign up for profile meetings 4/29 and 5/4.
SPRING BREAK
Week 8: Interviewing Workshop and Speeches and Meetings
Monday, March 23: Interviewing Workshop. Interviewing Handouts. Go over MOS assignment due 4/6.
Wednesday, March 25: Speeches and Meetings. Harrower: pages 106-110. Weekend reporting: Q & A story. Name of profile interviewee due.
Friday, March 27: The Wall Street Journal tour. 12-2 p.m. Meet at 11:45 a.m. at 1155 Avenue of the Americas (between 44th & 45th)
Week 9: Midterm Exam and The Wall Street Journal Tour
Monday, March 30: Midterm Exam. Q and A story due by email at 12 noon.
Wednesday: April 1: No class because of WSJ tour on March 27.
Week 10: Features and Guest Speaker on Social Media/SEO Essentials
Monday, April 6: Harrower, chap. 6, pages 262-269. MOS assignment due. Go over Speech assignment due 4/15. Speech Event TBD
Wednesday, April 8: Harrower, chap. 8. Guest speaker: Rubina Fillion, Social Media Editor, Wall Street Journal. Weekend Reporting: Speech story on Jodi Cobb event (see below).
Wednesday, April 8: Mandatory Speech Event 3:30-5 p.m., Skirball Center for the Performing Arts: Jodi Cobb, National Geographic photojournalist. Known for breaking through barriers and going undercover to reveal hidden societies, Cobb has captured fascinating glimpses of worlds such as Japan’s secret Geisha culture, and the cloistered lives of Saudi Arabian women. Her landmark story “21st Century Slavery” exposed a wide range of human trafficking, generating more reader accolades than any other story up to that point in the Geographic’s history.
Week 11: More Features and Profile Primer
Monday, April 13: Features continued.
Wednesday, April 15: Harrower, pages 270-275. Speech assignment due. Profile Primer. Weekend Reporting: Profile story.
Friday, April 17: New York Times tour! Meet at 1:45 p.m. at 620 8th Ave.
Week 12: Deadline Writing and Ethics and Communications Law
Monday April 20: Deadline Writing
Wednesday, April 22: Profile story due. Harrower, chap. 7. Profile due. Guest Speaker: Tom Clyde, First Amendment Attorney, Kilpatrick Townsend.
Week 13: Writing for the Web, Blogging, and Critic’s Corner
Monday April 27: Guest Speaker: Stacy Morrison, Former Editor in Chief: Blogher.com, Redbook, Family Circle, Marie Claire and Modern Bride
Wednesday, April 29: In-class peer review of profile assignments. Individual Profile meetings.
Week 14: Critic’s Corner and Final Deadline Writing Exercise
Monday, May 4: In-class peer review of profile assignment. Individual Profile meetings.
Wednesday, May 6: Final Deadline Writing Exercise.
Week 15: Domain Presentations and Pizza Party
Monday, May 11: Pizza party and domain presentations. Individual Profile and domain due.
Section 006-Spring 2015
Instructor: Professor Sissel McCarthy
E-mail: sisselmccarthy@nyu.edu
Office hours: Monday/Wednesday 11 a.m. -12 p.m. or by appointment in room 641
“The work of writing can be easy only for those who have not learned
to write.” (James Gould Cozzens)
Objective:
This course is an intensive writing workshop designed to teach the basic elements of news writing and reporting. You will learn specific skills, including reporting and interviewing from a diverse and multicultural perspective, hard news and feature writing, as well as writing on deadline and using social media to research and report stories, reach a wider audience and promote your work. You will critique each other and learn through the process of writing and rewriting. You will also gain insight into the ethical and legal issues confronting today’s journalists.
Each of you will create your own online domain where you’ll publish your work and set up social media accounts that you don’t have already (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, etc.) to establish a digital identity and a personal cyber-infrastructure. By creating your own website and social media identity, you will be preparing yourself for digital citizenship and learning about the best practices for digital publication. We will also have a class website, our own Twitter hashtag and an Instagram account, which will help turn this course into an open, networked community.
Required Texts:
Inside Reporting, 3rd Edition, Tim Harrower (buy or rent at Amazon.com: (http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Reporting-Tim-Harrower/dp/0073526177/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407719466&sr=1-3&keywords=harrower)
The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2014, (https://www.apstylebook.com)
Reading Handouts: The Elements of Journalism, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel (On NYU Classes/Lessons)
Online subscriptions:
The New York Times (for college student rate: www.nytimes.com/collegerate )
Assignments:
Reading: For class discussions, reading assignments must be completed by the date that they appear on the schedule. You are also required to read The New York Times each day to stay on top of current events. Special student subscriptions are available. Students will take turns critiquing content and technique at the beginning of each class. There will also be pop quizzes on current events, class lectures and reading assignments.
