Course Title: Produce Writings - Journalism
Part B: Course Detail
Teaching Period: Term1 2007
Course Code: COMM5400
Course Title: Produce Writings - Journalism
School: 345T Creative Media
Campus: City Campus
Program: C4171 - Certificate IV in Professional Writing and Editing
Course Contact : Program Administration Brendan Lee
Course Contact Phone: Brendan Lee 9925 4368
Course Contact Email:Brendan.lee@rmit.edu.au
Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff
Sian Prior
sian.prior@rmit.edu.au
David Astle
david.astle@rmit.edu.au
Nominal Hours: 105
Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.
Pre-requisites and Co-requisites
None
Course Description
This course looks at the skills and knowledge required for working as a freelance print journalist as you plan, draft, edit and pitch your written articles.
The course helps you to cultivate a critical awareness of appropriate language, style, and word length for a range of media publications. You discuss contemporary issues in the media and analyse a broad range of material from various publications
The competency Produce Writings –Journalism VBP552 is delivered and assessed alongside the following competencies:
CUVCOR03A: Develop, refine and communicate concept for own work
CUVCOR11A: Source information on history and theory and apply to own work
CUSRAD01A: collect and organise information
National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria
National Element Code & Title: |
VBP552 Produce Writings - Journalism |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to plan, draft, edit and pitch articles for a range of publications.
Details of Learning Activities
1. Lectures
2. Presentations
3. Guest speakers
4. Workshopping, self-criticism of written work, providing oral critiques of others’ work
Teaching Schedule
Semester One
Week 1
Orientation
Week 2
- Basics of Freelance Journalism
- Writing Precedes
- Precedes and Headlines
- Hand in First Assignment/First Contact Assignment - Precede
- Interview Techniques and Uses
- Interviewing
- Writing Profiles
- Pitching Profile ideas
- Researching Profiles
- Writing Questions
- Workshopping Profiles
- Hand in Second Assignment – Profile
- One-on-one meetings with teacher
- Reviewing
- Reviewing
- Guest Speaker
- Workshop reviews
- Pitching stories to editors
- Autobiographical writing/personal columns
- Autobiographical writing/personal columns
- Workshop personal columns
- Hand in Third Assignment – Personal column OR Review
- One-on-one meetings with teacher
Review of semester
Semester Two
Week 1
- Opinion pieces
- Opinion pieces
- Workshop opinion pieces
- Hand in Fourth Assignment – Opinion piece
- Media Ethics
- Media Ethics – Guest speaker
- Developing a freelance ‘beat’
- Informative Writing
- Travel Writing
- Informative articles
- Workshop Informative articles
- Hand in Fifth Assignment – Informative article
- One-on-one meetings with teacher
Pitching articles
Week 13
- Workshopping articles
- Guest speaker
- Research for Writing - excursion to Vic State Library?
- Writing for Radio (preview of Journ 2)
- Workshopping articles
- Hand in Sixth (and final) assignment (style of your choice)
- One-on-one meetings with teacher
Review of the year
Learning Resources
Prescribed Texts
References
Other Resources
Articles, handouts and othre material will be provided in class.
Overview of Assessment
Assessment for this course is ongoing throughout the semester. Your knowledge of course content is assessed through participation in class exercises, oral presentations and through the application of learned skills and insights to your writing tasks.
Assessment Tasks
For the two end-of-semester assessment marks (Pass, Fail, Credit, Distinction, High Distinction) serious consideration is given to class-written pieces and class contributions, as well as prepared assessment pieces. Therefore regular class attendance, workshopping and contribution is vital.
Six pieces are required for formal assessment during the year.
All submissions must be typed and have a SEPARATE TITLE PAGE which includes: Course name, teacher’s name, assessment topic, the title of your piece (your headline), word count, author’s name in capitals (your by-line) and your phone number, and a brief description of the style of publication you’ve written it for (eg. mainstream daily newspaper, women’s magazine, etc.). Keep a copy of each assignment until the end of the year. Word count is vital. EG. Eight hundred words means a range of 780 – 820 words.
The ability to meet deadlines is an absolute necessity as a freelancer. Extensions for assessment pieces won’t be granted except in the most unusual circumstances. If a student is absent from class on submission day, work must be submitted earlier, or on submission day by a fellow classmate.
(NB. It is possible some of these submission dates may be varied slightly, but plenty of advance notice will be given in this case)
SEMESTER ONE
Week Three - Feb 27/28
First Contact Assignment/Assessment Piece 1 (in class): – write a precede for hand-out article, and give it in at the end of class.
Week Eight – Apr 3/4
Assessment Piece 2: 800 word profile/interview article for mainstream or specialist outlet
Week Sixteen – Jun 5/6
Assessment Piece 3: 600 word review of a concert, restaurant, film, play, video, book, CD, etc. OR 750 word personal column/autobiographical article for mainstream outlet
Semester Two
Week Four – Jul 31/Aug 1
Assessment Piece 4: 800 word opinion piece
Week Ten – Sep 11/12
Assessment Piece 5: 1000 word informative article
Week Sixteen – Oct 30/31
Assessment Piece 7: 1000 word article – in style of your choice, from journalistic styles studied this year.
Assessment Matrix
Not applicable
Course Overview: Access Course Overview