A weblog for Pete Ellertsen's mass communications students at Benedictine University Springfield.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

COMM 337: Feature story assignment, writer's guidelines

Your feature story assignment comes from our syllabus, which stipulates:
VI. COURSE REQUIREMENTS ... C. Written Assignments.
(1) Students will write a 1,500- to 2,000-word article on a current political, social, cultural or artistic issue, research potential markets for it and write a one-page query letter tailored to a specific market.
It is designed to accomplish the following:
Course Goals: Students will understand the techniques, attitudes, values and craft agenda of professional writers, and practice their mastery of the craft by preparing a publishable article and by publishing their analysis of current published writing in a Web log of their own creation.
That's all pretty general, though. So here are the specifics of the assignment.

Feature story

Due in class the week of Nov. 28-Dec. 1. Best to give me a hard copy and email me a backup copy.
Length: At least 1,500 words
Format: Microsoft Word, double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman type
Language: English
Other than that, I don't much care about format. It's a publishable article, so you want to edit it for spelling and grammar. (An error in either one is a guaranteed way to get your article deposited in the floor-level circular file and used to line cat litter boxes or paper-train puppies. Right?) Email it to me, and save a copy to your hard drive.

But I do care about how you report it. Good writing is based on good reporting, and that's why I've been stressing interviews when I talk about the feature story. There's no magic number, but professional like to see at least three separate people interviewed. So if you want a magic number, three's a good one.

Query letter

Email it to me at the same time as your story.
Length: 1 page, including your return address, editor's inside address and signature line
Format: Standard business letter, single-spaced, block paragraphs. Use a conservative typeface like Times New Roman, Arial or Verdana.
Language: Seriously, here's where you do your best writing. It's a sales pitch, and you're showing what you can do.
Address it to somebody specific. By name. You can find a market by searching the All Freelance Writing.com directory at http://allfreelancewriting.com/writers-markets/, or you can address the query to me. I used to be the faculty adviser to a campus magazine called The Sleepy Weasel, and in the spring I'll be working with students in COMM 353 (advanced seminar) on a magazine editing project. Tentative plans are to work with stories written by students; if so, we'll be looking for stories.

If you take that option, there are some things in the 2009 issue of the Sleepy Weasel that will help you know what I'm looking for in student writing.


The first is the editor's note headlined "Weasel words: Hickory dickory … mission in action." (I wasn't the editor, I was the faculty adviser. But that made me a de facto procudtion manager.) Among other things, it has the mission statement:
The Sleepy Weasel is a campus magazine of the arts and public affairs published by students and faculty of Springfield College and Benedictine University [...]. The Weasel seeks to highlight written and artistic work by SC/BU students, both in and out of class, and to help promote a sense of community on campus by providing a voice for the creative work of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others in the Springfield-Benedictine community.
As you probably know, I am not cynical about mission statements.

The editor's de facto production manager's note is near the top of the magazine - which is all in one long HTML document. If you scroll down to the end, you'll find a an article "Information, Links, and Personal Thoughts on Freelance Writing" by Lauren Burke.

Among other things, she says:
Don’t underestimate the willingness of people to share information.

From the forensic artist I met when I accidentally interrupted a law-enforcement convention to the Klezmer music-playing entomologist I bumped into in a junk shop while on vacation, I’m learning that people will really open themselves up when you’re interested.

I have found the same to be true when it comes to contacting authors. If you have a favorite author or writer, send fan mail. Seriously. I can’t believe these people even open their mail, let alone write back to lowly peons like myself. BUT THEY DO.

One guy was totally pumped about giving me advice on how to land a book contract. My favorite author/illustrator of all time (Lauren Child, UK), just wrote me back a year and a half after I had sent her a letter. My letter got lost; she recently found it, and sent back a nice little reply with doodles and an offer to write again. That is commitment.

Seriously, people, it doesn’t hurt to try!
Good advice. Here's some more:
Rejections.

Are like poop. They happen. It’s a normal part of life, not anything to dwell on. Don’t let the thought of rejections keep you from making submissions.

Besides, there is always that editor who balances out others’ rejections by sending Christmas cards.
All of this is worth reading even if you're not querying me.

