The Lecture

Welcome to Writing for Mass Communication. The course is designed to help you develop professional writing skills and practice writing in a deadline situation. This course will provide fundamental instruction and practice in writing as a basis for upper-level courses in this college. It also will offer a broad overview of media-writing careers. If you are a major in this college, you must earn no lower than a “C” in the course.

I’m available in the auditorium after lecture for quick questions. For more involved questions or to discuss your career plans or grades, please come by during office hours or schedule an appointment. The best way to set up an appointment is by e-mailing me. You will receive a lab syllabus during your first lab meeting. The lab syllabus will contain your lab instructor’s name, office number, phone number and office hours.

Required Textbooks and Materials

• Norm Goldstein, ed., The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Associated Press, 2002.
• Lauren Kessler and Duncan McDonald, When Words Collide, 5th ed., Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2000.
• Carole Rich, Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method, 4th ed., Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2003.

Recommended Materials

• Tape recorder – Would be helpful for interviewing assignments
• Dictionary or other word/spelling guide
• Reporter’s notebook

Grading

Grade for lecture portion of course - The lecture grade counts 25 percent of your overall grade in the course. The lecture grade is based on the average of two exams. No make-up exams will be given unless you make arrangements with me in advance and can provide documentation for the absence.

Attendance

You are urged to attend each week’s four lectures. Lectures (along with the textbook readings) provide you with information you need to be prepared for the labs. Some lab assignments are based on in-lecture activities. The summer schedule especially demands regular attendance. If you are absent from a lecture, check with a classmate to determine what you missed. Don’t ask me what you missed. You are responsible for getting notes from the lecture you missed from a classmate. If you miss a lecture that is the basis of a lab assignment, such as an in-lecture interview, you should get notes from a classmate. But be aware that using someone else’s notes for an article is not as effective as writing from your own notes. Handouts distributed in lecture will be available after lecture on the bulletin board outside my office.

Posting of Grades

Posting of lecture grades - Exam scores will be posted on WEB CT. If you think your posted grade is incorrect, you must notify me so the grade can be checked.

Going over Exams

Going over exams - We will not go over exams during lecture. If you want to go over an exam, you may do so for one week following the posting of the grades. See me during office hours.

Excused Absences from Lecture or Lab

Excused absences include university-sanctioned field trips, a religious observance, illness, or a serious illness or death in your family. We require documentation, such as a letter from your doctor or a letter from the university. We are in sympathy with people who can’t find a parking place, who oversleep or who don’t feel well but don’t seek medical treatment. However, none of those reasons will count as excused absences.

Academic Honesty

• Each of you should be aware of your commitment to academic honesty. This commitment is part of the registration process, and, as a UF student, you sign a statement each term agreeing to adhere to the University of Florida’s rules and regulations concerning academic honesty.
• When you are given out-of-lab time to work on a lab assignment, you are expected to do your own work. Friends may proofread your work, but the reporting and writing must be your own.
• Plagiarism is a serious offense – in this course, in this college and in media-writing careers. You must attribute information to a source. If you use information from a publication, you must credit that publication. Using someone else’s work as your own will result in a zero for the assignment.
• If you are aware of a climate – in lecture or lab – that promotes academic dishonesty, please notify me, your lab instructor or contact the Office of Student Services (392-1261).

Notes and Taping of Course Lectures

• In a media career (whether in journalism, public relations or advertising), you will attend meetings where you must listen carefully, select key points and take notes. One of the goals for you in this course is to become more effective in taking notes.
• You should attend the lectures and take your own notes. Classmates’ notes or commercially produced notes do not replace being in lecture and doing your own listening, thinking and notetaking.
• Taping in-lecture interviews to help you prepare to write a lab assignment is OK.

Summer A Labs