"Be sure to punctuate and attribute properly," he said.

I've highlighted the need for solid punctuation skills when quoting sources. Unfortunately, many students persist in using incorrect quotation punctuation. The following resources should be the final word on this issue.

Start off with the basics. Check out the Purdue Writing Lab for a guide on how to use quotation marks and quote indirectly.

The WAW School of Journalism outlines a few more details on attribution and quotations, including this very important note on the word "said" that I've mentioned repeatedly in class:

Some final thoughts on the word “said”: Readers like — dare I say love? — the word because they don't see it. It's simple and direct, and can't be misinterpreted. So use it often or, perhaps, all the time. If you find a need to use other words, like exclaimed, gushed, etc., it likely means the writer hasn't set up the quote in a way that the reader knows what's coming. It's often a sign of bad writing (and bad writers) when such words apprear in copy.

"Said" says it all.

Finally, veteran editor and educator Gregg McLachlan comments on failure to attribute in this short column.

Hope those pages help. As always, take a look around the wider sites after you're done with the specific items I've lined to.

Hunting for stories

We used our first field exercise to scour Woodbrook, the deeply historical neighborhood in which the campus is located.

The walkabout/drive served primarily as a story-hunting exercise. We developed the reporter's skill for finding the profound in the seemingly mundane, and seeing the interesting, curious things in the world around us. We questioned a lot of what we would usually overlook and take for granted, and we returned to class with enough story ideas to keep an entire department of reporters busy for months.



You'll now have to apply that skill to your own community (those of you who actually live in Woodbrook got a free pass!). Find something beyond the cliched and the overdone. Find something new and exciting, something thought-provoking and fresh. Adhere to the guidelines that we've learned over the last few weeks, and copping a distinction should be easy.

The response to this exercise was heartening, and I'm going to try to figure out other ways for us to hit the road, constructively, later on in the semester.

Our next field assignment will be will be similarly devoid of PowerPoints and my droning voice. You'll hear more about it in the near future.


(I borrowed the photos in this post from former student Norman Chuckaree's Woodbrook Facebook group.)

"Journalism's first obligation is to the truth..."

Welcome to the course.

The next four months will broaden your perspective on how information is delivered to you, and hopefully pique your interest in an often overlooked profession.

As we discussed today, defining journalism is more about saying what it does than what it is. The debate will only deepen as the internet continues to democratize journalism, and growing niches like citizen journalism and advocacy journalism will continue to shift our perception of news.

We'll be diving straight into the fundamentals of newswriting next week. I invite you to check out Jim Hall's excellent Beginning Reporting website for a primer on upcoming topics. Keep an eye on this spot for other helpful links.

Every few weeks I'll make some of my lecture material, such as scripts and PowerPoints, directly available for download here. I'll also regularly post story examples and well-written practice assignments from within the class. If I pick up troubling trends while correcting assignments, I'll address them here initially.

Feel free to comment under each post or e-mail me your questions and suggestions.

Until next week, keep reading.

Some general feedback

I've read through most of the first practice assignment submissions, and I have high hopes for this class. That said, we need to address several pervasive, fundamental issues in your writing before we progress to more advanced styles.

• Accurate spelling, particularly of names is crucial. It's not an option.
• Cut down on the length of those sentences. Some submissions contained sentences that began with one point, lost it, and then meandered into a totally different area of the interview. Keep it shorter and simpler for now.
• Don't hype or market whatever you're writing about. Let the person or thing speak for itself.
• Please adhere to the submission rules. Double-space and use the correct font size. And please don't send your assignments in the body of your e-mail. Attach a Word document to your e-mail. Use your name as the title of the document.

Read the first three chapters (The use of English, Grammar: the rules, and Grammar: mistakes and confusions) in your English for Journalists textbook. They'll act as a good primer for the work we'll be doing in class on Monday.

Also, a reminder: Don't forget to bring your newspapers and/or clippings for tomorrow's class. We'll be discussing the elements of newsworthiness, and I'll be asking you to identify and explain the elements that best pertain to the stories you chose.

We'll be doing a few other exercises as well.

See you tomorrow.