Rural Liberal Arts College Engl 207 Albion Colleg

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Rural Liberal Arts College Engl 207 Albion Colleg

Project Overview

One of the key concepts of journalism is: “Localize the global; globalize the local.” Readers prefer to consume news content that is LOCAL to them and has a clear, direct impact on their lives. Even NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL stories can feel local when journalists make an effort to find a local angle or connection.

This project asks us to examine a hyper-local community news publication — a campus newspaper. Campus communities have specific commonalities and shared knowledge, and at a small, rural liberal arts college like Albion, their demographics tend to cluster differently than a larger community like a town, county, or city. So for this project, we will consider the hyper-local news service and localization techniques of a campus newspaper.

In short, our OBJECTIVES for this assignment are:

  1. To closely evaluate a hyper-local news publication centered on a single topic in order to better understand how news is created, written, and distributed within a single community.
  2. To think critically about the particular challenges and impacts of a CAMPUS news source, which may differ from the regional, national and international news we might be more familiar with.

USE THE Albion College Pleiad as your subject!! :

Here’s the links you may use!

And, second, what is a significant topic that you want to focus on? For this project to work best, you will want to select a topic that spans a long time period and is likely to appear in the campus news source often.

THE TOPIC IS MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES IN THE ALBION PLEIAD!!!!!!!!

STEPS

(1)

you should begin your research, using the publication’s archives to locate and review several examples of stories on your selected topic. You will need to locate a MINIMUM of SIX ARTICLES relating to your topic; they may be from a variety of sections of the publication.

Be sure to copy the links of any stories you choose and/or print the screen as a PDF, so that you can refer back to the stories throughout the project and share them with me, too.

(2)

After the above research, you will write a 3- to 4-page academic reflection paper (in paragraphs, not Q&A format) considering the following prompts:

(A) What are several similarities, differences, and/or trends that you noticed in reviewing several articles from the same publication about a particular topic? Why do you think the articles are similar or different in these ways?

(B) What observations can you make about the successful (or unsuccessful) practice of journalistic principles within these specific articles — consider, for instance, story structure, language, use of interviews/quotes, or style (e.g. AP style)? How would you characterize the way this campus publication engages and relates to its hyper-local audience using the journalism practices we’ve discussed in class?

(C) What do you believe is the role of a campus newspaper, based on the articles you’ve reviewed? Why are campus news publications important for campus communities?

(D) What are some of the challenges you can identify, considering this set of specific articles, for student-journalists covering campus news? These challenges may be practical, ethical, professional, or philosophical: The core question is what makes campus journalism challenging?

Be specific, give examples, and use course terminology as you write about specific attributes of the articles in question. Use the selected stories and specific details from those stories to reinforce and amplify your reflections. Identify your sources clearly and directly; use accurate and responsible forms of quotation (direct or indirect) with attribution. Please be in touch if you have questions about how to do so.

You do NOT need to compare and contrast every article to every other article; feel free to form logical groupings of articles and make connections among them.

You are welcome to add further insights not explicitly requested in the above prompts, as long as you clearly and concretely answer these questions first. Do your best to think carefully about what you’re learning about the news-writing process and what you’re recognizing in yourself and others.

(3)

Include, after the paper, an appendix or references section, please provide a brief annotated list of the six or more articles that facilitated your analysis. This means you will provide all identifying information and a short description of EACH article. This can be in a list format, and it should be efficient, consistent, well-edited, and easy to read.

Provide, at a minimum, the following details about EACH article:

  • Headline
  • Byline (author’s name)
  • Date
  • Publication title and location (city, state)
  • Section of the publication (e.g. news, features, opinions, sports)
  • One- to three-sentence summary of the article in your own words
  • One- to three-sentence commentary on the insights you gained from the article (what you noticed about the article or why you selected this article)
  • Link to the original article OR copy of the complete article in PDF or image format

This section is IN ADDITION to the reflection paper of Step 3, and there is no length limit (minimum or maximum). Please keep your annotations efficient and focused, and please be sure that I will have access to the full text of each article you selected. You do not need to write more formal citations; these brief annotations will suffice.

SUBMISSION

This is a 3- to 4-page academic paper plus annotated list of articles, formatted with 10- or 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and double line spacing. You may use EITHER indented paragraphs or a blank line space between paragraphs (not both). Include a page-one header that includes your name, an accurate date (of submission), the assignment title, and course title; you do not need to title the paper itself, though you may do so if you prefer. Organize your content thoughtfully and proofread the final paper carefully.

With only 3 to 4 pages of writing, you may have to make tough decisions about what to include — it is likely that not every idea will fit. Be thoughtful, strategic, and mindful of the assignment guidelines.