INTRO to MASS COMMUNICATION WRITING
JOURNALISM 110 SEC. 03
Monday/Wednesday 8:30-10:00 AM
Milton Hall 157
Instructor: Dr. Charles Scholz
Office: Milton Hall 140
Office Hrs: By appointment
Phone: 646-4119
email: cscholz@nmsu.edu
Texts: Writing for the Mass Media, Sixth edition, by James Stovall
Associated Press Stylebook current edition
Students in this course are required to subscribe to the Las Cruces Sun-News for the Spring 2008 semester. The subscriptions cost $15 for the semester, payable to the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications Milton Hall 186 by 31 January 2008. Students who have a private subscription to the Las Cruces Sun-News or who are subscribed through another course in the department are excused from this requirement upon presentation of documented evidence of the other subscription. Bring your copy to class every day.
ATTENDANCE
Attendance in this class will be recorded. Absences will not excuse you from deadlines. More than five (5) unexcused absences will lower your letter grade one full grade.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this course is to teach you how to write news, advertising, promotional and informational copy for different types of mass media including print, broadcast and the Web.
ASSIGNMENTS
To attain this objective you will do exercises from the text and from other sources. Some of this writing will be done in class and some will be done on your own. All writing will be done on computer, proofread, double spaced and printed on plain paper.
All assignments are due on the specified day at the beginning of class. No late work will be accepted for credit.
Grading
Your in-class work will be graded on a 0-25 point scale. One point will be deducted for each error in GSP. Two points will be deducted for each error in structure, organization, completeness of information or accuracy.
Your homework will be graded on a 0-100 point scale. Two points will be deducted for each error in GSP. Five points will be deducted for each error in structure, organization, completeness of information or accuracy.
In general, on each assignment you will be graded on some or all of the following:
1. Grammar, spelling, punctuation
2. Appropriate style, structure or format
3. Organization
4. Clarity of expression
5. Conciseness
6. Completeness of information
7. Accuracy
8. Proper use of quotes and attributions
9. Leads/angles
10. Creativity/imagination
The grading scale for the course will be:
A range = 90% or above
B range = 80 – 89.9%
C range = 70 – 79.9%
D range = 60 – 69.9%
F range = below 60%
Incomplete Grades:
Incomplete grades may be given only if a student has passed the first half of the course, and is precluded from successful completion of the second half of the course by a documented illness or family crisis that the instructor believes genuinely precluded successful completion.
On the Web
I will be placing course materials including this syllabus and the assignment schedule on the Journalism Department website under the heading Syllabii, J110-03 or at: <http://www.nmsu.edu/~jrnalism/syllabi.html>
SCHEDULE
There will be seven units in this course based on related chapters in Writing for the Mass Media. You will be given specific writing assignments for each chapter.
Unit One: Writing and the Rules of Writing
January 23- February 6
Stovall Chapters 1-4
Unit Two: Writing for Print
February 11- February 20
Stovall Chapter 5
Unit Three: WRITING FOR THE WEB
February 25 - February 27
Stovall Chapter 6
Unit Four: WRITING FOR BROADCAST
March 3 - March 12
Stovall Chapter 7
Unit Five: WRITING ADVERTISING COPY
March 17- April 14
Stovall Chapter 8
Unit Six: WRITING FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS
April 16- 28
Stovall Chapter 9
Unit Seven: WRITERS AND THE LAW
April 30
Stovall Chapter 10
FINAL FEATURE DUE
May 7 8:00 AM
Academic Misconduct:
Any student found guilty of academic misconduct shall be subject to disciplinary action. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following actions:
1. Cheating or knowingly assisting another student in committing an act of cheating, or other forms of academic dishonesty;
2. Plagiarism is using another person’s work without acknowledgment, making it appear to be one’s own. Any ideas, words, pictures, or other intellectual content taken from another source must be acknowledged in a citation that gives credit to the source.
This is irrespective of the origin of the material, including the Internet, other students’ work, unpublished materials, or oral sources. Intentional and unintentional instances of plagiarism are considered instances of academic misconduct. It is the responsibility of the student submitting the work in question to know, understand, and comply with this policy.
If no citation is given, then borrowing any of the following * would be an example of plagiarism:
* an idea or opinion, even when put into one’s own words (paraphrase)
* a few well-said words, if these are a unique insight
* many words, even if one changes most of them
* materials assembled by others, for instance quotes or a bibliography
* an argument
* a pattern of ideas
* graphs, pictures, or other illustrations
* facts
* all or part of an existing paper or other resource
3. Unauthorized possession of examinations, reserve library materials, laboratory materials, or other course-related materials;
4. Unauthorized changing of grades on an examination, in an instructor's grade book, or on a grade report; or unauthorized access to academic computer records;
5. Nondisclosure or misrepresentation in filling out applications or other University records in, or for, academic departments or colleges.
Students who engage in disruptive activities in an academic setting (e.g., classrooms, academic offices or academic buildings) are subject to disciplinary action in accordance with Section IV-Non Academic Misconduct-All Students. Such students are also subject to administrative actions in accordance with the NMSU Graduate and Undergraduate Catalogs.
ADA Statement:
Feel free to call Jerry Nevarez, Director of Institutional Equity, at 505-646-3635 with any questions you may have about NMSU's Non-Discrimination Policy and complaints of discrimination, including sexual harassment.
Feel free to call Michael Armendariz, Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities, at 505-646-6840 with any questions you may have on student issues related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. All medical information will be treated confidentially. |