COMM 353 - midterm test - due Feb. 23

PLEASE NOTE: (1) This draft of the midterm is substantially revised from what I posted earlier; and (2) I have gone back and stricken Sunday's version, so this is the "official" midterm. -- pe

Below are three essay questions – one worth fifty (50) points out of a hundred, and two shorter essays worth 25 points each. Please write at least two pages double-spaced (500 words) on the 50-point essay and at least one page (250 words) on each of the 25-point short essays. Use plenty of detail from your reading in the textbook, the internet and handouts I have given you, as well as class discussion, to back up the points you make. Your grade will depend both on your analysis of the broad trends I ask about, and on the specific detail you cite in support of the points you make. I am primarily interested in the specific factual arguments you make to support your points. So be specific. Remember: An unsupported generalization is sudden death in college-level writing.

1. Main essay (50 points). In his college textbook "Newsroom Management: A Guide to Theory and Practice" (1991), Robert A. Giles says, "Working in the newsroom is a highly social process, involving much discussion, challenge, give-and-take, and many questions in the sometimes fractious, sometimes agonizing process of deciding how to play the day's news. Contact between boss and worker is routine, a natural part of an environment in which aggressive, independent-minded individuals honor both teamwork and disagreement ." To what degree is the process of writing, editing and publishing collaborative? How do Carol Saller of the University of Chicago Press and Nancy Brigham of the United Auto Workers advise editors to foster creativity on the part of writers and give it direction? Is it possible, in your opinion, to do both at the same time? How can editors strike a balance between the need for creativity and direction?

2A. Short essay (25 points). In “How to Do Leaflets, Newsletters and Newspapers,” Nancy Brigham of the UAW says in planning a publication, editors should: “Work backwards.” She adds, “Start with the date the paper must appear and then allow enough time for each process, from the printing through the paste-up, layout, typesetting, editing, writing and research or interviewing.” At what stage in the process does she suggest deciding on things like typeface, the size of body type and headlines, the placement of columns and pictures, and use of the Oxford comma? Why? What does she mean by working backward? Why does she advise doing it that way? How much, in your experience, have computers changed the planning process from what she describes?

2B. Self-reflective essay (25 points). What have you learned about COMM 353 so far that you didn’t know before? Consider what you knew at the beginning of the course and what you know now. What point or points stand out most clearly to you? What points are still confusing? In answering this question, please feel free to look at the “Tip Sheet on Writing a Reflective Essay” linked to my faculty webpage. In grading the essay, I will evaluate the relevance of your discussion to the main goals and objectives of the course; the detail you cite to support or illustrate your points; and the connections you make.