Course Syllabus

 

 

 Narrative storytelling in a multimedia environment

Faculty Advisor: Joan Connell

 MW 2-3:50 p.m.,  CF 225

Office hours: MW  noon  to 1:50 p.m  or by appointment  CF 258.

Phone calls or text queries welcome at any reasonable hour: 425-922-4460 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

KLIPSUN EDITORIAL STAFF

Editor-in-Chief: Ray Garcia, 323-945-3069

Story Editors:

Anelyse Morris, 253-314-8639

Nate Sanford, 206-613-9199

Isa Kaufman-Geballe, 206-973-9491

Laurel Messenger, 306-628-0173

Photo Editor:

Christa Yaranon, 206-356-2634

Photographer: 

Brendan Ryder, 360-621-8259

Welcome to the Fall 2019 quarter of Klipsun, Western Washington University's award-winning student magazine. This four-credit writing competency course offers a professional magazine environment to  learn narrative and multimedia journalism skills. Working together in a digital-first environment, student writers and editors produce online articles throughout the quarter and a 40-page print edition to be distributed in January, 2020. 

Narrative journalism, also known as feature writing, marries the literary techniques of creative writing with the discipline and ethics of news reporting.  This class hones your skills in long-form storytelling and immersive reporting techniques.

Multimedia Storytelling

In a digital era, narratives do not unfold in text alone. We are multimedia storytellers who add value to the written word with podcasts, links to deep sources, maps, apps, playlists, videos and other elements. 

Klipsun's twice-weekly class is presented in two simultaneous learning environments:

• Writers Workshop: Lecture/discussion on narrative journalism. We'll analyze and discuss award-winning works of narrative storytelling, and learn immersive reporting and research techniques. Writing exercises, peer reviews and in-class discussions are designed to improve your narrative and multimedia storytelling. 
• Magazine Workshop: Story conferences, brainstorm/strategy sessions and weekly copy quizzes under the supervision of the editor-in-chief and editorial staff. Student writers, editors, visual storytellers and multimedia producers work together to edit, fact-check and produce the online and print editions of the magazine. 

BRING YOUR LAPTOP TO EVERY CLASS OR CHECK ONE OUT FROM ATUS!

Letter from Editor in Chief Ray Garcia

When I was reflecting on my experiences in journalism thus far, I kept coming back to what I felt made stories both important and compelling — the people at the heart of it all. No matter the topic or situation, there is something inherently captivating about the human experience that it almost always drives a component of the story. 

Otherwise, why would our readers care? Why would we care?

We will be creating the issue for Winter 2020. In thinking about the general gloomy atmosphere, I don’t want our edition to weigh heavily on our readers. Yes, I want our issue to be influential and I want it to be genuine, but there are other ways to do that. The archetype superhero is presented as this perfect being, but the realities we face are seldom that simple. 

And so, I felt SUPERHUMAN was the perfect balance between the two worlds. It reminds me of how powerful our voices are. It reminds me of the incredible things people are doing to make our world a better place. It also reminds me that humans are flawed and rarely have a perfect story to tell. 

By no means does this imply that we are going to lose sight of our ethical responsibilities. Sometimes people experience hardship and tragedy; our lives are multifaceted in that way. Although these aspects may be important to a piece, they shouldn’t define it. Let me be clear in that no matter how cartoon-ish our theme is, we will take these stories seriously and keep our sources at the forefront of our care. 

SUPERHUMAN is all about transcending our limitations and overcoming adversity. The word is broad enough to give you all the opportunity to report on any topic or beat that you’re passionate about, but it’s specific enough to keep people at the focus. Whether we have newsy stories on community-based activism or feature pieces about local business owners, I want our issue of Klipsun to feel lively.

______________________________________________________________________________

How Klipsun Works

Writing in a multimedia environment requires the right tools: For this class, all story assignments are composed in draft form on the social media/publishing platform Medium.com  Medium is a user-friendly publishing and social media tool, developed by Twitter,  that makes it easy to create multimedia stories. Read more about it here.

