SPECIALIZED WRITING - IE

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SPECIALIZED WRITING
ACADEMIC YEAR:
DEGREE COURSE YEAR:
1º SEMESTER 2º SEMESTER X
CATEGORY: BASIC COMPULSORY OPTIONAL
NO. OF CREDITS (ECTS):
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
TUTORIALS:
FORMAT:
PREREQUISITES:
1. SUBJECT DESCRIPTION
“Journalism largely consists of saying ‘Lord Jones is Dead’ to people who never knew that Lord
Jones was alive”. G. K. Chesterton
Journalism and Communication have undergone more changes in the current 21st Century tan
in all of the 20th Century. In the present century, technological advances have increased the
speed of information and improved images to incredible levels. The amazing rhythm set by new
technologies in the last decade has caught the media and its managers off-guard.
We live in a convulsive period of change and of adaptation to what new technologies bring us.
Journalism and Communication are somewhere within our visual society. While many traditional
newspapers observe how their online versions cannibalize their content, without finding a viable
business model, the digital media, social media and citizen journalism are here to stay since
never before has the credibility of media been so in question.
But there are reasons to be optimistic: in the age of global communications, writing continues to
be indispensable to inform and to communicate, and doing it with speed, rigor, style and
singularity is the key to success.
What is the profile of the 21st Century communicator? What codes should he know and manage
so that his message not only reaches the maximum number of people but can also stand out
among the enormous amount of messages that circulate every day, every hour, every minute on
the Web? Given the boom of blogs and tweets, can anybody write? Can anybody be a
journalist?
This course aims to share the key levers that will allow one to navigate confidently in this new
media scenario, in which the traditional media and the journalists of pen and tape recorder
coexist with the new media and their multi-tasking reporters. Looking at the past to understand
the present and anticipate the future, we will study century-old media and their successes, to
learn what works in different platforms and how to write for different media. Which journalistic
Edited by the IE Publications Department.
Original version, . Last updated, .
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genres survive and which are borderline between fiction and reality, between literature and
journalism. What changes have been introduced in impartial and objective writing such
phenomena as political correctness, the polarization of society and the 140 characters.
2. OBJECTIVES AND SKILLS
Students will be able to identify the different types of journalistic genres and the purposes they
serve. By the end of the class, students will have a solid understanding of what distinguishes
journalistic writing from other information and be able to create original journalistic articles.
2.1. Conceptual objectives
– Share with students the historical references, from the beginning of the 20th Century, so
that they can understand the current media context.
– Cover the different journalistic genres and formats
– Specific characteristics of the written message for radio and television
– The new media: write for the reader of for Google?: the journalistic language in texts
and titles of digital media
– The new markets: corporate communication and public relations, advertising, training
and user manuals, human resources…
– The new values: ethics and service information. NGO’s.
If an image is worth more than one thousand words, what kind of message should accompany a
strong image?
2.2. Professional skills. Develop competencies and skills
2.2.1 SPECIFIC for:
– Not only correct use but adequate use of written language in the different media and
channels.
– News writing, chronicles, reports and other examples of journalitic genres.
– Management of information for each section of different media, in line with their different
styles.
– Interviewing: the power of questions. Coaching and Journalism.
– Preparing press releases, CVs and brochures.
2.2.2. TRANSVERSALLY for:
Improving synthesis, argumentation and critical logic skills
Promoting and encourage free discussion and interchange of ideas and opinions
Developing teamwork, problem resolution and conflict management
Stimulate creativity when choosing topics, approach and presentation
2.3. Learning outcomes
After completion of the classes the student will be able to:
– Establish and evaluate the key elements for an effective communication.
– Define the creation, editing and information spreading processes.
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– Practice the most important writing abilities.
– Experience life in a Newsroom: Oral Presentations to class, role distribution
– Collaborating with others
– Managing information and organizing contents for covers
– Being creative and exploring unusual angles of a subject
– Managing difficult interviewees
– Managing conflicts
– How to facilitate the journalist’s work from institutional and corporate communication
departments.
3. CONTENT
“The media is the message”, said MacLuhan. Knowledge of media is fundamental for
journalists to do their jobs. The traditional media (newspapers, radio and TV), up to very
recently paramount and dominant, have lost ground in faver of the new media born on Internet
(webs, social media, blogs…). And to the digital versions of the former, you need to add others
developed exclusively for the Web (newsletters, magazines for mobiles and tablets, …).
To have a clear idea of the current media market, it is important to review all of them, know their
history and relationship with other disciplines (fashion, beauty, cinema, music, cars,
gastronomy, travel, finances, …), areas in which the journalist must learn how to navigate to
understand the future of communication.
INTRODUCTION: TRADITIONAL WRITTEN MEDIA
SECTION 1. MAIN PRINCIPLES OF WRITTEN JOURNALISM “FROM THE TRENCHES”
Journalistic genres:
Journalistic genres in Audiovisual Journalism:
SECTION 2. JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE
SECTION 3. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF WRITTEN JOURNALISM “FROM THE OTHER
SIDE”: RELATIONSHIP WITH COMPANIES, BRANDS AND COMMUNICATION DIRECTORS
SECTION 4. HOW TO WRITE FOR DIGITAL MEDIA: CITIZEN JOURNALISM
4. METHODOLOGY AND ECTS WEIGHTED DISTRIBUTION
The teaching methodology used during this course is fundamentally practical, paying special
attention to class participation and sharing of each student, so that the learning process is
useful, dynamic, inspirational and critical.
1.- Teaching presentation covering the content of the program via teacher’s oral dissertation,
comprehensive outlines and audiovisual documents
2.- Individual and team projects that will occur throughout the course both in and out of class
3.- Completion of a Guide of Segovia and its surrounding area for students and
4.- Making of the IE Segovia Magazine, the students will be in charge of its design, execution
and contents.
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The distribution of the students' work will be the following:
6 credits ECTS (6 x 25 hours/credit= 150 hrs. of student's work)
6 credits ECTS (6 x 25 h/credit = 150 h. student’s work)
Activities
Classroom
Hours
Sessions Individual
Preparation
Hours
Total
Hours
Lectures 13.5 9 13.5 0.54
ECTS
Practical assignments in
class (Team work in class,
role playing, PPT
presentations, discussions of
assignments)
28.5 19 28.5 1.14
Study, readings, case studies
30 30 1.2
reading and preparation
Team work, responding to
69 69 2.76
client brief, development of
pitch PPT presentations
preparation, role play
preparation
Final Project 3 2 6 9 0.36
Total 45 30 105 150 6
5. EVALUATION SYSTEM
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
– Each student can take 4 exams per subject in 2 consecutive courses.
– It is mandatory to attend 70% of the classes. Students who do not comply with this
percentage of attendance lose the 1st and second exams and go directly to the 3rd one.
– Grading for the students on make-up exams will be subject to the following rules:
• Those students who failed the subject in the first round of exams, pass to the 2nd
session, except those who do not comply with the percentage of attendance to
class and go directly to the 3rd session.
• The maximum grade that a student may obtain in the 2nd exam session is 8.
– In the case a student receives a failing grade in the class, the student will be able to
make-up for the failing grade during “convocatoria extraordinaria” in July. The make-up
exam will consist of a written exercise.
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EVALUATION AND WEIGHTING CRITERIA
The course will be graded with the following criteria:
– 40% through the continuous evaluation of the practical assignments and activities done
daily in class, together with those assigned to be done outside of class
– 30% class participation, motivation and teamwork
– 30% end of the year project
Absences will need to be justified. When a student misses a class, he/she should send an email
to the teacher and fellow students to ask for information regarding assigned projects and
present them in the following class.
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