Journalism 111
College Newspaper Special Projects
Winter Quarter 2008
Instructor: Teresa Josten
Office Hours: 9-9:50 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in C218 and by appointment
E-mail: tjosten@pierce.ctc.edu or tapjosten@msn.com
Office Phone: 840-8496
Textbook: America's Best Newspaper Writing-A Collection of ASNE Prizewinners by Roy Peter
Clark and Christopher Scanlan
This course is arranged with the instructor.
This variable credit course allows students to pursue special interests in newspaper production
and writing. The special projects may be initiated by students in such areas as page design,
feature or news writing, review writing or commentary writing.
It may be a combination of projects, but the projects will be graded on completion of projects and
the amount of time spent.
Course description
Practical experience in producing the college newspaper. Students may pursue specialty areas of
interest such as writing, copyediting, desktop publishing, market research, advertising.
Course objectives/intended learning outcomes
Develop a newspaper story idea that is newsworthy to the campus market.
Conduct interviews with appropriate sources to gather information for a story.
Conduct additional research as needed to gather information for the story idea.
Write an effective lead for the story.
Write the body of the story in an organized, articulate, and effective manner.
Identify and execute basic newswriting tasks (such as typing up news briefs, publishing campus
calendar, writing student spotlights, publishing scholarship information).
Design sections or subsections of the paper through desktop publishing.
Identify and execute basic newspaper production tasks (such as copyediting, market research,
advertising, distribution, and other office duties.
Design and complete an individual contract for special projects.
Course topics
Newspaper story researching
Newspaper story writing
Other elements of newspaper production, including copyediting, desktop publishing, market
research, advertising, distribution
Course requirements
Three news or feature stories (250 points each)
Three discussion papers (50 points each)
Class participation—preparation for meetings and weekly timesheets
Total
750 points
150 points
100 points
1,000 points
Textbook reading
One-page (double-spaced) discussion papers will be due:
January 23
February 13
March 5
The idea behind reading these prize-winning newspaper stories is that good writers will often read
other good writing in an effort to improve their own writing style. The discussion papers will
focus on elements in the stories that interest you and could be applied to your own stories.
Read chapters 10 and 11
For students taking Journalism 111 for five credits, please read all the news stories. For students
taking three to four credits, please read two news stories for each discussion paper. For students
taking one to two credits, please read one news story for each discussion paper. The discussion
paper can cover all of the stories read or focus on one story that might have been particularly
interesting.
Discussion papers:
Writing about people (due January 23)
Shiva for a Child Slain in a Palestinian Raid, page 8
In Belfast, Death, Too, Is Diminished by Death, page 24
Ah, What a Day!, page 211
Crime and local/business reporting (due February 13)
Metal to Bone, Day 1: Click, page 96
All She Has, $150,000, Is Going to a University, page 31
Making It Fly: Designing the 757, page 121
Profiles and feature (due March 5)
For Lerro, Skyway Nightmare Never Ends, page 188
Dr. Seuss, page 166
A Beautiful Find, page 196
REQUIREMENTS
Students should plan to meet with the instructor once per week to discuss the progress of the
projects. The projects must be approved by the instructor and turned in by the established
deadline.
Student should average a minimum of one hour per week per credit. For example, if a student is
taking Journalism 111 for five credits, he or she should be spending five hours per week working
on projects for the class. Students will submit a time log to the instructor each Friday by noon.
Satisfactory completion of the tasks will result in a 4.0 grade. A grade based on less than
satisfactory performance will be determined by the instructor on an individual basis. A less than
satisfactory performance can include not completing the projects, turning in incomplete work, not
maintaining and submitting time logs, or working on projects not approved by the instructor.
Attendance
Weekly meeting attendance is required. If a student misses a weekly meeting, it will count against
his or her final grade.
Academic honesty
If you use another person’s ideas, artwork, music or words in such a manner as to imply that the
item you used was your own; or if you used unauthorized notes, texts or memory aids during
tests; or if you steal or knowingly use test master copies to gain information prior to an
examination; or knowingly allow another person to use your work as if it were that other person’s
work; or otherwise act in such a manner as to gain for yourself or another an unfair advantage
over other students, you will fail the assignment or the class.
This is from the American Historical Association's Statement on Standards of Professional
Conduct.
Identifying Plagiarism
Plagiarism includes the limited borrowing, without attribution, of another person's distinctive and
significant research findings, hypotheses, theories, rhetorical strategies, or interpretations, or an
extended borrowing even with attribution. Of course, historical knowledge is cumulative, and
thus in some contexts—such as textbooks, encyclopedia articles, or broad syntheses—the form of
attribution, and the permissible extent of dependence on prior scholarship, citation and other
forms of attribution will differ from what is expected in more limited monographs. As knowledge
is disseminated to a wide public, it loses some of its personal reference. What belongs to whom
becomes less distinct. But even in textbooks a historian should acknowledge the sources of recent
or distinctive findings and interpretations, those not yet a part of the common understanding of
the profession, and should never simply borrow and rephrase the findings of other scholars.
Plagiarism, then, takes many forms. The clearest abuse is the use of another's language without
quotation marks and citation. More subtle abuses include the appropriation of concepts, data, or
notes all disguised in newly crafted sentences, or reference to a borrowed work in an early note
and then extensive further use without attribution. All such tactics reflect an unworthy disregard
for the contributions of others.
Grades
Grades for the class are based upon the percentage accumulated for the quarter.
Percent
100-97 percent
96-95 percent
94-93 percent
92 percent
91 percent
90 percent
89 percent
88 percent
87 percent
86 percent
85-84 percent
83 percent
82 percent
81 percent
80 percent
79 percent
78 percent
77 percent
76 percent
75 percent
74 percent
73 percent
72 percent
71 percent
70 percent
69 percent
68 percent
67 percent
66 percent
65 percent
64 percent
63 percent
62 percent
61 percent
60 percent
Letter grade
A
A
A
AAAB+
B+
B
B
B
B
BBBC+
C+
C
C
C
C
C
CCCD+
D+
D
D
D
D
D
DDD-
Students who receive below 60 percent will receive a 0.0 for the final grade.
Final grade
4.0
3.9
3.8
3.7
3.6
3.5
3.4
3.3
3.2
3.1
3.0
2.9
2.8
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.9
1.8
1.7
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.7