LT135-4-FY-CO:
Basic Practical Journalism (Joint Honours)
2020/21
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 08 October 2020
Friday 02 July 2021
30
21 September 2020
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
LT231, LT232
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)
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 audio and 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.
1. to provide you with a solid basis on which to build your career as a journalist
2. to help you master the fundamental skills of story finding, story telling, story editing and story presentation.
3. to understand the core skills of good grammar, accuracy and precision, and of reducing a mass of information to its essentials
4. to give you a grounding in the different character and requirements of different media platforms
5. to give you an understanding of how to create content for each of those platforms, including mobile journalism
6. to give you a working knowledge of the tools used in online production and to introduce you to those used in broadcasting
7. to give you a working knowledge of the history of the last 50 years, which will inform and deepen your understanding of current events
By the end of this module, you 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 you have been told
4. do reporting of your 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 your own and group websites
7. set today’s news in its historical context
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
The module is taught by a variety of means throughout the academic year. Practical work – the core of the module – is done by means of workshop sessions (roughly six hours a week) and one-to-one tutorials. There are also two hour-long news analysis lectures every week throughout the academic year and two-hour contemporary history lectures/classes every week in autumn and spring terms. Students are expected to attend all lectures, classes and workshops.
- Jackson, Ashley. (2013) The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Mitter, Rana. (2016) Modern China: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Smith, Jon; National Council for the Training of Journalists (Great Britain). (2007) Essential reporting: the NCTJ guide for trainee journalists, Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
- Allen, Robert C. (2011) Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Reynolds, David. (c2000) One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945, New York: W.W. Norton.
- Olusoga, David. (2017) Black and British: a forgotten history, London: Pan Books.
- Kershaw, Ian. (2015) To hell and back : Europe, 1914-1949, London: Penguin Books Ltd.
- Tim Holmes; Wynford Hicks. (©2016) Subediting and production for journalists: print, digital, social, London: Routledge.
- Brogan, Hugh. (©1985, 1999) The Penguin history of the United States of America, London: Penguin Books.
- Wynford Hicks; Sally Adams; Harriett Gilbert; Tim Holmes; Jane Bentley. (©2016) Writing for journalists, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
- Service, Robert. (©2015) The Penguin history of modern Russia: from Tsarism to the twenty-first century, [London], UK: Penguin Books.
- Steger, Manfred B. (©2017) Globalization: a very short introduction, Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. vol. 86
- Wynford Hicks. (©2013) English for Journalists, Abingdon: Routledge.
- Randall, David. (©2016) The Universal Journalist, London: Pluto Press.
- Hobsbawm, Eric. (1995) Age of extremes : the short twentieth century, 1914-1991, London: Little, Brown Book Group.
- Kershaw, Ian. (2018) Roller-coaster : Europe, 1950-2017, London: Penguin Books Ltd.
- Jonathan Baker. (no date) Essential Journalism: The NCTJ Guide for Trainee Journalists.
- Anna McKane. (2014) News writing, London: SAGE.
- Bunton, Martin. (2013) The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Clarke, Peter. (2004) Hope and Glory : Britain, 1900-2000, London: Penguin Books Ltd.
- Calvocoressi, Peter. (2008) World Politics since 1945, London: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
- Lee-Potter, Emma. (©2017) Interviewing for journalists, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
- McMahon, Robert J. (©2003) The Cold War: a very short introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press. vol. 87
- Roberts, J. M. (2000) The Penguin history of the twentieth century : the history of the world, 1901 to the present, London: Penguin Books Ltd.
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 |
Story Reflection Do not publish |
|
5% |
| Coursework |
Portfolio 1 |
|
20% |
| Coursework |
(Week 19) 1. Work or Story Reflection |
|
|
| Coursework |
(Week 21) 2. Work or Story Reflection |
|
|
| Coursework |
(Week 23) 3. Work or Story Reflection |
|
|
| Coursework |
(Week 31) 5. Work or Story Reflection |
|
|
| Coursework |
Contemporary History Essay (1,500 words) |
|
10% |
| Coursework |
(Week 33) 6. Work or Story Reflection |
|
|
| Coursework |
Portfolio 2 |
|
35% |
| Written Exam |
24 hour take home subbing test |
|
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
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Mr Tim Fenton, email: tfenton@essex.ac.uk.
Tim Fenton, Anthony Clavane, Paul Anderson, Karen Gooch
LiFTS General Office - email liftstt@essex.ac.uk.
Telephone 01206 872626
No
No
No
Mr Richard Evans
City, University of London
Programme Director, UG Journalism
Available via Moodle
Of 8186 hours, 8 (0.1%) hours available to students:
8178 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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