Out-Of-Class #1 Reminder: Your Deadline ...

... if I have approved your topic (and I probably did; GREAT range of topics that you can self-report. If you haven't yet gotten a reply, you will before the weekend), will be no later than 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12 to omars@msu.edu. 

That gives you almost two weeks to work on it. That's a very generous time allotment, as the syllabus notes you should usually have a one-week turn-around time.

Please don't wait to start on this; lining up sources and finding sources willing to be interviewed can take a lot more time than you'd expect. And if you're doing an internship or job (or both) this semester, you may not have a gazillion time windows in which to do interviews.

If you wait, you may miss opportunities to gain key interviews, and end up turning in a subpar product.

Please note the assignment parameters, as listed in your syllabus:

• The topic must be pre-approved by me, via tip sheet 
• The story must be at least 700 words long
• You need to note the word count at the end of the story
• The story should include at least three sources who you have personally interviewed. Three is the bare minimum, but I expect to see many more than that. 
• ALL your sources should have been personally interviewed; do not borrow content from news articles and Web sites. If you see someone cited online whose comments you want to use, Google the source and contact him or her directly.
• You should try to incorporate at least one neutral expert, as noted in the syllabus
• On a separate page, attach a source sheet where you list by name, title, phone number and email address each interview source you communicated with. I will be randomly spot-checking sources to check your accuracy and make sure you spoke to whom you claim to have spoken.
• Also, keep in mind you will have the opportunity to do an optional rewrite of your story, after the graded version is returned to you.   To earn credit for a rewrite, you must do additional reporting and rewriting, as suggested by me. Then, your initial grade and rewrite grade are averaged, and that average becomes your final assignment grade.
• In structuring your story, use the lessons we've learned and been working on with our practice stories. That's the point of doing those; so we can have a well-organzied story utilizing interview material with strong ledes and nut grads and such.

I strongly suggest you take advantage of rewrite opportunities; first, because out-of-class stories are such a big part of your final grade, any increase in grade is bound to make a difference. Second, the more you write and report, the better you get.

So, you get an opportunity for a higher grade, and I get the reassurance that you're taking more opportunities to refine your craft.

Good luck, everybody!