COMM/ENG 3915: FEATURE WRITING
Kean University, Fall 2005
Section 01: Tuesdays, Thursdays, 3:30pm-4:50pm
CAS 403
Instructor: Professor Lew Wheaton
Office: CAS 428
Mailbox: Communication Office, CAS 402
Office Telephone: 908-737-0468
Office Fax: 908-737-5879
Home Telephone: 973-762-4425
E-mail: lwheaton@kean.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 9:00am-12 Noon;
Wednesdays, 2:30pm-4:30pm, Thursdays, 10:0011:00am. Other times by appointment
Coffee hour: 11:00am-12 noon Thursdays; find me
in UC cafeteria or Cougar’s Den
Important Dates:
Sept. 8: First day of fall term
Sept. 14: Last day to withdraw with 100% refund
Sept. 21: Last day to withdraw with 75% refund
Sept. 23: Last day to declare a course as an audit
Sept. 28: Last day to withdraw with 50% refund
Nov. 3: Last day to withdraw from courses with a “W”
grade
Nov. 25-28: Thanksgiving recess
Dec. 23: Term ends
Attendance and Other Responsibilities:
• Because much of the value of this course comes from
classroom discussions and in-class exercises,
attendance is important. You are expected to be on
time for classes. Chronic absenteeism or tardiness will
result in a reduction in grades for classroom
participation.
• You are responsible for all material presented in this
class, including announcements about course
procedures.
Course Description:
Instruction and practice in the principles of writing
feature articles for newspapers and magazines, with
emphasis on style, organization, and human interest.
• All assignments, whether done in class
or out of class, are due by the
designated time or date. As in all
journalistic work, deadlines are
critical and must be met. Work one day
late will lose 10% of possible grade,
two days late 20% and three days late
will lose 30%. Work four days late will
not be accepted.
•All assignments must be typed and
double-spaced.
• Keep a copy of any paper submitted for
a grade in this course. Keep all copies
until you have received your final grade
from the registrar. Grade grievances
cannot be filed unless copies of papers
are submitted along with a letter
addressed to the appropriate department
chair.
Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student
will be able to:
• Recognize the various kinds of feature stories
• Write thorough, competent and intelligent feature
stories for newspapers and magazines
• Evaluate contemporary feature stories in leading
newspapers and magazines for style, structure and
content
• Develop a writing style that emphasizes the humaninterest angle
• Understand legal and ethical issues of feature stories
Required Texts:
• Friedlander, Edward Jay, and John Lee. Feature
Writing for Newspapers and Magazines: The Pursuit
of Excellence. 5th Edition. New York: Pearson, 2004.
• Goldstein, Norm, ed. The Associated Press Stylebook
2005. 40th Edition. New York: The Associated Press.
Academic Integrity:
• Academic integrity is expected of all students.
Plagiarism, cheating and other forms of academic
dishonesty will not be tolerated. You should be
familiar with the Kean University Academic Integrity
Policy, a copy of which can be obtained at the
following Web site:
www.kean.edu/academicintegrity.html
• Plagiarism is taking another’s words or ideas and
attempting to pass them off as your own. A handy rule
of thumb to determine whether you are plagiarizing is
this: if you use three or more words in a row from a
source—such as the Internet—without properly
crediting that source, you are committing plagiarism.
• To avoid being penalized for unoriginal work, check
your assignments at www.turnitin.com; the instructor
will give you an account.
Required Assignments:
• You will write frequently, if not daily, in this class.
You will produce copy from briefs to short features
and finally three full-length feature stories. All topics
will require approval of the instructor.
• There will be homework assignments designed to
build your reporting, writing and analytical skills.
• In addition, there will be reading assignments and
quizzes on those assignments.
• There are no major examinations in this course.
1
2
Evaluation:
• Your written assignments will be evaluated with
respect to both the content and quality of the work.
Content includes proper sourcing, use of quotes,
accuracy, fairness and completeness of the story.
Quality includes clarity, coherence, unity, grammar,
spelling and adherence to journalistic standards.
• A tip: use spell check, but do NOT depend on it
totally for proper grammar and spelling. For example,
spell-check software can’t tell whether “their” or
“there” is correct usage in the context of a story.
• Grades are assigned based on points earned out of a
maximum of 500 points. Points will be deducted for
lapses in the evaluation factors mentioned above.
Possible points earned are:
• Feature stories (3 @100 each)
300
• Other assignments, quizzes
100
• Classroom participation
100
Total points
500
• Points are awarded for the three major feature stories
based on their “publishability” as follows:
• 100 points (A): Publishable with few or no
changes required; outstanding effort.
• 90 points (B): Publishable with some changes
required; very good effort
• 80 points (C): Publishable with significant
changes required; average effort
• 70 points (D): Publishable, but major surgery
required; barely passable effort
• 0 points (F): Unpublishable; assignment not
fulfilled, work not turned in or unacceptably weak
• Extra/make-up credit: You may earn extra points to
improve your grade or to make up for points deducted.
Extra points may be earned, with prior approval of the
instructor, by rewriting stories or writing extra papers.
WEEK 5
Tuesday, Oct. 4: Specialized feature stories – the
deadline sidebar
Thursday, Oct. 6: Specialized feature stories – the
personality profile
WEEK 6
Tuesday, Oct. 11: Researching the feature story
Thursday, Oct. 13: Researching – library and reference
room resources
WEEK 7
Tuesday, Oct. 18: Researching – computers, search
engines and directories
Thursday, Oct. 20: Interviewing for the feature story
WEEK 8
Tuesday, Oct. 25: Interviewing – the reluctant
interviewee; 1st feature story due
Thursday, Oct. 27: Conducting the interview
WEEK 9
Tuesday, Nov. 1: The interview story
Thursday, Nov. 3: Writing – beginning the process
WEEK 10
Tuesday, Nov. 8: Writing – the feature story structure
Thursday, Nov. 10: Writing the feature story lead
WEEK 11
Tuesday, Nov.15: Writing the feature story body; 2nd
feature story due
Thursday, Nov. 17: Writing the feature story body
(cont’d)
WEEK 12
Tuesday, Nov. 22: Writing the feature story end
Thursday, Nov. 24: Thanksgiving Holiday, no class
Tentative Course Schedule, subject to change:
WEEK 1
Thursday, Sept. 8: Course introduction. Syllabus
review.
WEEK 13
Tuesday, Nov. 29: Writing review and summation
Thursday, Dec. 1: Analyzing the feature story
WEEK 2
Tuesday, Sept. 13: The feature story defined
Thursday, Sept. 15: Categories and elements of feature
stories
WEEK 14
Tuesday, Dec. 6: Editing and rewriting feature stories
Thursday, Dec. 8: Editing and rewriting (cont’d); 3rd
feature story due
WEEK 3
Tuesday, Sept. 20: Newspaper versus magazine
feature stories
Thursday, Sept. 22: The genesis of a feature story
WEEK 15
Tuesday, Dec. 13: Marketing the feature story
Thursday, Dec. 15: Marketing the feature story
(cont’d)
WEEK 4
Tuesday, Sept. 27: The feature story process –
generating ideas
Thursday, Sept. 29: The feature story process –
developing and refining ideas
WEEK 16
Tuesday, Dec. 20: Legal and ethical considerations
Thursday, Dec. 22: Last day of class
2