JOMC 491.4 - "Newsdesk" - Spring 2009

Course Syllabus

Grades: Stories - 30 percent

Students will produce five stories for the Newsdesk Web site over the course of the semester.

Percent of Grade

The stories are worth 30 percent of the final grade.

Due Dates

Feb. 19

March 5

March 26

April 9

April 23

Grading Rubric

Each story is worth 100 points. Students receive points in five categories:

• Story Pitch
• Basic Publishing Elements
• Grammar, Style & Presentation
• Reporting
• Appropriate Use of Media

Each story will also be docked 50 points for every factual error.

Each story will earn 50 extra credit points if a more popular site links to it.

Story Pitch -- Has the student thoughtfully considered his or her audience and proposed a story that is relevant and achievable given deadline time constraints?

20 points -- The student has answered all of the questions in the Pitch Sheet

15 points -- The student has answered most of the questions in the Pitch Sheet

10 points -- The students has answered few or none of the questions in the Pitch Sheet

Basics - How well did the student apply basic online publishing concepts that they've been using in their blog posts, such as headline writing and link building for searchability and scannability?

20 points - All basics online publishing skills are demonstrated.

15 points -- Some basic online publishing skills are demonstrated.

10 points -- Story lacks any demonstration of even the most basic online publishing skills.

Grammar, Style & Presentation -- How well is the story presented, with an eye toward consistency of formatting in all media?

20 points -- No grammar, style or presentation errors.

15 points -- Story has some grammar, style or presentation errors, but they overall do not interfere with the message or audience experience.

10 points -- Story has distracting errors or inconsistencies in grammar, style or presentation that affect the audience's ability to understand the story.

Reporting -- Is the story accurate, complete, fair and informative?

20 points -- The story is exhaustively reported and brings to light new non-commodity information.

15 points -- Nothing is missing from the story. It's fully reported.

10 points -- The story leaves the audience asking questions. It is incomplete.

Appropriate Use of Media -- Does the story include multimedia, interactive and on-demand elements where appropriate?

20 - The story has exceptionally original and creative or exceptionally prolific use of multimedia, interactive and on-demand elements.

15 - The story is not missing any essential multimedia, interactive or on-demand elements, and all media is used appropriately for the story.

10 - The story uses the wrong media, or lacks obvious opportunities to include interactive, multimedia or on-demand elements appropriate to the skills taught in this class.