Our Writing for Communication class begins!

So, you get back to your room at around 10:47 pm, and your roommate asks you to remind them of where you were. You tell them, and they ask you to elaborate on what exactly you mean. Then, you find yourself asking yourself: what exactly is this class, and why exactly am I taking it?

Writing for Communication is a class aimed at making you a better writer. You will learn how to organize and prioritize. You will learn how to make your writing clearer for understanding, and the emphasis put on deadlines will help to simulate a professional setting. The areas of writing you can expect to touch on are print/news writing, broadcast writing, persuasive writing, public service announcements, and possibly scriptwriting.

Now that we've got that figured out... have we already taken our first steps towards becoming a better writer?

Indeed, we have. We touched on the inverted pyramid style used in print/news writing. That entails starting with the most important information and ending with the least important information. Additionally, we learned what leads were.  A lead is the first paragraph of a news story. It should be 25 words or less, and it should cover as much of the 5Ws as possible as well as include attribution from an official source.

With one class down and about 12 more to go, what all should we keep in mind while moving forward?

Check your email frequently! Always make sure to use spell check, and keep your AP style packet at hand. Oh, and don't forget about reading the A, Metro, Style, and Sports section fronts in The Washington Post as well as your daily Skimm. Don't use phrases like "brand new"; you'd only be repeating yourself. And if you need to get in touch with Professor Piacente, refer to the syllabus or search for him on just about any form of social media.

            Bonus Tip: Do the homework! For this week, it's...

            - read http://www.journalism.org/2015/04/29/state-of-the-news-media-2015/

            - read chapters 1-4 of the text

            - do 1.1 (Autobiography), 1.4 (Incident), and 1.10 (Shoelaces) on p.9-11 *hardcopy*

            - read The Washington Post section fronts and the Skimm daily

Posted by: Miah Murphy

Thank you for reading, and I invite you to comment on my post :)