OPINION WRITING
JOURNALISM 145A
SPRING 2015
Professor: Eileen McNamara
Time: Tuesday and Friday 12:30 p.m.- 1:50 pm
Place: 115 Brown
Office Hours: Tuesday and Friday 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., 11 a.m.-noon and by appointment
Office: 321 Brown
Telephone: 781-736-3049 (Office), 781-929-1934 (Cell)
e-mail:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Everyone has opinions. Not everyone is adept at expressing them. This is a course in the theory and practice of opinion writing. We will read and analyze the best practitioners of the craft, past and present. Students will write opinion pieces, learning the crucial relationship between good reporting and persuasive writing. We will experiment with style and voice and sharpenour research and analytical skills by tackling a broad range of topics, serious and whimsical. This class will function as seminar and writing workshop.
REQUIREMENTS:
This is no less a reading intensive than a Writing Intensive course. Students must come to class armed with ideas. That will require athorough knowledge of current events. In order to participate in discussions, students must read assigned material prior to class, including the front pages, editorial and op-ed pages of The Justice, The Hoot, The Boston Globe and The New York Times.I hope you with read more broadly than that. Attendance is mandatory. Students will write every week, producing original work or critiquing the work of others.Columns are to be typed, double-spaced, posted on LATTE by noon on Thursday to be shared with the class and submitted to the instructor on paper (notby e-mail) on Friday. Because this is a deadline business, late columns will not be accepted.Re-writes, stapled to the original, are due one week after an edited column is returned. By 9 p.m.each Sunday, students must post a response on LATTE to one or more of that week’s assigned readings. Classmates should read one another’s posts to enrich our discussion on Tuesday. Students on Sunday by 9 p.m. also should feel free to post on LATTE a recently published column that has impressed them, positively or negatively, with a brief explanation why. The class will read and respond to that column on LATTE by noon on Monday. Please turn off all electronic devices before class.
GRADING:
Grades will be based 80% on the quality of your written work (that includes grammar, spelling, punctuation and adherence to AP Style in addition to research, logic, clarity, tone and style) and 20%on class attendance and participation. Grades will reflect missed classes and factual or grammatical errors, underscoring the importance of attending class, proof reading and fact checking.Improvement will be rewarded. Students should inform me by e-mail in advance of absences for health reasons or family emergencies.
REQUIRED READING:
The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
The AP Stylebook
Columns, editorials and essays posted on LATTE ordistributed in class. Readings will be added as the semester progresses so check our LATTE page regularly.
SUGGESTED READING:
On Writing Well, by William Zinsser
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
On Writing, by Stephen King
ASSIGNMENTS: The first three graded writing assignments (letter to the editor, editorial and observer column) will be required of all students. Expect to revise your work. After the Winter Break, you must inform me of your choice of three from the next six categories (Storyteller, Pundit, Scold, Diarist, Critic, Wit) and turn in your columns on the relevant due dates.All students must write a final column, on a topic and in a style and tone of their choosing, to be turned in on the final day of class.This is journalism – do not ask for deadline extensions.
Letter to the Editor, due Jan. 30
Editorial, due Feb. 6
The Observer, due Feb. 13
The Storyteller, due Feb. 27
The Pundit, due March 6
The Scold, due March 13
The Diarist, due March 20
The Critic, due March 31
The Wit, due April 17
The Philosopher, due April 21
Columnist’s Choice, due April 28
ACCOMODATIONS: If you are a student who needs academic accomodations because of a documented disability, please contact me and present your letter of accomodation as soon as possible. If you have questions about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations, you should contact Beth Rodgers-Kay in Academic Services (x6-3470 or .)Letters of accomodation should be presented at the start of the semester to ensure provision of accommodations. Accommodationscannot be granted retroactively.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: You are expected to be honest in all your academic work. The University policy on academic honesty is section 5 of the Rights and Responsibilities handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. If you have any questions, please ask.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
January 13-16: Introduction
Who cares what you think?If everyone has an opinion, why doesn’t every opinion command our attention? Course overview.
Reading for Friday: On LATTE and handouts.
January 20-23: On Writing Well
All writing is hard work; opinion writing is harder still because of the popular misconception that it is easy.
Reading:On LATTE and handouts.
January 27-30: Letters to the Editor
Having an opinion is one thing. Distilling an argument into 150 concise, well-chosen words is a test of the clarity of your thinking.
Reading:On LATTE and handouts.
February 3-6: Editorials
An editorial is the official position of a publication on an issue of public importance. (Think “Nixon Must Resign” or “Close Guantanamo.”) An editorial board determines a position after often-heated discussion. We will form such a board, choose and debate an issue and write an editorial of 400 words.
Reading:On LATTE and handouts.
February 10-13: The Observer
Effective writing begins with careful observation. We consider what it takes to see the significant in the smallest events and to record the telling details that bring a scene to life.
Reading:On LATTE and handouts.
February 17-20: WINTER BREAK
February 24-27: The Storyteller
Sometimes a writer just needs to get out of the way (after armloads of reporting) and let the story tell itself.
Reading: On LATTE and handouts.
March 3-6: The Pundit
More than most opinion writers, political and sports columnists risk getting it really wrong or, sometimes, exactly right. Reading: On LATTE and handouts.
March 10-13: The Scold
Outrage is the fuel that fires more than a few opinion writers. We consider the difference between ranting and railing.
Reading: On LATTE and handouts.
March 17-20: The Diarist
First person columns - often disguised as second or third person columns - allow the writer to mine personal experience for universal truth (a.k.a. how to exploit your friends and family in service of your brilliant career.)
Reading: On LATTE and handouts.
March 24-27-31 The Critic
Criticism is the first cousin of commentary. It is not enough to like a movie or to hate a book. The critic brings knowledge and perspective. Research.Research. Research.
Reading:On LATTE and handouts.
April 3-7-10: Spring Break
April 14-17: The Wit
Humor and satire are the most difficult forms of essay writing and the form most often attempted by the least talented writers. Let’s proceed with caution.
Reading:On LATTE and handouts.
April 21-24: The Philosopher
“Race,”“Democracy,”“the Meaning of Life”- now and again a columnist feels compelled to address the “big” topics. Take a shot.
Reading: On LATTE and handouts.
April 28: Summing Up
As a final assignment, students will write a column on a topic of their own choosing. Please, bring a copy of the best column you think you have written this semester to class.