Final Project

Part 1: Revision Or Broadcast

Option A: Revision of a Previously Submitted Piece to Publishable Quality

Using my comments, revise a piece to publishable quality. Please see me if you do not have enough commentary or are not sure how to do this. It's a good idea to see me before you submit the final draft so that I can give you more feedback to do an even better job. It is perfectly okay to get feedback from peers or your parents or other trusted source. If you do so, you must submit the draft the person has written on along with the final draft so that I can see what kind of suggestions the person has given you and that he or she wasn't re-writing your paper for you.

For the ambitious: Option B: A Broadcast News Script with explanation, visuals, etc.

Grading

Your revised piece will receive two grades:

1. Quality of piece based on the journalistic qualities required for the particular assignment (see me if you would like a(nother) copy of a particular grading rubric). Important note: for most people the biggest weakness was using source information and attribution, which in turn affects a number of other categories. Properly citing sources is extremely important in journalism and will impact your grade significantly. See the link and see me with further questions.
2. Revisions: the extent to which you have made the changes I asked you to make.

Part 2: Reflective Piece

See this Powerpoint presentation to guide you through writing this essay.

Grading:

This essay will be weighted more heavily than the revision/broadcast news since it covers all you've learned this year. I am looking for you to show that you have in fact been paying attention and thinking about the complex issues we've brought up over the semester, as well as considering what all this means for you both as a writer and a consumer of the media. I will be grading the paper first to see if all parts are addressed, next on level of detail, showing understanding of concepts, thoughtfulness, and quality of analysis. Top papers will also show the writers' voices. Minimally the essays should be correctly formatted and spell-checked. Higher level papers should be well proofread with a minimum of errors. Top papers will read smoothly and language will flow well, avoiding awkward or redundant sentences. These top papers will show what the writers have learned about writing in the essay itself. Obviously, writing a top paper will take more time!

Please print out the grading rubric to make sure you've covered everything.