Focus on writing skills required for successful communication in media, strategic, and academic settings. Class activities and homework assignments emphasize foundations of good writing; grammar, spelling, usage, vocabulary, punctuation, and style. Students will learn diverse approaches used in media writing, strategic communication, and academic writing. A secondary focus is avoiding plagiarism. (Fall, Spring, Summer)

No required text but you will be assigned online and CANVAS readings.

Course Objectives:

• To learn and practice good writing, spelling, usage, vocabulary, punctuation, and style.
• To learn diverse approaches used in media writing, strategic communication, and academic writing.
• A secondary focus is understanding and avoiding plagiarism.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment:

• Class activities and homework assignments emphasize foundations of good writing. Understanding of course content will be measured through satisfactory performance on written assignments, quizzes and tests.
• Demonstrate the ability to articulate different styles of writing in various written assignments.
• Demonstrate the ability to write effectively by preparing a sample of writing in a portfolio collection suitable for use as evidence for job and school applications.

Assignments

Course assignments relating to assigned readings: Students are to come prepared to discuss the assigned topic. Attend class and participate in the class discussions about each topic and chapter.

In-class Writing Assignments: Students will be required to write in class. In general, the assignments will be announced and indicated on the class schedule. Sometimes unscheduled writing assignments will be in class. These assignments cannot be made up or taken at a different time. Working quickly and meeting deadlines is essential in writing for communication. Some of these assignments will be timed.

Online Quizzes: Students will be required to complete online quizzes on the CANVAS system. The purpose of the quizzes is the encourage reading of the text and to become familiar with general grammar concepts.

Written Assignments: (NOTE: All stories, except two, are to be written in third person. Only two stories can be written in first person writing in this class—the blog/web story and the editorial. Stories not written in third person will receive an F grade.)

A variety of written assignments will be required. Some stories will graded on a scale of Fulfilled Assignment - 50 points/ Pass - 35 points/Fail - 0 points. What this means is if you comply with all the requirements of the assignment without any “major factual errors” (MFE) with minimal spelling and grammar problems, then you will earn full points. If there are “some problems” but you did an OK job on the assignment, you earn 35 points. If there are major problems and the assignment does not comply with the recommendations, the assignment will receive 0 points. On these FA/P/F assignments the instructor will give only limited feedback. Other assignments will be fully graded and will be worth more points. Students are to submit the assignments in the proper format, on time and demonstrate skill in writing concepts, grammar and spelling. All papers must comply with AP style. Some, if not all of the papers will be submitted electronically on CANVAS. The deadlines will be set and the papers will not receive full scores after the deadline. The various assignments and papers include:

CANVAS Competency: You will demonstrate to the professor that you have access to CANVAS and can utilize the on-line feedback system that the professor will use. All you have to do is follow very simple instructions in CANVAS. 25 points.

First Sample Story: A 200-word story written in “hard news” style about anything you have personally observed or you interviewed people who observed an activity, event, or action. It must be written in third person and must have at least two direct quotes. The primary purpose of this assignment is to make sure all students can submit assignments on CANVAS. Fulfill Assignment/Pass/Fail, 25 points.

Obituary: a 200-word obituary about you. Details on the date, cause of death and funeral arrangements will be provided. In other words – DON’T MAKE ANYTHING ELSE UP. All other information will be factual about you and your life. This obituary must have all the required parts of a standard obituary in the correct order. Fulfill Assignment/Pass/Fail, 25 points.

Spot News Story: a 300-word story on an unexpected event. Write in inverted pyramid style with the most important information first. I repeat – place the most important information first. The story must include at least two quotes from witnesses or officials. Don’t start stories with an unknown name or company unless there is a very specific reason for doing so. Graded 100 points.

Speech or Meeting Story: a 300-word story on a speech or meeting. The story must include at two direct quotes from the event. Be sure to follow all recommendations on style and effective speech and meeting stories. Graded 100 points.

Sports Story: a 300-word story on a formal sports event. Formal means an organized event as opposed to friends going on a hike which might fall under the feature story below. The story must include at least two quotes from athletes, coaches, fans or officials. Be sure to handle numbers in the recommended format. Fulfill Assignment/Pass/Fail, 25 points.

Feature Story: a 300-word feature story. Use one of the recommended feature leads. The story must include at least two direct quotes. Be sure to follow the guidelines that describe the characteristics of a feature story. Make sure it is written in feature style and NOT hard news style. Graded 100 points.

