Assignment Details

Due Monday, May 24,at the beginning of class

Outdoor (billboard) advertisement
Details are here.

Due Monday, May 17 at the beginning of class

Optional rewrite of the profile story. Staple the original and the rewrite together; we will not be able to regrade the assignment without the original.

Due Friday, May 7 at the beginning of lab

Short profile story. Two-page print story--at least 500 words. The subject is up to you, but it 's best for practical reasons if your subject is someone affiliated with the university. Find someone who has an interesting story. Do not use a friend, relative, roommate or other person you know well. It may be a freshman, a transfer student, a grad student, a professor, an administrator or another employee. It might be possible to profile someone who does not fit that overall category. If you have a different type of person in mind, please check with Russial or Finn John. Do not structure this profile in Q&A (Question and Answer) format. Write it as narrative text.

More details about the assignment
Several examples of profiles
10 interviewing stages From "Creative Interviewing," a book by by Ken Metzler

Due Wednesday, May 5 at the beginning of class

One-page proposal for the final feature project.

Due Friday, April 30 at the beginning of lab

Optional rewrite of the speech story. Staple the original and the rewrite together.
Here are some examples of lead sentences from previous speech stories.

Due Monday, April 26, at the beginning of class

TV news story. Write a 200 to 250-word TV news story based on these notes and video/sound bites. Call this assignment VIRUS.

NOTE! New due date: Due Monday, April 19 at the beginning of class

News story of a speech. Write a news story based on a speech. This should be a complete news story about two full double-spaced pages. Call this assignment SPEECH.
The best speech to cover is the Ruhl Lecture, sponsored by the School of Journalism and Communication. It will be a speech by Philip Meyer, Tuesday, April 13, at 4 p.m. in the EMU Ballroom. Meyer, a longtime professor at the University of North Carolina, will be speaking on the topic "When Everyone's A Journalist, Who Will Make the Rules?"

You have to register online and print a ticket for this lecture (it's free). Here's the link

We will discuss how to write a speech story on Monday, April 12, and Wednesday, April 14. If you cannot attend the Ruhl Lecture, there will be other lectures on or around campus during that week.

I realize that some people might have schedule conflicts, so watch this space for details about several other speeches that you might cover if you have a scheduling conflict that prevents you from covering the Ruhl Lecture.

Due Monday 4/12 at the beginning of class

Mock news conference. Write the first four or five paragraphs of a news story (100-150 words) based on notes you took during the lab exercise on 4/9. News paragraphs are short. Call this assignment FIRE.

Due Wednesday, April 7 at the beginning of class

Leads assignment. Write the first two paragraphs of a news story (about 50 words) for each of two sets of facts provided. Do not use all of the information. Make each one more than one sentence -- a 50-word sentence would be too long for a news lead. Call this assignment LEADS.
Details are on this page.

Due Wednesday, March 31, at the beginning of class.

Job announcement. This is a short news article of 100-150 words.

Choose an appropriate entry-level professional job and write a short news item announcing that you got the job. The purpose is to tell us a bit about yourself, such as where you're from; what background you have, such as an internship or some work for high school or university media; what your interests are, etc.

For example, a student interested in a magazine career might write that she has been hired as an assistant editor for a specialty magazine or a magazine web site. A student interested in public relations might want to join a small agency or work in marketing for a sports team. A news-editorial student might get a job as an education reporter with the Roseburg News Review.

Here's an example.

Note: This assignment will be graded Pass/Fail. If you do it, it's Pass; if you don't, it's Fail.

Please follow the format for assignments on the web page or the syllabus.