Don’t forget about your visit with me on either Tuesday, Nov. 4, or Thursday, Nov. 6. This is a chance for us to make sure your grade is its best for MC2010. Also, we can talk about other res college classes where you are hoping to improve your grades.

Bring some of your writing samples so we can spot problem patterns and plan for good practices. Check out the schedule for the time you picked. 

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Consider your lead with the same care you’d take to make a good impression on a blind date. You wouldn’t show up at the door with a piece of parsley lodged between your front teeth.

In the same way, awkward word choices, poor storytelling and grammatical errors are the equivalent of a piece of misplaced muesli on a first date. Your readers might not give you a second chance. Here are some practices to avoid for upping your storytelling game when crafting a news lead:

• Make your first six-eight words count. Your reader should have an idea about what the story is about from reading these words.
• Look for a strong, accurate verb, which should be among those first six-eight words.
• Keep your lead less than 30 words. This is a generous word count. You can tell the story in 30 words or less. Trust me.
• Ban these words as your main verb in the lead: “met” for meeting stories and “spoke” for speech stories. What did the group do in the meeting? What did the speaker say?
• Look for any unusual elements and put them in the lead. Sure, the lady caused a wreck, BUT she was on her cell phone talking to her car insurance company when she ran her car into the back of truck.

Finally, be sure to brush your grammatical teeth when you edit a story. And then let your story smile.

If you want people to take you seriously, then you should present yourself professionally. We’ve talked about sending tightly written emails and texts, but consider your attire when you’re working on a story.

A student reporter wearing “I’m-only-pretending-to-be-a-reporter” attire prompted a potential interviewee on a recent big story to refuse to talk to her. I don’t blame him because she didn’t look legit.

Here’s an email from the interviewee:

One of your journalism majors approached me for an interview. Your student was wearing a short, black tennis outfit or some type of skimpy clothing. I was a little rude because I initially assumed she was selling magazines or was looking for donations for some organization.

If your students expect to be acknowledged as aspiring young professionals or professionals-in-training, someone should instruct them in appropriate dress when confronting the public.  I was, in fact, too busy to talk with her at the time, but had she approached me in more appropriate attire, I would have been open to setting a later time for her to return.

Ouch. Don’t be that person.

(Photo: Creative Commons)

2014 AP book (left); 1970 AP book (right)

Why do I have to learn AP Style? That’s the collective whine heard in the atmosphere above most mass communication schools in the U.S. (and elsewhere) at the beginning of each academic year.

Using AP Style allows print writers to work with uniform guidelines worldwide so that their audiences can expect consistency. As communicators, we develop an “unspoken contract” with our audiences. Readers might not know what to call a relative clause or how to use a political affiliation with a subject’s name. But if the writer messes up, the reader instinctively knows.

Writing with excellence is the baseline for your credibility. Why should anyone believe the facts you present if you can’t put your commas in the right place? Using AP Style will help you develop consistency and credibility in the small things, which helps your readers to trust you in the big things.

In many ways, media writing will be different from others types of writing you’ve learned. If you excelled in English essay courses, you may not find media writing easy. Conversely, if essay writing is not your forte, you can be an excellent journalist if you are willing to learn.

You may have been able to coast through other courses with minimal studying and by waiting until the last minute to finish assignments. You will quickly find this is not the case for MC2010. Everyone will work hard, including your instructor; however, don’t assume that a large amount of work will translate into a good grade. The quality of the work is what counts, and that quality includes promptly meeting deadlines and striving to improve each successive writing assignment.

In retrospect, you will find this to be one of the most important classes of your university career. You will work hard, and you will be proud of the result. Most importantly, some of your MC2010 classmates will become your lifelong friends and colleagues.

To get started, join our Facebook Page and follow our Twitter hashtag: #manship2010.

(Photo: Keep Clicking Those Ruby GIF Slippers by CogDogBlog, Creative Commons)