A shameless sales pitch: If you're interested in COMM 353, here's the course description:
COMM-353 (3). Advanced Seminar in Writing, Editing and Page Design for Publications. In this seminar, students work on a major publications project, engage in critical reading of media content, discuss writing, editing and page design strategies, have drafts of their work critiqued in class, and develop a professional portfolio of the work. Prerequisite: COMM-150, COMM-207, COMM-208 and COMM-209.
Plans are still tentative, but I envision it as a hands-on course for students in Writing and Publishing, and Communication Arts students as well, with an emphasis on how to edit something to bring out the writer's voice. Texts are: Carol Fisher Saller, The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (U. of Chicago, 2009); and (2) James Thurber, The Years with Ross (ed. Adam Gopnik, HarperCollins Perennial Classics edition, 2001).

13 comments:

Allie Cat 2007 said...

Here are the first three sentences of my feature article.

Cindy Ladage, a native of Virden, is the outreach coordinator for the radon program at Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA). She shares information regarding radon, a radioactive gas that causes lung cancer to the public. It is rated as the second most leading cause of lung cancer and is very deadly.

Stacie Taylor said...

Poetry began as a part of an oral tradition, before pen and paper—or keyboards and keys— imposed their reign over society.

Tbock said...

Dean Williams a man who is known for his photographic works, a man who has worked on many Hollywood sets. Where is he from you ask? Springfield, Illinois yes, you read that right Dean was born and raised in Springfield Illinois.

Kris10 said...

September 11, 2001 was a day the world stopped turning for the United States of America. In the thousands that died that day only 19 deserved to die. Mohamed Atta, Waleed Al-Shehri, Wail Al-Shehri, Abdulaziz al-Omari , and Satam Al-Suqami are six of the nineteen that earned to die. The families that endured pain and sorrow because of the hijackers have been scarred for life.

Kaitlyn Keen said...

Home is where the hear is; and Springfield, IL is just that for Margaret Keen. She has called Springfield her home town for eighty-four years now. The times have changed, along with her location and environment, the people, and the way the city runs. She has been within the midst of everything and her memory may be one that the local politicians, her neighbors, and family members should be envious of; she has not forgotten a thing about her city.

C. Ushman said...

Within the past decade at least, the state of Illinois has had some political turmoil with the past and recent governors of Illinois. Former Governor George Ryan was in illegal sale activity of government licenses, contracts and leases by state employees during his prior service as Secretary of State. Ryan has also been prosecuted for his crimes, sent to a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, but he was release due to the recent lost of his wife, Lura Lynn Ryan, due to a battle with cancer.

smcpherson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
smcpherson said...

Timothy Baker Jr. graduated from Western Illinois University in May of 2009. He started applying for jobs right after graduation. It's been well over a year since graduation and he has yet to find a job that utilizes his degree. This seems to be a common occurrence among recent graduates.

Dylanh14 said...

“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. They are made just like anything else, through hard work. That’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve our goal or any goal” Vince Lombardi, coach of the Green Bay Packers. Coach Steve Torricelli lives this quote, he is a leader to many and a stranger to few.

irdubbz said...

Our education system has failed. Thousands of college students graduate every year with a mammoth amount of money owed and no hope in finding work. What can they do? Who can they turn to?
Lindleigh graduated college eight months ago. Soon thereafter, she sought professional help in creating a competitive résumé. She has seen over fifty notices of rejection. What is she supposed to do?
Hopes are dashed as thousands of college graduates struggle to find work. America is a debt ridden country, and students feel the brunt first.

RSeaver said...

1. Budget cuts caused many state workers to lose their jobs in 2007. State workers and small business owners everywhere are feeling the effects of a struggling economy. Almost no one can say that they have not been affected in the recent years.
2. In the current economic crisis, many are struggling. According to the Illinois Department of Numbers, The unemployment rate is was 7.5 as of September 2011. It peaked in January of 2008 at 8.7.

kdowis said...

First three sentences of my feature article!

When the average person thinks of law enforcement, they imagine being pulled over for speeding or SWAT teams busting drug smugglers, but for Clay Wesley Dowis it's so much more than that. Law enforcement represents a calling, and a desire to serve ones community in order to keep people safe.

jaylen watkins said...

The features for the assignment is well described.


Sales letter

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About Me

Springfield (Ill.), United States
I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home.