LT135-4-FY-CO:
Essential Journalism (Joint Honours)

The details
2024/25
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 27 June 2025
30
03 July 2024

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

LT231, LT232

Key module for

BA P590 Journalism and Modern Languages,
BA P550 Journalism and Criminology,
BA P551 Journalism and Criminology (Including Placement Year),
BA P552 Journalism and Criminology (Including Year Abroad),
BA P540 Journalism and Sociology,
BA P541 Journalism and Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA P542 Journalism and Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
BA P510 Journalism and English Language,
BA P511 Journalism and English Language (Including Placement Year),
BA P512 Journalism and English Language (Including Year Abroad),
BA P530 Journalism and Literature,
BA P531 Journalism and Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA P532 Journalism and Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA P570 Journalism with Human Rights,
BA P571 Journalism with Human Rights (Including Year Abroad),
BA P572 Journalism with Human Rights (Including Placement Year),
BA P580 Journalism and Politics,
BA P581 Journalism and Politics (Including Placement Year),
BA P582 Journalism and Politics (Including Year Abroad),
BA P565 Film and Journalism,
BA P566 Film and Journalism (Including Foundation Year),
BA P567 Film and Journalism (including Placement Year),
BA P568 Film and Journalism(including Year Abroad),
BA P595 Journalism and Language Studies

Module description

This module, the joint honours equivalent of LT131 Practical Journalism but without compulsory work experience, introduces you to the basics of news and of storytelling, core skills for all jobs in journalism. You’ll discuss the nature of news and how to identify a story. You’ll learn how to look for and uncover the information that will make a story; and study the different ways in which that information can be presented.


You will develop skills in absorbing a lot of information quickly, reducing it to its essentials, and producing an accurate and engaging narrative, often against a deadline. You will understand the overriding importance of accuracy in reporting, and the need to check and verify everything that you write. You will learn about elements of style and presentation, the importance of choosing the right word, how to develop your own writing persona and how to edit the work of others.


You will learn the basics of multimedia production, create your own website and start producing content for a variety of online, radio and television outlets – the latter including the use of mobile journalism techniques. You will be introduced to digital video editing tools. Your practical reporting assignments will be given to you from an early stage.


In addition, through the contemporary history series of lectures, you’ll learn about how events of recent years provide perspective and context to today’s news stories. Work experience is not compulsory for this module but is encouraged.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:



  • To provide students with a solid basis on which to build their career as a journalist.

  • To help students master the fundamental skills of story finding, story telling, story editing and story presentation.

  • To understand the core skills of good grammar, accuracy and precision, and of reducing a mass of information to its essentials.

  • To give students a grounding in the different character and requirements of different media platforms.

  • To give students an understanding of how to create content for each of those platforms, including mobile journalism.

  • To give students a working knowledge of the tools used in online production and to introduce them to those used in broadcasting.

  • To give students a working knowledge of the history of the last 50 years, which will inform and deepen their understanding of current events.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:



  1. Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the different forms of news reporting.

  2. Know how to look for and gather information, and to present it effectively for a variety of media platforms.

  3. Demonstrate a commitment to good writing and to accuracy, both in terms of grammar and spelling, and in terms of reporting faithfully what they have been told.

  4. Do reporting of their own, both within the course environment and in the real world, through work experience with local media organisations.

  5. Edit the work of others for a variety of media platforms.

  6. Use online production tools to a basic standard on their own and group websites.

  7. Set today’s news in its historical context.

Module information

General Reading:



  • Smith, Jon (2007) Essential Reporting: the NCTJ Guide for Trainee Journalists, London: Sage

  • Randall, David (2016) The Universal Journalist, London: Pluto

  • Sissons, Helen (2006) Practical Journalism - How to Write News, London: Sage

  • Hicks, Wynford (2013), English for Journalists, London: Routledge

  • Hicks, Wynford (2016), Writing for Journalists, London: Routledge

  • The Economist (2018) Style Guide, London: Economist

  • Hargreaves, Ian (2014) Journalism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press

  • Robinson, Nick (2013) Live from Downing Street, London, Bantam

  • Marr, Andrew (2005) My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism, London: Pan

  • Calvacoresi, Peter (2008) World Politics Since 1945, London: Routledge

  • Clarke, Peter (2004) Hope and Glory: Britain 1900-2000, London: Penguin

Learning and teaching methods

Anticipated teaching delivery: The module is taught by a variety of means throughout the academic year.

The module will be delivered via:

  • Practical work – the core of the module – is done by means of workshop sessions (roughly six hours a week).
  • One-to-one tutorials.
  • Two hour-long news analysis lectures every week throughout the academic year.
  • Two-hour contemporary history lectures/classes every week in autumn and spring terms.

Students are expected to attend all lectures, classes and workshops.

Bibliography

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   300 word news story  22/11/2024  10% 
Coursework   1,000 word news feature   06/12/2024  20% 
Coursework   800 word piece of journalism including original data and infographic   13/12/2024  20% 
Coursework   Photo essay (with 10 photos)   21/02/2025  20% 
Coursework   3 Minute Video News Story with a 30 second Video snippet   28/03/2025  30% 

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Idrees Ahmad, email: m.i.ahmad@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Idrees Ahmad
LiFTS General Office - email liftstt@essex.ac.uk. Telephone 01206 872626

 

Availability
No
No
No

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 21 hours, 0 (0%) hours available to students:
21 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

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