JRN 200: Your Tuesday 6/17 Homework

For your next practice story assignment, you will be asked to write a story based on content in Reporting For The Media, 10th Edition, Ch. 15, Ex. 4, p. 399-400.

For this assignment, your slug will be SPEECH. The name of the surgeon general is Tom Izzo (not the coach; it's just a coincidence). References to "your state" will mean Michigan, and references to "your city" will mean East Lansing. Please give yourself 90 minutes to write it.

Your deadline will be no later than 9 a.m. Thursday, to omars@msu.edu.


And, please don't forget to send me your job shadow proposals and schedule in-person or phone conferences with me, as noted in earlier blog posts. Please see those posts for details, or contact me.


Also, please read Reporting For The Media, Chapter 18 on Public Affairs Reporting (p. 458-503) by no later than Thursday morning.

Plus, please keep working on your out-of-class story. Everyone's tip sheet has been approved by now. If you haven't yet started on your reporting, please do so ASAP. Your deadline is no later than 9 a.m. Thursday, June 26 to omars@msu.edu. That's a very generous time allotment, as the syllabus notes you should usually have a one-week turn-around time.

Let's revisit 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.

>>> 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.

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.