About this course: 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.
Taught by: Joanne Gerstner, Sports Journalist in Residence
Michigan State University School of Journalism
Taught by: Jeremy Steele, Specialist
Michigan State University School of Journalism
Taught by: David Poulson, Instructor
School of Journalism
Taught by: Eric Freedman, Instructor
School of Journalism
Taught by: Joe Grimm, Instructor
School of Journalism
Taught by: Lucinda D. Davenport, Director & Professor
School of Journalism
| Basic Info | Course 5 of 5 in the Become a Journalist: Report the News! Specialization |
| Commitment | 5 weeks of study, 3-4 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
- Video: Pick a topic for your Capstone news report
- Discussion Prompt: What will be your Capstone news report topic?
- Reading: Setting up your Capstone portfolio
- Video: Formats for news reports
- Reading: The Capstone news report structure
- Reading: News report refresher and concepts
- Video: Gathering information for your Capstone news report
- Video: What are sources?
- Discussion Prompt: Choosing your sources - let's discuss!
- Video: Rules for dealing with sources
- Video: Interviews
- Video: Interview preparation
- Discussion Prompt: Interview questions...
- Video: Executing interviews
- Video: Putting together your newsgathering
- Reading: Tips for sorting newsgathering
- Reading: News report structure checklist
- Video: Using quotes effectively
- Peer Review: So what do your quotes look like?
- Video: Multimedia and you
- Discussion Prompt: Thoughtfully using multimedia in your news report
- Video: Developing leads
- Video: It's time to do it!
- Reading: Examples of strong news reports
- Discussion Prompt: Thinking about the writing process..
- Peer Review: The final practice draft
- Video: The takeaway
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.
Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.
| Audit | Purchase Course | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Not available | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Not available | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Not available | Available |
Excellent opportunity to show off the skill sets learned . As a returning journalist, I knocked off the rust and picked up a few new skills. Deadlines, which you live on in the industry help you get acquainted with performing work on a tight schedule. This class along with the other offered MSU Journalism Specialization courses will give you what you'll need to get a foot in the door.
Overall this course was great but I wish that the timeline was a little clearer from the get-go. I had to rush at the end because I didn't realize week 2 was for finding sources, week 3 was for contacting them, week 4 was for interviews, etc...
If the MSU staff could have given their feedback on our final projects, that would have been another plus, but I know it's difficult with so many students.
A great course to learn Journalism
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an excellent course in order to start a career as a professional Journalist. Thank you all