Welcome to Manship’s Media Writing course, where we will practice writing for a variety of platforms. Your first assignment is to use Twitter to introduce yourself. Here’s the assignment:

• Set up a Twitter account if you don’t already have one. Here’s a link to get you started: https://twitter.com/ If you are Twitter-averse, then set up a professional site and use it to brand yourself as a media professional.
• Your assignment for 11:59 p.m. Sunday is to tweet a photo to introduce yourself. Include one fun fact to demonstrate how you are unique. Use #manship2011 in your first Tweet. (I KNOW you are unique — just tell us why. Keep it G rated, please.)
• Tweets are 140 characters, which also includes some characters that represent your photo. Avoid weird abbreviations. Just speak clearly and succinctly.
• NOTE: ALWAYS use either #manship2010 (for MC2010 sections) #manship2011 (for MC2011 sections) in your tweets for our class. This is how we follow one another and keep track of our class tweets. We will practice using Twitter as media professionals. A hashtag is a way to categorize a group of tweets and make them available to others.
• If Twitter is new to you, then you can spend the next few days figuring it out. Follow some great writers, advertisers and journalists and other professionals you want to emulate.  Follow @manshipschool, @lsu, and @mikethetiger
• Check your LSU email address every day. This is one of the most important ways I communicate with you.
• Follow me @roxdill and keep up with our class hashtag to follow your classmates.

See you next week,

RD

Don’t forget to apply to the Manship School. The application deadline is Friday, April 29, 4 p.m. To apply, you’ll need the following:

• B or better in MC2010/MC2011
• 30 hours college credit
• 3.0 LSU GPA

Here’s a link to the Manship website page that explains guidelines for application.

Here are some resources that will help you with your final feature.
Your feature should be typed and double-spaced with a slug at the top. Make sure to include the contact information for your source(s).

Final Feature Instructions
Feature due when class starts Monday, April 18, (M/W classes), Tuesday, April 19 ,(T/Th classes)
Here are some instructions on the basics of your final feature story, such as word length, background (also called the research element), quotations and structure.

Final Feature Grading Guidelines
This is a checklist of what you should be looking for as you edit your final feature. It contains the points that may be deducted for common errors we’ve discussed all semester.

Dill’s Pet Peeves and other non-negotiables
Look over this list for banned words and other pointers that we’ve also discussed during class. You may find something new to you that you missed during a daydreaming session.

You can’t relax yet. We still have some things to do before the semester ends. (Note: The first date is for the M/W classes, and the second date is for the T/TH classes.)

• April 11 (M)-12 (T): Interview transcript due. This includes all of your background information and everything else you need to write your story.
• April 18-19: Final feature due typed and printed when class starts.
• April 18-22: Re-take AP and Grammar exams. (Optional)
• Week of April 25-29: Take Manship Post-Assessment (Mandatory)
• Week of April 27-28: Final Writing Lollapalooza
• April 29, 4 p.m.: Applications to Manship School due. (Here’s a link to the page with information, including a link to download an application.)

Bring your textbook and AP/Grammar resources. You’ll have two hours to write three inverted pyramid stories. We will start on time, so don’t be late.