The Journalism Portfolio
PHILOSOPHY
The Journalism Portfolio should be a public showcase of the journalist’s work. It will demonstrate the journalist’s editorial judgment in arranging, revising, and presenting their own work. Most important, the portfolio will exhibit pieces that exemplify the multifaceted reflection that go into preparing, workshopping, copyediting, and finalizing journalistic writing. The portfolio will ultimately serve multiple purposes: to document progress while actively charting the path of one’s academic, career, and creative development.
Download specifications for the English 151 Portfolio.
Truman wins "Best News Story"
Today, my journalism student Tomás Martínez Guerra won First Place for Best News Story at the Illinois Community College Journalism Association (ICCJA) spring conference. Click on the picture (above) to see his winning story, "12 million shadows in limbo: Elvira Arellano and the immigration debate," as originally published in Truman's Uptown Exchange (Spring 2007).
Professional judges commented that the story included a "Nice focus on the personal story as a springboard into coverage of the larger issue ... Very well written, cleanly edited."
Of course I'm proud of this award.
Tomás originally workshopped this story in my News Reporting & Writing class and published it under my advisement in College Newspaper. He won 1st place in ICCJA's Division II, "Tri-Weeklies/Monthlies over 5,000 [student population]," which includes such competitor schools as Wright College and Harold Washington College.
This was the newspaper's first chance to enter the contest, and I look forward to more awards for our hard work at future journalism conferences! Please join me in congratulating Truman's students, journalism program, and college newspaper.
Truman J-Student Gets Published
I'm proud of my News Reporting & Writing student, LAUREN VANDERMAR, who has started writing as an official freelance journalist, with her first paid and published piece for the Chicago Journal. I'm happy to say that what I teach in the classroom leads directly to success outside of the classroom! CONGRATS!!!
English 151: Media Journal Part Two
News Reporting & Writing Students: Post your second Media Journal per "On-line Writing" syllabus instructions. See also a description of the Media Journal assignment on the syllabus.
DUE for posting by class time, WEEK EIGHT, Day Two...
News Writing Criteria
News Reporting & Writing works with the following criteria to guide assessment, evaluation, improvement, and grading of the basic journalistic news pieces we write in the class.
● NEWS VALUE
● FORM
● REPORTING
● WRITING QUALITY
● CLEAN COPY
Basic News Writing Tips
Download this news-writing handout for basic tips.
Basic News Writing Tips
Using these tips, develop your reporting plan into a lede and then a full story.
Reporting Plan & Checklist
Download a Reporting Plan & Checklist document to chart and piece together your ideas for a news story.
English 151: Media Journal Part One
News Reporting & Writing Students: Post your first Media Journal per "On-line Writing" syllabus instructions. See also a description of the Media Journal assignment on the syllabus.
DUE for posting by class time, WEEK THREE, Day Two...
On Wikipedia
Here are just a few more reasons to go beyond the popular reference site and instead do some database research...
...from beloved "fake" TV pundit Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report via YouTube...
International News Sites
Feel free to post your favorite links to international English-language news sites, in addition to those listed here.
Al-Ahram Weekly
Al-Jazeera
All Africa
Asia Times
British Broadcasting Service
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
China Daily
EFE News Service
Gulf Daily News
Ha'Aretz
The Jerusalem Post
The Jordan Times
Kyodo News Service, Japan
Nigerian News
OpenDemocracy
Persian Journal
What can you do with writing?
Today's handout tries to define journalism as a distinct kind of writing, while dealing also with the challenge of what you can do with writing as a profession.
SYLLABUS: ENGLISH 151-H (News)
Welcome to News Reporting & Writing for SPRING 2008!
Download the English 151-H syllabus.