JOU5922 - Practical Journalism 2: Specialist Reporting

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the range of specialist reporting fields
Demonstrate a critical understanding of how style and content relate to target markets or readerships (print and online)
Demonstrate the ability to generate, develop and research ideas
Apply practical journalism skills within a specialist context (print and online)
Demonstrate knowledge of a content management system and skills in the creation of online content according to established guidelines of best professional practice

Content:

Students will examine key areas of specialist reporting such as health, business, education and entertainment through formative and summative practical exercises in class in both semesters.
Students will be introduced to the practicalities of layout ushing industry standard software and the latter part of Semester 2 will include a six week block where the entire Level 2 cohort (Specialist Reporting and Sports Writing) will combine to lay out some of their written work (as individuals) on QuarkXpress.

Learning and Teaching Information:

This module is taught via a series of interactive workshops and assessment workshops which are run as professional newsroom sessions.

Workshops
Contact hours: 40
Intended Group size: 30

Guided independent study
Hours: 160

Further details relating to assessment
Portfolio 1 would normally include 3 x 500 word specialist news articles submitted one per fornight throughout Semester 1, plus a 500 word reflective report submitted at the end of Semester 1.
Portfolio 2 would normally include a web page/s equivalent to 1,500 words, including a main specialist news article, supplementary articles/factfiles/social media postings, headlines, photos, captions, etc, plus a 500 word reflective report submitted at the end of Semester 2.

Note: Over the course of five taught sessions in semester 2, students will receive homework that must be submitted in class that will be vital for the successful completion of the module. This includes a range of exercises linked to the module objectives. In order to ensure that students engage fully during these sessions, they receive 2 marks for every class attended (see weighting above). If for any VALID reason students are unable to attend class, they must contact tutors to avoid losing vital marks at this stage.

Assessment:

001 Portfolio 1 1x 2,000 words equivalent Semester 1 (throughout Nov & Dec) 50%
002 Portfolio 2 1x 2,000 words equivalent end of Semester 2 40%
003 Marks for in-class assessments/attendance at five practical online sessions in S2 2 marks per session 10%


Click here to go back to previous page