The author of this article describes an upper-level economics course where students learn to write economic news articles, which improves communication and audience-targeting skills. The course was created in partnership with a media outlet and designed around authentic assessments to provide students with a genuine experience based on academic…

Journalists' knowledge of news is finally reducible to their commonsensical understanding of it, which is to say that common sense is not still another way of dealing with how journalists know news but instead the very foundation on which that knowledge rests. Common sense does not simply entail some shared cognitive facility that enables people…

Offers tips on the use of direct and indirect quotations in feature articles based on speeches and interviews. (RL)

Provides a journalism teacher's handout that summarizes the essentials of the "Associated Press Stylebook." (RL)

Advocates setting up a "beat system" for high school newspapers to use to provide updates on established areas of coverage, such as administrators, department chairs, club and class sponsors, sports, the school board, the city council and even the custodians. Includes examples of ways to incorporate this information into brief updates in…

Shows why the "screw model" of news story organization helps journalism students to visualize the way stories should and should not be structured. (RL)

Journalism rules for writing lead lines to articles are reviewed. Examples of leads made effective by observing or breaking these rules are discussed. (HTH)

Suggestions to student journalists on learning to write effective, attention-grabbing leads to news stories. (RL)

Suggests a technique for helping journalism students learn writing style and become familiar with a stylebook without taking large amounts of class time. (TJ)

Discusses emerging practices in graphics courses, how graphics affects writing and reporting, and the danger of reporters overillustrating. (MG)

Notes the importance of opinion and students' use of opinion in relation to editorials. Discusses three things to keep in mind when teaching students how to choose a topic for an editorial: make it controversial, contextual, and confined. (SC)

Shows how a reasonably thorough understanding of risk reporting can be taught in a basic environmental reporting course by applying S. Klaidman's (1990) "Reasonable Reader" approach. Discusses what risk reporting is and what its biases are. Outlines the environmental course, the teaching of risk reporting, and the "Reasonable…

This activity helps students understand the relationship between public relations (PR) writing and news writing by demonstrating how PR material gets used in the production of news stories. Considering that "more than 70 percent of daily newspaper copy emanates from PR-generated releases," it is important for students to learn how PR professionals…

Describes two approaches to grading news stories in a news writing course, in which grading and penalties were lenient in the first half of the course, and more strict in the second half. Discusses a survey of students' attitudes indicating that the moderated grading made the course less intimidating. (HTH)

Offers a strategy for editors to coach good story ideas about the school out of young journalists. (SR)