Writing: Get ready to write… and rewrite! You will be writing news stories in class on a regular basis to learn how to write effectively on deadline. You will also have an assignment each weekend that will take you off campus. These reporting assignments will teach you that news and feature writing can take many forms from vignettes to breaking news stories to Q&A interviews. Our major assignments will include an obituary, a man-on-the-street survey story, a story covering a speech, and a final project profiling a faculty member, campus figure or other noteworthy local individual. All assignments (except for the obituary) must be published on your website and submitted in paper to me on the designated due date at the beginning of class even if you are absent. Deadlines are taken seriously in this course and late assignments will not be accepted except in the case of a documented personal or family emergency. If you are sick and miss class, it’s your responsibility to contact me, make up the work missed and hand in the next homework assignment on time.
Events: There will be as many as three incredible opportunities to see what goes on behind the scenes in the newsroom at CNN, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times plus at least one on-campus, journalism-related speech that you will be required to attend.
Grading:
Your grade will consist of five parts and will reflect all course requirements and material covered. Grading will conform to the Journalism Department’s policy:
A= publishable as is
B= publishable with light editing
C=publishable with a rewrite
D=major problems with facts, reporting, writing
F=missing key facts, containing gross misspellings, plagiarism or libel
In-Class Work and Homework: 25 percent Your work during class time will include pop quizzes on current events, lecture material and reading assignments, deadline writing assignments, weekend reporting assignments and in-class news critiques.
Midterm Exam: 5 percent This in-class exam on 3/30 will include an in-class deadline writing exercise.
Final Deadline Writing Assignment: 10 percent This in-class writing assignment on 5/6 will involve writing a breaking news story on deadline.
Writing Assignments: 50 percent
You will have four formal reporting and writing assignments:
Obituary: 10 percent
MOS Story: 10 percent
Speech Story: 10 percent
Individual Profile: 20 percent
For the first three assignments (obituary, MOS and speech story), you have the option to rewrite these assignments to improve your grade. The revision is due one week from when I hand it back and must include the original assignment. The new and the old grade will be averaged for a final grade. For the Individual Profile assignment, you will submit a first draft to me by the start of class on 4/22. Your work will be critiqued and graded, and you will meet with me individually on 4/29 and 5/4 to discuss how to revise it. This is a mandatory meeting. You will then rewrite it, post the final version on your website and submit a final draft on the last day of class.
Domain and Social Media: 10 percent You will be creating your own website as part of this course and judged on the architecture, presentation, accessibility and content of your domain and social media posts.
Resources:
https://www.namecheap.com
http://www.namesilo.com
https://www.newsu.org/wordpress-tutorial
http://www.jtoolkit.com/wp/wordpress-basics/
http://hc.weebly.com/hc/en-us/sections/200354313-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Weebly
Final Note: Your final grade in the course is not necessarily a strict mathematical average. I reserve the right to move your grade up or down as much as five points based on your class participation and attendance. Attendance and participation in class discussions is expected. Average participation and attendance will not affect your grade either way. Exceptional engagement and participation will improve your final grade while a lack of participation will definitely hurt your final grade. On-time attendance at every class is also expected and habitual tardiness will lower your grade. We will start promptly at 12 p.m. Students are allowed two unexcused absences, but any absences beyond those will damage your grade. If you miss more than five classes in total (including the two unexcused absences), you will fail the course. Absences for illness or personal emergencies need to be documented in writing. Any in-class assignment including news quizzes cannot be made up, but I offer at least one extra credit assignment to replace your lowest quiz grade.
NYU Writing Center:
The NYU Writing Center is located at 411 Lafayette, 4th Floor and offers students help with their writing at every stage of the writing process. You can make an appointment at http://www.nyu.edu/cas/ewp/html/writing_center.html
Student Wellness Center:
NYU's Student Health Center (SHC) is another campus resource and service center for all matriculated students. It offers appointment and walk-in medical and counseling services at either no cost or very reduced cost to all NYU students, regardless of insurance coverage. You can make an appointment at http://www.nyu.edu/life/safety-health-wellness/student-health-center.html Students with disabilities should contact the Moses Center to determine your disability status and obtain appropriate accommodations and services. For more information, go to http://www.nyu.edu/content/nyu/en/life/safety-health-wellness/students-with-disabilities.html
Accuracy:
Accuracy is the Holy Grail of journalism. All of your writing will be judged for factual accuracy as well as correctness in numbers and math, spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage and AP style. Your grade will reflect your command of these basics. The misspelling of any name or place or a significant factual error in an assignment, story or exam will result in a 10-point deduction. This policy reflects the belief that accuracy is the cornerstone of good journalism and that such errors cannot be tolerated.
Plagiarism:
Integrity and credibility are the two pillars of journalism. All work submitted in this class must be your original work. Any student presenting someone else’s work, whether off the Internet or from another publication or from a classmate will receive an F. All quotes must be authentic and reported by you alone. You will be required to turn in a contact sheet for all assignments and sources and quotes will be spot-checked. Any violations will be reported to the director of the journalism program.
Tentative Schedule:
Week 1: Introduction and What is News and Who Decides What is News?
Monday, January 26: Class orientation, review of syllabus, and plagiarism statement. Class introductions. Homework: NYT/Twitter/Instagram set-up.
