Course Materials Required Textbooks:

• Rich, Stoval (2003) Writing and Reporting News: a coaching method: Belmont, CA: Wadswoth/Thomson Learning
• The Associated Press Stylebook. (2000) New York City: The Associated Press

Optional, but highly recommended text:

• Kessler, L. and McDonald, D., When Words Collide, 5th Ed. Boston: Wadsworth

Other Materials:

• You will need a 100 MB Zip disk, a dictionary and a Thesaurus

Course Evaluation Your course grade will be based on your portfolio, your test scores and your participation in “workshop” sessions in your lab. Each component of the course will receive the following weight.

Portfolio – 60% 15 Current Events Quizzes – 15% 3 Tests – 10% Final Exam – 10% Workshop Participation -5% Below are details of each component: Portfolio: You will add materials to your portfolio each week during the semester and submit it twice to your lab instructor for grading. The portfolio will include 16 assignments which you will complete during the course, submit to your instructor for comments and then revise. You must include the original (along with the instructor’s comments) and the revision of each assignment, but only the revision will be formally graded. The grades will be based on the following scale: A= publishable quality; B = publishable with a few minor revisions; C=publishable with more than a minor revisions; D= significant revisions needed; F= no improvement upon original or original not submitted by deadline. All assignments will receive a letter grade which will translate into a number grade and then be averaged to determine the portfolio grade. The translations will occur on this scale: A+ = 100, A=95, A-93; B+=89, B=85, B-=82; C+=79, C=75, C-=72; D+=69, D=65, D-=62; F=0 Current Events Quizzes: These will be given at random times throughout the semester. They will consist of between 5 and 15 questions about current events. Your average score on these quizzes will account for 15 percent of your final grade (each quiz, therefore, counts as one percent of your semester grade). The best way to prepare for these quizzes to read a daily newspaper, and watch and/or listen to a daily news cast. Suggested sources are National Public Radio, The Austin American Statesman, The San Antonio Express News, CNN, nightly network news programs, and nightly local television newscasts. You are, of course, not expected to keep up with every story or even every source. Quiz questions will be based on stories which appear widely in the national and local media. The goal of this component is to have you examine , in action, the concepts presented in this course. For best results, as you prepare for these quizzes, pay careful attention to the writing. Tests: You will be given three tests and a comprehensive final exam which will cover the material presented in readings and lectures. These will be objective tests graded by a scantron machine. A few days before each test, your lab instructor will offer a review. The third test will be given on the same day as the final exam. Your average of the three tests will count for 10 percent of your course grade, and your performance on the final exam will count for another 10 percent. Workshop Participation: During each lab session your instructor will lead your class in an analytical discussion of particular pieces of writing. Some of the writing will be by professional writers, some will be by student media writers, some will be by your classmates, and, at least once in the semester, the writing will be yours. Your participation in each of these discussions is vital to their success. Your lab instructor will access your “workshop participation” grade based on the following scale: A=significant contribution to every discussion; B=significant contribution to most discussions; C=occasional contribution; D=little contribution. F= frequent inappropriate contribution, very little contribution, or failure to supply material for workshop in which your writing is discussed. Your workshop grade will be translated into a number using the same scale as the portfolio grade. This grade will count as 5 percent of your overall grade.

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