• 1: Sit Down and Write
• 2: Basic Tools of Writing
• 3: Style and the Stylebook
• 4: Writing in the Media Environment
• 5: Writing for Print
• 6: Writing for the Web
• 7: Writing for Broadcast
• 8: Writing Advertising Copy
• 9: Writing for Public Relations
• 10: The Writer and the Law

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• First you must teach those things that make each form of the media distinct.

• Second, you must emphasize the commonalities that all media share.
  

Each medium presents distinct formats and forms that all professionals should appreciate. One goal of this book is to give our students that appreciation. That is tough to do if the students are allowed to feel that understanding each form as distinct means that one form has no relevance to the others.

Good writing in all forms is easily recognizable. Achieving mastery in writing depends upon the willingness of the student to learn. But student attitude alone is never sufficient. Just as the techniques of good writing can be learned through diligence and application, there is a corollary emphasis on the techniques of teaching those skills. Teaching writing takes skill, patience, intelligence, and hard work. Much of the material included here is drawn from two decades of experience teaching writing courses and in conducting writing workshops for professional groups.

If you have any comments, suggestions or corrections, please let us hear from you. Contact me directly by writing to Department of Mass Communication, Box 947, Emory and Henry College, Emory, VA 24327, or through my email address, jstovall at ehc.edu. I am always interested in your comments about this web site, the text itself, and the way you tackle the difficult business of teaching writing.

Courses using Writing for the Mass Media

Writing for the Mass Media has been used in many courses, schools and universities during its publication life. The following are links to a few of those courses.

Bethel University, Writing for the Media (COM 352), Scott Sochay

University of South Carolina, Mass Media Writing for Advertising and Public Relations Majors (Journalism 202), Hugh Munn (This is a PDF file.)

Fulton Montgomery Community College, Writing for the Mass Media (CO181), James Hinkle

Indiana University, Writing for the Mass Media (Journalism C327), Catherine Dvorak (This is a PDF file.)

Emory and Henry College, Writing for the Media (COM201), Jim Stovall

Teaching tips and cool ideas

This section contains a number of ideas for classroom activities and discussion starters that may help in making the points about journalism with your students. We are always looking to add to this section so if you've done something that works -- or thought of something you'd like to try -- share it with us.

Notes on accuracy. The first lesson that beginning journalism students should learn is they are obligated to present accurate information to their audience. Many of the procedures of journalism are directed toward achieving accuracy. Editing students need to be reminded of this goal, too. It is the editor's job to ensure accuracy. JPOF.com contains a set lecture/discussion notes that I use for my editing class when talking with them about accuracy and how to achieve it.

Grading writing assignments. For quite a number of years I taught the introductory writing course at the University of Alabama, the infamous Mass Communication 102. I worked with seven or eight graduate teaching assistants each semester, and in our weekly meetings we talked a lot about grading. This memo (which is located on JPROF.com) to them grew out of those discussions several years ago. It outlines some of the considerations writing teachers should give when awarding grades.

Teaching online journalism resources. Mindy McAdams, who is quickly reaching the status of a guru of online journalism, has put together an exceptional list of teaching resources for those who want to conduct courses or units on online journalism. She did this for the Online Journalism Review.

Writing with verbs. Most good writing teachers stress the power and importance of verbs – often to skeptical students. Verbs are the engines of the language and have far more descriptive power than adjectives or adverbs. That’s where the skepticism comes in. Students interested in writing develop a belief that using good adjectives and adverbs will enhance their writing. Verbs are simply aids in the process. Here’s an exercise that you can do with your students that might turn their thinking around.

This exercise only a takes a few minutes and can be a lot of fun. (More at JPROF.com)

Note: Roy Peter Clark has a good article on the Poynter web site about writing with verbs.

Attacking wordiness. Most of the editing students I have taught over the last three decades share this trait: they are reluctant to change anything in an editing exercise, even when it is obviously wrong. Getting them to where they will correct grammar, spelling and style errors in the first step. But to be good editors, of course, they must go far beyond this. They must learn to recognize and attacking wordiness – the heart disease of good writing. Here are some lecture/discussion notes about what to tell editing students about wordiness – how to recognize the symptoms and cure the disease.