You can find out more about this course by visiting the MC102 course web site.

This course introduces students to writing in a professional environment and to the forms of writing for the mass media. These forms include news stories for print and broadcast, advertising copy for print and broadcast, and other types of writing for public relations.
Students are required to attend lecture and lab. The lecture meets at 9 a.m. on Mondays in room 216 of Phifer Hall. The lab sections meet twice a week in one of the writing labs on the third floor of Phifer Hall. Students must pass the College’s Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation and Diction test before receiving a grade in MC102.

Texts
Three books are required for this course. They are Writing for the Mass Media fourth edition) by James Glen Stovall; the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual; and the MC102 supplement, available at the University Supply Store. You should also bring a dictionary to your lab.

Attendance
You are expected to attend all lectures and labs. Work missed in labs cannot be made up. Two or three of the lowest lab grades will be dropped at the end of the semester.

Grades
Grades will be calculated on the following formula: quizzes and other lab tests, 20 percent; writing assignments in lab, 50 percent; midterm exam, 10 percent; final exam quiz, 5 percent; final exam writing assignment, 15 percent. Students may earn extra credit by participating in research projects as they become available and by writing for the College’s news web site.

Academic misconduct
All students attending the University of Alabama are expected to be honorable and observe standards of conduct appropriate to a community of scholars. The university expects for its students a higher standard of conduct than the minimum required to avoid discipline. All acts of dishonesty in any academic work constitute academic misconduct. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:
• Cheating – using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise.
• Plagiarism – representing the words, ideas, or data of another as one’s own in any academic exercise.
• Fabrication – unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in any academic exercise.
• Aiding and abetting academic dishonesty – intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another student commit an act of academic dishonesty.
Academic misconduct matters shall be resolved by the divisional misconduct facilitator or the academic dean of the division in which the alleged action took place. Appeals from the academic dean’s decisions may be made to the vice president for academic affairs.

Schedule
Week 1 Introduction to the course
Topics: Basic principles of good writing
Expectations of the MC 102 student
Writing assignments: ch. 1 exercises
AP style, grammar quizzes

Week 2 Basic tools of writing
Topics: Grammar, punctuation, word precsion
Importances of rules of writing
Associated Press stylebook
Writing assignments: ch. 3 exercises
AP style, grammar quizzes

Week 3 Writing in the media environment
Topics: Conventions and practices
Writing for an audience
Development; transitions
Writing assignments: ch. 4, leads, short news
AP style, grammar quizzes

Week 4 News and newswriting
Topics: Writing with unity
Inverted pyramid
Writing assignments: ch. 5, supp. exercises
AP style, grammar quizzes

Week 5 News and newswriting
Topics: Writing conventions
Writing assignments: ch 5, writing leads
AP style, grammar quizzes

Week 6 Writing for the web, I
Topics: General principles
Demands of writing for the web
Writing assignments: beginning web writing
AP style, grammar quizzes

Week 7 Writing for the web, II
Topics: Writing styles and techniques
Content and format
Writing assignments: additional web writing
AP style, grammar quizzes

Week 8 Editing and rewriting
Midterm in the second lab
Topics: Purposes and techniques of editing
Editing: wordiness, repetition,
redundancy, clichés, technical errors
Writing assignments: midterm; braadcasting
AP style, grammar quizzes

Week 9 Writing for broadcast I
Topics: Characteristics of broadcast news
Criticisms of broadcast writing
Dramatic unity
Writing assignments: ch. 6 exercises
AP style, word precision quizzes

Week 10 Writing for broadcast II
Topics: Dramatic unity
Use of the present tense
Writing assignments: ch. 6 exercises, newscasts
AP style, word precision quizzes

Week 11 Writing advertising copy I
Topics: Purpose of advertising writing
Product, audience, purpose, medium
Advertising objectives
Writing assignments: ch. 7 exercises, broadcast
AP style, word precision quizzes

Week 12 Writing advertising copy II
Topics: Key facts
Advertising appeals
Writing assignments: ch. 7 exercises, print
AP style, word precision quizzes

Week 13 Writing for public relations I
Topics: Internal, external publics
News releases
Speeches and statements
Writing assignments: ch. 8 exercises
AP style, word precision quizzes

Week 14 Writing for public relations II
Topics: Writing letters and e-mail
Writing memoranda
Writing assignments: ch. 8 exercises
AP style, word precision quizzes

Week 15 First Amendment and legal considerations
Topics: Legal issues; First Amendment
Review for the final
Writing assignments: review for the final
AP style, word precision quizzes

• Sample syllabus
  
  
• Notes on grading writing assignments
  
  
• Notes on grading advertising copywriting assignments
  
  
• Handling graduate teaching assistants