Class 1/18

Welcome to “Writing Boot Camp,” which is Professor Piacente’s alternate class description, and it seems like it will be an accurate description.

Instead of starting the first class of with the usual procedures, the professor chose to give us a taste of what this semester will be like. We used a U.S. General Services Administration’s public service announcement promoting usa.gov for a lesson about writing leads. This was then followed by the necessary first day introductions and going over the syllabus. After, we had a lesson on being concise in our writing.

After a brief intermission, we took a practice current events quiz, followed by practicing writing a story.

Recap on important things learned this week:

1)    Lead: the first paragraph of a news story

·      25 words or less

·      Cover as many of the 5 W’s, but remember to PRIORITIZE

2)    When submitting assignments, ONLY submit Word documents with 12 pt. Arial font, double-spaced. DON’T send in the email body

3)    Don’t forget to end a writing assignment with “-30-“

4)    Always check this blog and your email, as Professor Piacente will occasionally give hints for the quizzes

5)    Don’t forget to read the Washington Post everyday!

Homework for next week if exactly as it in the syllabus:

a)    Read: http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/state-of-the-news-media-2016/ & list top 3 takeaways

b)    Read in the textbook Ch. 1-4 & list top 3 takeaways

c)     P. 9-11, Do: 1.1 (Autobiography), 1.4 (Incident), 1.10 (Shoelaces)

d)    Read WPost section fronts (A, Metro, Style, & Sports)

See you all again next week!

Posted by Kendall Lawrence