
Welcome to CMN 131 – Journalism I. The purpose of the class is to give students a basic understanding of the fundamentals of journalistic writing, reporting and ethics
Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to perform the following tasks with a reasonable degree of proficiency:
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Your grade for the course is determined based on the
following criteria:
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Class participation is mandatory. Journalism requires students to work together and also to step outside their comfort zones to interact with people outside of class. Active engagement is essential and required. |
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The term "attendance" does not mean simply being physically present in the classroom. Attendancer means: being present, having your texts and notebook with you, have all assignements due with you at the start of session and being prepared to discuss the readings. Students can be absent three times for any reason and do not have to explain their reasons to the instructor. Any student who is absent four times, no matter what the reason, will be automatically withdrawn from the course. Furthermore, chronic lateness will lower the student's final grade. If you come to class late, please get seated quietly; do not disrupt a class in progress. |
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Turn your phone off at the beginning of class. If your phone rings during class you may face any number of consequences. If you have an emergency that requires you to keep your phone on, discuss it with the instructor before class begins, sit near the exit and keep your phone on vibrate. Students caught text messaging in class will be marked absent. |
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A
reading check is an unannounced check to see that each student has made
adequate notes in his or her text book and kept a notebook with
additional, legible and detailed reading notes. Students who prefer not
to make marks directly in the textbook can insert post-it notes which
can be removed later. Highlighting must be accompanied by hand written
notes. The goal is to see that you are reading and interacting with the
text and have completed each reading assignment fully. Both the mid-term and the final are 75 minute in-class examinations comprised of four sections: 1.) 20 multiple choice and fill in the blank questions; 2.) three short answer essays; 3.) a long answer essay which analyzes a sample article, and: 4.) a lead construction section. |
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Plagiarism is simply not
tolerated. We will cover this topic in class. Familiarize yourself with
the school’s academic integrity
policy, at www.mccc.edu/admissions_policies_integrity.shtml.
We will
cover proper citation procedure, but it is each student’s
responsibility to abide by the rules described in the policy, in this
and every course he or she takes in college. Failure to do so will
result in swift and severe disciplinary action. Your instructor may use
the various Internet plagiarism tools, such as Turnitin.com to randomly
check your work or if she suspects a plagiarism violation. The
consequence of plagiarism is course failure
and all violations will be immediately reported to the academic integrity committee. |
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This
is a fast moving
class. Learning about journalism means learning about deadlines. On
rough draft days students must bring in three copies of their rough
draft (one for the instructor and two for their peer partners). A
missing rough draft reduces the final article grade by 30%. On final
draft days the final draft must be submitted electronically BEFORE
class time AND must be submitted in hard copy form in class itself. Any
work that arrives after class time will be marked down by 5% on the due
day and 50% for each day following. No extensions are granted. Any
student who does not submit all assignments will receive a failing
grade in the class. Bonus points are awarded to those who turn final drafts in EARLY. |
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All
articles written by students in CMN 131 are considered for publication
in Mercer's student newspaper, The College VOICE. Students may,
however, request that their submitted work NOT be considered for
publication; they must do so by writing "Not for publication"
prominently at the top of submitted work (whether submitted in hard
copy or via email attachment or both). Students who allow their work to be considered for publication must be aware that if their work is selected, it will be edited for content, clarity, conciseness, form and style by the editorial board of The College VOICE. Many times these edits are small and the article that appears in the VOICE is nearly identical to the original submitted work. In some cases, however, the changes are substantial. When editors change more than 25% of the original material, byline credit is given to both the student reporter and the editor. |
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Any
student needing special
accommodation because of disabilities should contact the instructor
during the first week of
class. She will be happy to help. Students with documented learning
disabilities should see Arlene Stinson in the Learning Center in FA 129 so they
can provide their instructors with an accommodations letter. In Communications
classes students with documented LD's are often allowed to take tests
untimed. If you think you may have an LD but have not been tested, you
should go to the Learning Center and ask them to help you set up
testing. You may be entitled to accommodations. |
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Students must use their Mercer email accounts to send electronic copies of final drafts to the professor at mathewsh@mccc.edu. Please
identify yourself on all emails sent to the instructor and strive to
use proper grammar and punctuation in your correspondences, particularly if you expect a reply. |
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Office hours are held on the West Windsor campus in LA 131 Monday through Thursday from 3:15-4:30pm and by appointment. Students seeking academic advisement are also welcome. |
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| Politeness and self respect
are expected in the classroom at all times. No matter what one’s skill level
in the subject matter, every student can and will maintain a
fundamental level of human decency. Students who are
disrespectful will be given a warning; if the behavior persists they may be asked to leave. Ongoing behavior
issues may lead to the student being withdrawn from the course. Click the link for more on the meaning of "respect": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect |
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