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    Teaching Feature Writing: An Eight Week Lesson Plan
    Teaching Feature Writing: An Eight Week Lesson Plan
    Teaching Feature Writing: An Eight Week Lesson Plan
    Ebook77 pages33 minutes

    Teaching Feature Writing: An Eight Week Lesson Plan

    By Valerie Hockert, PhD

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    About this ebook

    Do you need an eight-week lesson plan for teaching feature writing? Or news writing?

    This book covers everything you need to become a successful news writer and feature writer. If you have students who want to explore feature writing as a means of improving their research and writing skills, then this is the book for you. If you want to pursue a print journalism focus in the communication major will find this course valuable.

    Valerie Hockert, PhD has taught journalism courses at a college level for many years, and has written many courses for various colleges in journalism, including news writing and feature writing.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJustice Gray
    Release dateFeb 5, 2014
    ISBN9781311910820
    Teaching Feature Writing: An Eight Week Lesson Plan
    Author

    Valerie Hockert, PhD

    Valerie Hockert, was born in the Midwest where she has lived all her adult life. She has had much life experience through her various entrepreneurial life. She has a Master's Degree in Liberal Studies, and a PhD in Literary Studies. Dr. Hockert has been teaching at a college level for many years. She was the first publisher of the Writers' Journal and Today's Family, two national publications. She is also a certified personal trainer, great chef, and the Publisher of an e-magazine: www.realitytodayforum.com.

    Read more from Valerie Hockert, Ph D

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      Book preview

      Teaching Feature Writing - Valerie Hockert, PhD

      Teaching Feature Writing

      An eight week lesson plan

      By Valerie Hockert, PhD

      Valerie Hockert

      CollProf@aol.com

      Copyright 2014, 2012 by Valerie Hockert

      All rights reserved

      Smashwords Edition

      No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of author.

      Table of Contents

      Week One

      Where and How to Get Ideas

      Overview of Final Project

      Week Two

      A Good Title

      A Great Lead

      Week Three

      Paragraph Development

      Smooth Transition

      Being Concise

      A Satisfying Ending

      Week Four

      Getting Started

      Getting Many Writing Ideas from One Trip

      Colorful Descriptions

      Week Five

      Getting the Great Interview and Interviewing

      Writing an Obituary

      Writing Profiles

      Week Six

      Writing the Press Release

      Quoting Government Officials

      Week Seven

      Effective Editorial & Opinion Writing

      Writing about Weather, Tragedies, and Statistics

      Peer Review Questions

      Week Eight

      Online Journalism

      Code of Ethics

      Libel and Invasion of Privacy Laws

      Introduction

      This course is for students who want to explore feature writing as a means of improving their research and writing skills or to pursue a print journalism focus in the communication major. Students will learn how to develop and organize ideas, adapt their writing for specific audiences and revise and polish their prose style.

      Week One

      Ideas for Stories

      Where and how to get ideas is important for a writer's success, because without new and interesting ideas, it's hard to spark a reader’s interest. We will talk about where and how to get ideas for that great feature story.

      Where and How to Get Ideas

      As a great feature writer, you will want to spark a reader’s interest with a new and interesting topic. Some places to look for fresh ideas are listed.

      Yourself. A special job, a unique personal experience you've had, special interests, hobbies or places you've been, are all good sources for ideas.

      Other People. Their special skills, hobbies, how problems can be solved, or an outstanding achievement, can be great topics to write on.

      Family. Your family may be a great source for ideas. Many of you may have families that you could use as a basis for a human interest feature story.

      Television. Soap Operas are a great source for ideas and characterizations. Not that you need to get hooked on the soap operas, but even watching one episode can help, whether daytime or evening as you can get ideas for dialogue, learn what subjects are of great social concern (such as chemical dependency), and how people really do handle difficult situations, as well as actual related dialogue.

      Movies. Movies can also be a good source. Even though some movies are quite unrealistic, watching them can give you ideas that can help portray a different world.

      Work. Many people have work situations, or work with people who have great accomplishments and successes, or work with very unusual people. These people can also be great sources for stories, articles, and books.

      Newspapers. There are many ideas that can surface by reading news stories. A follow-up could be written, or perhaps you could present the other side of the issue.

      Many times when reading through a newspaper, you may think that the writer or reporter didn't say anything about________. You could probably present that side of the issue. You could also write follow-ups to many stories. For example, a house fire. We always hear about the fire, but what happens to the occupants six months later? How do they piece their lives back together? A follow-up could be written on that, and would be a great human interest feature story

      Magazines. After reading an article, you may want

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