Honors English 2: Journalism
Naperville North Communication Arts Department
Summer reading assignment and expectations
“There is no more important contribution that we can make to society than strong, publiclyspirited investigative journalism.”
~Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of CBS News
“Good journalism thrives on good quotations. The right quotes…enliven and humanize a
story…”
~Paula LaRocque, Championship Writing
“Don’t write about man, write about a man.”
~E.B. White
Welcome to Honors English 2: Journalism! You have chosen an exciting alternative to a
traditional English 2 course because, although you will learn all of the same skills as your
classmates in English 2, this course will present them through the lens of journalism. Whether
you hope to write for a school publication or pursue a career in a journalism or writing field, the
discipline of journalism focuses on real-world skills you can apply to your academic and
professional life, such as writing frequently for an authentic audience, researching, focusing on
facts and accuracy, and communicating in a way that will inform and interest others.
In a world where anyone can publish “stories” and “report news” online, it is more important
than ever to learn how to detect and produce journalism with integrity and accuracy.
Journalism is a fast-paced, exciting and quickly-evolving field, but its core principles have not
changed much at all. It is still a career path for those who believe that the truth must be made
available to people and that everyone has a story worth telling. We want to begin that
storytelling journey right away!
As preparation for the fall semester of your English 2 experience, you will be expected to read
one book and arrive to class on the first day of the semester with a completed assignment. The
opening days of the semester in the fall will address the work you did to prepare yourself for the
course via the completion of this assignment. Information about the book and the
corresponding assignment can be found on the next page.
Best-selling author Stephen King, in his memoir On Writing, said that “if you want to be a
writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” Honors English 2:
Journalism will be filled with rich and challenging reading and writing experiences. Your
completion of this summer assignment will adequately prepare you for our journey together.
If you should have any questions while working on your assignment, you can contact me at
tjewell@naperville203.org. Please understand that a response might take a few days due to my
summer schedule. I look forward to meeting you and helping you to become a stronger writer
and student!
Ms. Tara Jewell
Communication Arts teacher and faculty adviser to The North Star
READING ASSIGNMENT
To prepare yourself for Honors English 2: Journalism, you will need to acquire a copy of the
following book:
The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public
Should Expect, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosensteil. (2007 “completely updated
and revised” edition)
Unless circumstances prevent it, you should purchase your own copy of the book, because you
will be expected to annotate while reading it, and we will reference the book in class at various
points throughout the school year. The book retails for $14.00 but is frequently cheaper on
Amazon.
Described by one reviewer as “the book that every citizen and journalist should read,” The
Elements of Journalism will introduce you to Kovach and Rosenstiel’s 10 elements of
journalism, spending a chapter in detail to explore each concept and providing recent real-world
examples to help you understand them.
Please be aware that while The Elements of Journalism is not a particularly long book, it is
dense with concepts, examples, and information. It requires a close and careful read, and you
should plan to digest it over multiple sittings as opposed to attempting to speed-read the book
or cram it into a weekend. The best way to consume the book is to process no more than a few of
its concepts (or chapters) at a time. Don’t let the details of this heavily-researched book weigh
you down! Process the key ideas bold-printed throughout the chapters and be able to explain
them and provide your own examples.
ANNOTATING YOUR BOOK
As mentioned, you will be using The Elements of Journalism throughout the Honors English 2:
Journalism course, so marking your book to maximize your ability to locate information later on
is critical. The book is already very clearly organized, with individual chapters devoted to each of
the 10 “elements of journalism,” but it is not good enough to simply highlight the 10 concepts
and the book’s pull-out quotes concerning them.
Here are some suggestions for successful annotating. Please note that these are
suggestions and that you should develop a personal strategy that works for you. If you don’t
have such a strategy already, consider the following:
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Use the space at the top of each chapter’s first page to summarize, in your own words,
the key ideas from the chapter. Do this as soon as you finish the chapter before moving
on to the next one.
Another good use for this space would be to list key vocabulary terms and concepts, such
as “objectivity” and “transparency.”
Highlight the 10 elements of journalism and any key phrases used in the chapters to help
define and/or explain them. This will help you with quick reference later on.
Kovach and Rosenstiel constantly use examples to illustrate the concepts. Many of the
examples will be ones that you are not familiar with. Mark in the margins, underline, or
note in your own way any examples that you either didn’t know or couldn’t find out
anything about. (Hint: Each chapter includes endnotes with information you can look up
to read more about the examples used in the book. While you are certainly not expected
to look up all of these end notes, consider doing some Internet searches on key examples
with which you have no familiarity.)
Use bold-printed chapter subheadings as points of focus for reading by marking in your
text any passages that illustrate or define those sub-headings.
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Write questions in your book! What do the things you are reading mean to journalists?
What do they mean to the average citizen? Why is journalism important? Why is there
the impression that “journalism is dying” and what can be done about that?
Note the “a-ha moments” when you are reading by starring or underlining things that
provided you with enlightenment, clarification, or shifts in attitude.
When you arrive in the fall, your book should look “lived-in”! Mark in it. Use sticky notes and/or
bookmarks. Be prepared to ask questions and discuss and know where to find things!
RESPONSE ASSIGNMENT
Once you have carefully read and annotated The Elements of Journalism, complete a typed
response, focusing your efforts on demonstrating your understanding of what you read through
personal opinions and examples. There is no required length, but a two-page, double-spaced
response seems to be a reasonable minimum expectation. Try to avoid “padding” your response
with filler language. Be thorough, but get to the point and provide quality examples and
explanations.
This book originated from a discussion in which a committee of “concerned journalists” debated
the question: “What is journalism for?” The 10 elements of journalism, as defined by Kovach
and Rosenstiel, are answers to that question.
In a well-crafted response, provide your own answer to “What is journalism for?” by answering
the following question. Use what you read as evidence and support. Please include at least five
direct quotations from the book along with parenthetical notations in your response. You must
refer to at least half (five) of the elements of journalism discussed in the book specifically in your
response.
WHERE DOES THE KIND OF JOURNALISM YOU READ ABOUT IN THIS BOOK
FIT IN TO TODAY’S WORLD OF SOCIAL MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY, 24-HOUR NEWS
CYCLES AND INSTANT ACCESS INFORMATION?
Your response might include answers to the following guiding/support questions:
What, really, is “truth”?
How important is it to be “objective”?
Which aspects of traditional journalism do you think are most important?
In what areas do you think journalism needs to adapt or compromise to meet contemporary
trends?
Which elements of news are the most important for the average citizen to know about, and why?
How can journalistic principals be applied to your work as student – in any discipline?
In a world where most of us get information via Internet search engines, why is there an
increased need for “transparency” of sources?
Where does our student-produced media fit into this? What responsibilities do student
publications have to students? How much do you think students have the right to know?
***IMPORTANT!***
Bring your annotated text and typed response to the first day of class! You will
need them for both class discussion and related assignments during the first week
of school. Failure to read may result in a loss of points not only for this
assignment, but for any activities or quizzes related to the readings that take place
at the start of the school year.