Digital/Web/Blog Story: a 200-word story for the web. Be sure to follow the guidelines that describe the characteristics of a web story. Fulfill Assignment/Pass/Fail, 25 points.

Broadcast Story: a 100-word broadcast-style story. Be sure to follow the guidelines that describe the characteristics of a broadcast story. Try to begin with what is happening “now.” 25 points.

Advertisement Copy: A single page of text and images promoting a product or idea.

Editorial on Media Ethics: a 200-word editorial designed to be sent to a newspaper editor. Be sure to follow the guidelines that describe editorial writing. Fulfill Assignment/Pass/Fail, 25 points.

Public Relations News Release: a 200-word news release on an actual event, product, promotion. The student must find a client who can benefit from an actual news release. You must have all the required components of a new release. Fulfill Assignment/Pass/Fail, Graded 100 Points.

Writing Sample Portfolio: Provide the link to your online portfolio with at least five samples of writing from this class, this semester. 25 points.

Grading Scale and Point Distribution

90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, Less than 60% = F

Regular attendance is required at all class meetings and work assigned during class cannot be made up for classes that are missed. Deadlines in the CANVAS system are fixed and will not be altered for individuals’ needs. I do accept late work on a case-by-case basis if students contact me in a timely manner (before or within one day) and professional manner (well written email). If you know of conflicts or challenges, turn the assignment in early. No other makeup or extra credit work is available. Don’t expect the CANVAS system to be lenient and don’t expect your clock to be exact with CANVAS. Don’t risk “last second” submissions.

Regular attendance is required at all class meetings. The absence of more than three class sessions during the semester will result in a drop of a full letter grade. Roll is not formally taken but attendance patterns will be observed and recorded by the professor. The instructor has the responsibility to award points based on class discussion thus encouraging communication students to practice communicating. Attending and participating in class requires that your mind be focused on the class. If the professor observes the use of the computers for anything other than class assignments, the student will not receive credit for attendance that day. The student’s mind cannot be in attendance while checking email and social networking sites.

Anti-plagiarism statement

All work must be by you. Avoid ALL possible reasons for suspicion of plagiarism. Ways to avoid plagiarism include:

• Never just cutting and pasting from other digital sources.
• Never just watch a TV news story, read something online or listen to something on the radio and rewrite it for this class. All stories are to be “sourced” by you.
• If you use other sources for background information, re-write in your own words and cite where you got the information.
• Always cite where any information comes from.
• Never fabricate any information. It is true and really happened or don’t use it.

AI Statement

Unless indicated differently, any use of artificial intelligence software (A.I.), including visual (e.g. Midjourney), textual (e.g. chatGPT), or audio (e.g. ) to aid on assignments will be considered an infringement of academic integrity. Unless explicitly designated and outlined in assignment instructions, students should avoid using these aids, entirely. All faculty have access to CopyLeaks which detects plagiarism, including the use of AI software. Consequences for violating this policy are consistent with  regarding academic integrity, and may include a failing grade in the course, and expulsion from the program.

Note for this class

Every assignment that the student submits is from actual events unless specified. Only some specific assignments and in-class exercises specifically assigned by the instructor will deal with fabricated information. What this means is that when you write a story for this class, it is all true and factual. Don’t make things up, not even quotes. Use of fictional information will result in a failure for the assignment for the first offense and failure in the class for the second offense. You are also expected to collect facts, interviews, and other information personally. This means you do NOT write stories based on other news media reports, watching it on TV or other indirect experience. Unless a professional team is playing in Cedar City or you personally attend a game while you are out of town, DO NOT write about professional sports or other events that occur in a different city. You must collect the information personally. But remember – you must write stories in THIRD PERSON. And YOU are never the subject of the story.

Timeliness

All stories are to be written THIS SEMESTER. This requirement reduces the temptation to re-use previous writing from other classes or purposes. So the events, activities, and subjects need to be timely and relative to this semester. For news stories, they need to be about current events. For example, when writing your “blog/web” assignment, I don’t want to hear about a family holiday from a year before that you may have recorded in your journal back then. You can talk about your current perspective of a past event. Of course, for feature stories, your subject can discuss events that helped shape the person’s life.

Recommended Text(s)

Any reference on AP style writing - Associated Press Style Guide (not APA)

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/ap_style.html

References

Other titles and supplemental information may be posted on CANVAS.