MN Advisory Comm Exhibits 1-18 - Minnesota Judicial Branch

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CONFERENCES: Laboratory classes such as this one provide an.opportunity
for individual attention and frequent feedback. It is up to
each person to take advantage of these opportunities. Feel
free to visit during office hours or by appointment. Call
me at home if you are "stuck" on a story assignment. Also,
use other class members as sources of advice and consultation;
the pros do it. An individual conference will be scheduled
with each class member between weeks 5 and 7.
COPY
PREPARATION: Double-space or triple-space all stories. Save returned
stories until the quarter is over.
Use a cheap grade of white paper, not bond. At the top of
the first page, give your name, date story was written, and
target audience. Also give the number of assignment (from
1 through 10). Start the story a third of the way down the
page.
Leave one-inch margins on the sides and bottom. Don't
hyphenate words at the ends of lines. Don't break grafs
from one page to the next. Number the pages. Indicate the
end of the story. Don't strike over letters; retype major
corrections. Edit your copy with a soft pencil, using
standard copyediting symbols. List sources and references
at the end of each story.
BEAT
ASSIGNMENTS: You'll choose a beat for three 3-week periods, and work as a
member of a team.
I. Government Agencies r
Team A -- City
Team B -- county
Team C -- Metro
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II. Legislature and Politics
A. Legislative update
B. TWO political assignments
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III. Courts, Police
Team A -- Police
Team B -- County District Court
Team C -- U.S. District Court
Team D -- Minnesota Supreme Court
In each beat area, team members may share story ideas and
sources, but will write independent stories. Assigments
will be discussed in class the week before each is due.
At the end of beat periods, each team will be responsible
for making a class presentation on the subject. Elements
to include in the presentation:
--Strategies for continuing coverage of the beat;
--Useful human and documentary sources;
--Ideas for selecting story subjects;
--Special problems in covering the beat