Your internship with the Captain's Log provides you with valuable, real-world journalism experience.
Goals
• To learn about and practice news reporting skills in a newsroom and in the field, to include print and video news production.
• To be a reliable member of the newspaper / CNU TV staff.
• To produce publishable news and feature stories in print or video.
Course description
ENGL 491. Captain’s Log Journalism Internship
Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Emphasis on achieving a professional level of expertise in writing, editing, design and layout, video production, or photojournalism. Interns work ten hours per week for the student newspaper, to include its video news arm, CNU TV.
Mandatory meeting times
• Thursdays, 12:15-1:30, McMurran 200b: Attend and participate in all Captain's Log critiques / workshops: Thursday. Be a critical reader of the newspaper and a critical viewer of CNU TV.
• All print or video production meetings with student editors, as appropriate to the work you are doing. These meetings will be scheduled by student editors the first week of classes. Check with the appropriate editor for time and location.
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Expectations of student interns: (See also the "Course Polices" tab at right.)
• That interns must work and log 120 hours over the semester-long internship.
• That reporters produce work that is publishable— that photographers, artists, editors, and video producers submit work that meets standards that contribute to the publishing success of the student newspaper. In consultation with the adviser and your editor, your responsibilities will be set out for you in the organizational meeting August. 25
• That interns are practicing skills they have acquired in previous work of life experience, or in formal academic study and that they will learn new skills as apprentice journalists working with experienced staff.
• That interns who experience difficulties with their assigned work, with other staff, or with maintaining their commitment to the internship will quickly see the instructor.
Books & Readings
You need to have the proper resources for reporting, photographing, editing, video production and so on. You may be asked by the adviser to buy a particular book. Occasionally, you will be assigned to read and study a story, for instance, in the Washington Post.
Generally, for reporting, the recommended text is Melvin Mencher's News Reporting & Writing (any edition); for layout and design, The Newspaper Designer's Handbook, Tim Harrower; for copyediting, Barbara Ellis's The Copy-Editing and Headline Handbook. For video production, Portable Video News & Field Production, Medoff & Fink, or Documentary Storytelling, Barnard.
The Captain's Log, Vol. 1, Issue 5
Requirements
Course Policies
Requirements:
To succeed in the internship, you must:
• be reliable and on time for meetings and workshops;
• perform your assigned duties professionally, turning in work on deadline;
• work willingly and reliably with student editors.
Email log (required)
Each week, e-mail the faculty adviser a complete and descriptive log, turned in on deadline, by the 12:15 Thursday meeting. Include a record of times worked and a brief account of your experience that week. Use the following format for your log emails:
• Date, day, hours: description of activity
At the semester’s end, turn in a folder of print copies of your emailed logs, printed from your email with date and time stamps: put the print-outs in your portfolio folder. Incomplete logs will be graded down. IMPORTANT: In the “subject” window of the e-mail type the following:
"Log #____ 491 Your Name.” (For instance, John Doe's fifth log e-mail will be headed “Log #5 : 491 John Doe.”)
Comprehensive Assessment
Your work will be evaluated throughout the semester, but the grade for your work will come at the end and be based on work as described below.
1) In one Word document submitted by email:
The Practicum Essay and Portfolio will be assembled into one Word document sent to me by email, with the essay at the beginning, followed by the links to published work at the end. If you have unpublished work to submit, attach those documents to the same email, with a description of why you are submitting them embedded in the attachment.
2) In a folder:
Print-outs of your emailed logs, including email time and date stamp.
Course Grade
• Practicum Essay— (1,250 words) (25%)
A well written, reflective analysis and a critical explanation of your experience.
• Portfolio (75%)
Grade here is based on the quality of your published (and unpublished) work and on weekly reliability on the job and on attendance at meetings.
General Course Policies
Overview
The faculty adviser to the newspaper is your instructor. The Captain's Log editor-in-chief is your sponsor. You will work closely with the newspaper editors, who are in contact with your instructor. Your instructor determines your course grade based on the criteria set out in the "Requirements" tab above.
Attendance
Thursday meetings are mandatory for everyone. Bring lunch, if you like, and a copy of the Captain's Log that you have read closely. You may have two unexcused absences. After that, your course grade will suffer.
Office Hours
My door is always open, and I am happy to see you during my office hours, as well as other times that I'm in my office—drop by or call or e-mail to see if I'm in. You are welcome anytime to come by and talk about your class work in general, or about a specific reading or essay draft on which you are working.
Learning Disabilities
CNU Disability Policy: Students with documented disabilities are required to notify the instructor on the first day of class and in private if accommodation is needed. The instructor will provide students with disabilities with all reasonable accommodations, but they are not exempted from fulfilling the normal requirements of the course. Work completed before the student notifies the instructor of his/her disability may be counted toward the final grade at the sole discretion of the instructor.
If you believe that you have a disability, you should make an appointment to see me to discuss your needs. In order to receive an accommodation, your disability must be on record in the Dean of Students’ office, 3rd Floor David Student Union/DSU (Telephone: 594-7160).
CNU Success Policy
We want you to succeed at CNU; therefore I may notify the Academic Advising Center if you seem to be having problems with this course. Someone may contact you to help you determine what help you need to succeed. You will be sent a copy of the referral form. I invite you to see me at any time that I can be of assistance in helping your with the course material.
Incompletes
Given only in extraordinary circumstances. Plan to complete work by last day of class. Not completing the work results in an "F," not an "I."