ACN, or American Campus News, is a fictitious weekly newspaper distributed free to colleges and universities across the U.S. With a circulation exceeding 100,000, ACN covers a wide variety of campus-related topics, from scholarships and affirmative action to dorm food and college radio. It also explores subjects of interest to the general public.
You're a contributor to ACN, and your editor has assigned you to write a 1000 to 1200-word feature story on an issues-oriented, controversial topic of your choice. Previous topics included: Eugene’s smoking ban, UO membership in the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), athletic budgets vs. academic budgets on campus, the safety of cell phone towers, the OCA's post-measure 13 activities; the debate over whether condoms should be distributed in high schools; minority representation on the UO faculty; and the UO student conduct code.
The topic need not be confined to campus or to university-related issues in general.
A common mistake with this assignment is to bite off more than you can chew. Narrow your topic to fit the word limit.
Directions (see Calendar of Deadlines, Section 1)
1: Select a topic
2: Formulate a tentative outline, select sources
3: In lecture, submit a one-page outline to GTF for approval [include a working headline]. Students whose outlines are rejected must resubmit.
4: After approval, conduct your research and interview(s).
5: Submit a revised and expanded outline with a proposed headline, lead, and establishing section [total max 3 pp.].
6: Once approved, write the story.
You have obligations regarding your story, yet flexibility in how you tell it.
Obligations: Your assignment will entail a minimum of two interviews. (Because you're covering something controversial, you'll want to interview, at the very least, authoritative sources representing major opposing viewpoints.) Your interviewees will be quoted in your article, but your conversation will not appear in a Q&A (question/answer) format.
Any opinions in the story must be attributed to a credible, legitimate source.
You're writing for a national audience of college students who may not know anything about Eugene, and they likely won't know much background on your topic, so you'll need to fill them in. Summarize the general parameters of the controversy, the opposing views. What is the significance of the controversy? What's at stake?
Do not pick sides or take a stand. This is not a piece of persuasive writing or an editorial. Instead, your assignment is to explain the controversy -- its context, history in brief, opposing sides, ramifications and significance -- to readers across the country.
Flexible focus: How you focus your story is up to you (subject to your GTF's approval). Previous students who selected the OCA, for example, concentrated on various subtopics: free speech, state politics, civil rights, etc. You might interview a person who's deeply involved. Then again, you might interview two authoritative people on opposing sides, and fashion a double profile of sorts.
Perhaps you could use elements of several of these ideas, or others, or you may decide simply to outline several aspects of the general controversy. Whatever your story and strategy, remember the basic obligations sketched above.
We will be looking for an article that reflects the material covered in class and labs:
This is not just a term paper. This is not a newsburst, either -- no inverted pyramid, please. This is a feature article. We will explore features later in the course, but for now, pick a topic and begin formulating your strategy, lining up your interviews and fashioning your outline. [Be sure to read Mastering the Message, Section III, Depth & Context Writing.]
A reminder from the syllabus: No first-person (except when quoting someone, of course).
At the end of the paper, include a list of interviewees. For each person, list [1] his or her name, [2] position or title, [3] phone number, and [4] the date of your interview(s). Do not include this material in your word count.
Again, late work will be downgraded. Do not shoot yourself in the foot by procrastination. Plan ahead. Regarding format, double-check the syllabus. We will be looking for an engaging lead and a thoughtfully structured, coherent article that reflects the "10 Commandments" explored in early lectures. Thus your paper should demonstrate your efforts to choose precisely the right words, and the right sequences of words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs. You'll be expected to maintain a consistent tone that reveals a familiarity with your readership, and to follow all rules of punctuation, grammar, and syntax. We'll be looking for PACE -- Precision, Accuracy, Clarity, Economy.
Reminder: Carefully review the general comments concerning Format for Written Assignments, Attribution, and Citations in Section 4 of this syllabus.
You've got plenty of time; we hope you make good use of it. Start now.
Questions? See your GTF.
Good luck.