Wednesday, January 28: Harrower, chapters 1-2. Kovach and Rosenstiel handout on NYU Classes/Lessons, http://mashable.com/2012/05/29/instagram-for-beginners/
Weekend reporting: Instagram assignment on Super Bowl Event or AP Daybook event
Week 2: Newswriting Style, Domain Building Workshop and Social Media Primer
Monday, February 2: Harrower, chapter 3, pages 299-303.
Wednesday, February 4: “Why Everyone Should Register a Domain Name”, Dan Gilmor, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/28/why-everyone-should-register-domain-name Domain building with NYU’s Michael Shade. Guest speaker: Daniel Victor, Social Media Editor, The New York Times. Weekend Reporting: AP Style Take-home test due 2/9.
Week 3: Writing News Leads
Monday February 9: Basic Leads.
Wednesday, February 11: Alternative Leads. Weekend reporting: Notes, Quotes and Details on Valentine’s Day story.
Week 4: CNN Tour and Using all Five Senses in Reporting
Monday February 16: President’s Day-No Class
Wednesday, February 18: CNN Tour. Harrower, chapter 9 and pages 74-75 on Observation. Weekend reporting: CNN Newsroom Observation
Week 5: Story Structure
Monday, February 23: Harrower, pages 50-51. In-class writing for the web.
Wednesday, February 25: Story Structure continued. Domain architecture due. Weekend reporting: TBA
Week 6: Writing Obituaries and Library Research Presentation
Monday March 2: Harrower, pages 92-94. 228-229. Go over Obituary assignment announced, due 3/11.
Wednesday, March 4: Library Presentation with Journalism Librarian Katy Boss, Bobst instruction lab 619. Weekend Reporting: Obituary Assignment.
Week 7: Quotations and Attribution and Finding and Cultivating Sources
Monday, March 9: Harrower, chapters 4-5, plus pages 248-253.
Wednesday, March 11: Finding, evaluating and cultivating sources. Obituary assignment due. Individual Profile story guidelines announced. Rough draft due 4/22. Sign up for profile meetings 4/29 and 5/4.
SPRING BREAK
Week 8: Interviewing Workshop and Speeches and Meetings
Monday, March 23: Interviewing Workshop. Interviewing Handouts. Go over MOS assignment due 4/6.
Wednesday, March 25: Speeches and Meetings. Harrower: pages 106-110. Weekend reporting: Q & A story. Name of profile interviewee due.
Friday, March 27: The Wall Street Journal tour. 12-2 p.m. Meet at 11:45 a.m. at 1155 Avenue of the Americas (between 44th & 45th)
Week 9: Midterm Exam and The Wall Street Journal Tour
Monday, March 30: Midterm Exam. Q and A story due by email at 12 noon.
Wednesday: April 1: No class because of WSJ tour on March 27.
Week 10: Features and Guest Speaker on Social Media/SEO Essentials
Monday, April 6: Harrower, chap. 6, pages 262-269. MOS assignment due. Go over Speech assignment due 4/15. Speech Event TBD
Wednesday, April 8: Harrower, chap. 8. Guest speaker: Rubina Fillion, Social Media Editor, Wall Street Journal. Weekend Reporting: Speech story on Jodi Cobb event (see below).
Wednesday, April 8: Mandatory Speech Event 3:30-5 p.m., Skirball Center for the Performing Arts: Jodi Cobb, National Geographic photojournalist. Known for breaking through barriers and going undercover to reveal hidden societies, Cobb has captured fascinating glimpses of worlds such as Japan’s secret Geisha culture, and the cloistered lives of Saudi Arabian women. Her landmark story “21st Century Slavery” exposed a wide range of human trafficking, generating more reader accolades than any other story up to that point in the Geographic’s history.
Week 11: More Features and Profile Primer
Monday, April 13: Features continued.
Wednesday, April 15: Harrower, pages 270-275. Speech assignment due. Profile Primer. Weekend Reporting: Profile story.
Friday, April 17: New York Times tour! Meet at 1:45 p.m. at 620 8th Ave.
Week 12: Deadline Writing and Ethics and Communications Law
Monday April 20: Deadline Writing
Wednesday, April 22: Profile story due. Harrower, chap. 7. Profile due. Guest Speaker: Tom Clyde, First Amendment Attorney, Kilpatrick Townsend.
Week 13: Writing for the Web, Blogging, and Critic’s Corner
Monday April 27: Guest Speaker: Stacy Morrison, Former Editor in Chief: Blogher.com, Redbook, Family Circle, Marie Claire and Modern Bride
Wednesday, April 29: In-class peer review of profile assignments. Individual Profile meetings.
Week 14: Critic’s Corner and Final Deadline Writing Exercise
Monday, May 4: In-class peer review of profile assignment. Individual Profile meetings.
Wednesday, May 6: Final Deadline Writing Exercise.
Week 15: Domain Presentations and Pizza Party
Monday, May 11: Pizza party and domain presentations. Individual Profile and domain due.