COM445L-201
SPORTS REPORTING
Wednesday, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
Lowell Thomas 209
Instructor: Pete Colaizzo
Office: McCann Recreation
Center
Office
hours:
TBA, call or email for details
Phone: 845 309 3640
Email: runhed246@hotmail.com
Blog: coachpetesclass.blogspot.com
Course overview and description: This course is designed to broaden
and deepen the student’s understanding of sports reporting and to sharpen and
develop the student’s writing skills. Students will cover as many live sporting
events as possible and learn to write in all aspects and styles of sports
journalism. In addition, students will be expected to read as much up-to-date
and current sports journalism -- both in print and online. The more you read,
the better you write. This is NOT a lecture course; it is a workshop course.
Much of the class time will be devoted to discussing professional writing,
current events in sports journalism and most especially working on writing
assignments -- and working on ways to improve your writing and your reporting
skills. In-class writing assignments will be the norm. Again, there will be
little actual lecturing in this course.
Course text requirements: The only required text for the
class is the Associated Press Stylebook. All students will be expected to know
and follow the AP Stylebook. Again, to reiterate: Knowledge and adherence to
AP Style is crucial to success in this class. Note that AP style differs
from MLA and other college-based writing style guides. The instructor, who has
worked in the daily journalism profession for 25 years, will guide the students
through the nuances of the AP Stylebook. But
it is the responsibility of the student to learn and absorb AP style. The
instructor will pay special attention to the adherence to AP Style! In
addition, all students will be required to have some sort of audio recording
device (ones on iPods are sufficient) in order to properly execute interviews
for the class.
Outcomes:
At the end of this course, the student will be able to:
1—Cover live
sporting events and write stories based on live event coverage
2—Prepare for
and conduct interviews both for live sports events as well as in-depth
enterprise features, profiles, previews and sidebars
3—Learn to
work and write under real deadline pressure (both in and out of the classroom)
4—Read copious
amounts of sports journalism, and write reviews and critiques of others’ works
– both inside and out of the classroom setting
5—Conduct
“peer editing” in class, where students will edit and critique other students’
work
6—Have a
greater understanding of the wide range of topics and issues addressed by
sports journalists in the 21st Century
Attendance policy: Because this is an evening class with limited class
sessions, attendance and participation
in EVERY class section is required and expected. There will be NO unexcused
absences allowed. ANY UNEXCUSED ABSENCE WILL RESULT IN AN IMMEDIATE DEDUCTION
IN THE FINAL LETTER GRADE. The only excused absences: 1. Severe illness
accompanied by a medical professional’s note; 2. Death in the family; 3.
Approved absences due to away athletic team travel.
Outcomes assessment: Because this is a workshop class intended to hone and
improve writing skills, the bulk of the work done for this class will be in
written form – articles, features, profiles and critique papers. The breakdown
of the final grade will be calculated as follows:
50 percent:
Event coverage (5 to 6 articles) and in-class writing assignments. This will
include a minimum of 5 event coverage stories, all of which must be generated
from live coverage and as many as 2 (no more) that can be in the form of
profile, feature or preview stories. The minimum number of stories is 5. Any
stories above and beyond the 5 stories will be accepted and counted as “extra
credit.” In addition, the first two article assignments can be submitted
multiple times for revisions. New for 2012: Two in-depth, in-class writing
assignments will be graded and considered part of the event-coverage grade for
the course.
25 percent:
Sports journalism readings/critiques, class participation, class attendance and
in-class writing assignments. The student will be required to write eight (8)
brief critiques and reviews of print or online sports journalists in action.
Any critiques or reviews above and beyond the 8 will be accepted as “extra
credit.”
25 percent:
Final project. This will consist of an in-depth feature that can be a database
investigative piece, a controversial topic or a multilayered (and
multi-sourced) profile. The final topic and final source list must be approved
in advance by the instructor. A minimum of six (6) sources are required for
this article. In addition, there must be a sidebar element to accompany this
story.
Academic integrity/honor code: As college students, you are
expected to adhere to a code of academic honesty and integrity. In other words,
you are expected to submit your own work. While I do encourage collaboration
and assistance, I also know that one can distinguish between assistance and
cheating. Plagiarism will not be allowed
nor tolerated. In addition, falsifying of interviews and sources will result in
an immediate failure for that assignment, and possible failure of the class.
In the world of sports media and print/online journalism, plagiarizing another
person’s work – or completely fabricating facts and quotes -- is of the highest
offense. It typically will cost someone their job and maybe their career. Any
student that plagiarizes an article (which I am confident will NOT happen)
will suffer SEVERE consequences, likely including failure of the course.
Critiques and reviews of print or Internet sports
journalism: Each
student will be required to read and write a total of eight (6) article
critiques. Here is the format for the article critiques …
Title of article and online link: Headline and link
Why you chose this article: One paragraph on why you chose
this article
Pros:
List at least three things you liked about the article
Cons:
List at least one (or more) things you think could have made this article
better.
Event coverage schedule: It is your responsibility to come
up with a comprehensive event coverage schedule and a list of story ideas for
your eight articles.
Event stories:
Each story must include a minimum of 2 to 3 interviewed sources, must have a
clearly written and creative introduction (lead) and must strictly adhere to
Associated Press style. Articles will be graded primarily on these
requirements. In-class graded assignments will follow the same grading rubric
as the event-story assignments.
Course outline and tentative deadlines
(subject to change …)
August 29:
Introductions, syllabus, explanation of assignments
September 5:
Critique #1 is due
September 12:
Event coverage schedule is due
September 19:
Critique #2 is due
September 26:
In-class writing assignment (graded) #1
October 3:
Critique #3 is due
October 10:
Article #1 is due
October 17:
Critique #4 is due
October 24:
Article #2 is due; FINAL TOPIC IS DUE
October 31:
In-class writing assignment (graded) #2
November 7:
Article #3 is due
November 14:
Critique #5 is due; Final topic source list is due
November 21:
NO CLASS. THANKSGIVING BREAK.
November 28:
Critique #6 is due; Article #4 is due
December 5:
Article #5 is due
December 12:
Final project is due
Event coverage ideas, Marist
athletic teams:
--Football
--Volleyball
--Men’s soccer
--Women’s
soccer
--Men’s
basketball
--Women’s
basketball
--Men’s
swimming and diving
--Women’s
swimming and diving
--Men’s and
women’s cross country and track
--Club sports
at the discretion of the instructor
Other event coverage ideas:
--Local
sporting events in the mid-Hudson area
--Sporting
events (recreational, high school, etc.) in your hometown area
REMINDER: COURSE
BLOG is coachpetesclass.blogspot.com