Narrative storytelling is at the heart of the writing experience. Rewriting is key: Each assignment is produced in three drafts and each story is expected to significantly improve over time. 

Assignments are loosely grouped in these content categories:       

Ideas/Issues: News, environment, science, education, economics, politics, work, professions

Body/Mind/Spirit: Health, medicine, athletics, adventure, travel, psychology, faith, spirituality

Culture/Lifestyle: Arts, crafts, theatre, history, music, pop culture, ethnicity, food, agriculture

Writing assignments and expectations:

• Two rounds of query letters to Klipsun editors pitching your best story ideas, based on the content categories above.
• Three stories, executed in three drafts:
  • A first draft, graded by your faculty advisor and evaluated by Klipsun editors
    
  • An ungraded second draft with peer reviews. Second drafts are evaluated by your story editor, photo editor or multimedia editor 
  • A final draft, graded by your faculty advisor and evaluated by Klipsun editors
• Ungraded in-class writing exercises
• Graded reading assignments and study questions
• Graded  multiple-choice copy quizzes
• Fact-checking and web production duties, supervised by Klipsun editors
• Professionalism: Class attendance + your ability to perform in a professional publication environment, evaluated by Klipsun editors

__________________________________________________________________________________

Pitch Letters/Story Assignments:

Round 1 (180 points)

• 1 long-form story, (1500-2000 words) produced over 6 weeks (120 points)
• 1 medium story (800 words)  produced over four weeks OR one multimedia piece/podcast  produced over six weeks (60 points)

Round 2 (60 points)

Choose one of these two options, produced over three weeks

• An open letter  (500-700 words)
• An essay, review or opinion piece (500-700 words) 

Total storytelling score: 240 points

Professionalism:  50 points

Class attendance, overall quality of writing, ability to meet deadlines, coordination with photographers and editors, fact-checking, responding to feedback and following editorial guidance.  This grade is determined by your attendance record and the assessment of the EIC and staff.

 How Grading Works

Storytelling excellence is at the core of all work produced for Klipsun. Our journalism is guided by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, the AP Stylebook and Klipsun Inclusive Language Guide. All work submitted for publication is expected to be original to this class.

 The faculty advisor is your writing coach: She evaluates your work, gives suggestions for improvement and determines your final grades.

The Editor-in-Chief and editorial staff  evaluate each story draft and provide guidance to writers as the rewriting and editing process progresses. Klipsun editors choose which stories merit publication on the web and in print.  

 Grades for Klipsun contributors are based on the following criteria:

• Thorough and ethical reporting, quality writing and innovative storytelling techniques. A rubric is attached to each assignment.
• Willingness to accept editorial guidance and substantially  improve your work through multiple drafts
• Teamwork and participation in the editing, fact-checking and production process
• Communication with Klipsun editorial staff

Story Assignments

 Each assignment calls for:

• A creative title and storyline, which express the scope and content of the story, 
• Thoroughly reported and researched story that adheres to the rules of grammar and AP style and demonstrates an awareness of how to write effectively in a digital environment.
• A source list with contact information to facilitate fact-checking
• Online elements: links, photos, videos, maps, charts seamlessly incorporated into your narrative.
• For text stories, copy/paste your Medium.com draft: email to the EIC AND upload to Canvas for grading. Be sure to include a link to your Medium.com draft so we can check the integrity of your links and multimedia elements. 
• For multimedia stories or podcasts, email links to YouTube or SoundCloud to the EIC/Multimedia Editor and post those links to Canvas for grading.  Do not submit .mov files or audio files directly!

Academic Honesty, Integrity and Civility

All work should be original to this course and executed according to Western Washington University's policies on  academic integrity, civility and religious holidays.  Respect deadlines: Late story and reading assignments will be graded down. Interactions in class and in the Klipsun office should be respectful and inclusive.  Failure to comply with university policies on academic integrity and civility could result in a substantially lowered or failing grade.