This is it! It is time for YOU to be the journalist, and practice and display the skills you have learned through this Specialization journey. You will create your own professional journalistic portfolio, culminating in the creation of your own news report from start to finish. You will go through all the steps and skills used by professional journalists: conceptualizing a news report idea, reporting, interviewing, researching, and then compiling the information for an audience. Your learner community, along with the Michigan State Journalism team, will be with you every step of the way. Having a professional portfolio will help you market yourself as a journalist, showing off your work product, as well as practice and hone your journalistic skill set. You will receive an exclusive premium "Journalism" badge for social media, to display your Capstone completion.
This course is part of the Become a Journalist: Report the News! Specialization
Capstone: Create your own professional journalistic portfolio
Offered By
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
13 hours to complete
Capstone news report portfolio: the start!
You are now embarking on the important steps to create your own journalistic news report portfolio, which is be your Capstone final assignment. This journey will take you through the process journalists use to deliver the news to their audiences, providing a strong opportunity to display your skills honed during the Specialization Courses. You will start your portfolio here, through making your first choices: determining the topic and style for your news report.
2 videos (Total 5 min), 3 readings, 1 quiz
3 readings
Setting up your Capstone portfolio10m
The Capstone news report structure10m
News report refresher and concepts10m
Week
22 hours to complete
Capstone news report portfolio: News gathering
Gathering of information for your Capstone news report is a critical step, as strong development and work at this stage will help produce a professional quality final product. You will gain experience and practice using news sources such as government documents, statistics, planning for interviews with people. You will plan your sources for your news report, and further your understanding of the newsgathering process.
3 videos (Total 17 min), 1 quiz
3 videos
What are sources?5m
Rules for dealing with sources8m
Week
32 hours to complete
Capstone news report portfolio: Interviewing sources
This may be the most challenging step of the process for some Learners! But we know you can do it. Journalists need to be strong interviewers - and listeners - in order to get the information, quotes and understanding needed to compile professional news reports. You will master the interviewing process, by developing your questions, ethically and effectively conducting the interviews, and then reviewing your content for your news report development.
3 videos (Total 15 min), 1 quiz
Week
45 hours to complete
Capstone news report portfolio: Assembling your news
This is the stage where you take all the research, interviews and facts and transform it into a news report for a public audience. You will execute, based on your own journalistic process, developing critical thinking skills, news judgment and the art of delivering ethical and effective news reports for your audience. It's sometimes easy, sometimes very challenging. Each news report is unique. Follow where your facts, news gathering and interviews take you.
4 videos (Total 23 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes
4 videos
Using quotes effectively11m
Multimedia and you4m
Developing leads4m
2 readings
Tips for sorting newsgathering10m
News report structure checklist10m
4.7
8 Reviews33%
started a new career after completing these courses
40%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
25%
got a pay increase or promotion
Top Reviews
Great course! Not too hard, not too easy. The guided writing of a news report is very well done, and provides good support.
Instructors
Joanne Gerstner
Sports Journalist in ResidenceMichigan State University School of Journalism
Jeremy Steele
SpecialistMichigan State University School of Journalism
David Poulson
InstructorSchool of Journalism
Eric Freedman
InstructorSchool of Journalism
Joe Grimm
InstructorSchool of Journalism
Lucinda D. Davenport
Director & ProfessorSchool of Journalism
About Michigan State University
Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 150 years.
One of the top research universities in the world, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery and forges enduring partnerships to solve the most pressing global challenges while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.
About the Become a Journalist: Report the News! Specialization
This Specialization will develop and enhance your understanding of the global field of journalism. You'll learn best practices and ethical standards for newsgathering processes and compiling a news report through hands-on projects, peer-to-peer feedback, and issue exploration. You will also study journalism's impact on societal issues and trends, plus explore career opportunities in newspapers, magazine, social media, Internet multimedia, television, radio, corporate and community journalism. The final Capstone project will guide you through the journalistic portfolio process, where you will conceptualize, report and complete a professional-quality news report.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
What is the refund policy?
Is financial aid available?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
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