***Note: the description of this assignment has changed on 17/03/20 due to the cancellation of many recent and upcoming events. Please use this new assignment outline to guide you in your preparation of your submission. Also see suggested changes to interview protocols below. Please see other specific changes to the assignment description below in red.***
This assignment is worth 30% of your overall mark for this unit
DUE ANY TIME BEFORE 11.59pm on Thursday 9 April 2020.
A 300-350-word news story containing original quotes from two interviews. Also includes a research file listing appropriate primary and secondary sources relevant to the story.
Submission checklist
- All assignments to be uploaded online to the ALJ729 Cloud Deakin Assessment folder.
- Use Word document format (not Pages, please).
- There is no formal referencing or layout style for this assignment – but the sources of your information must be clear. This assessment piece requires you to undertake three separate tasks: a) a research file, b) interviews with two primary sources and c) write a story suitable for publication in an identified news outlet.
Total marks awarded for this assignment = 30 marks.
1: Research file- 1200 words. Marks awarded for this section (6 marks)
A research file outlines interview sources and any secondary sources that might be applicable in researching this story about an event. You must provide the following:
The three best secondary sources – which have given you the most useful and informative background information for your story, together with a short explanation of what each source contains which is useful background for your story (a sentence or two per source). These sources may be news articles, websites, statistical data, PR releases, books etc. You’ll need to include a clear reference for the source as your assessor may wish to take a look at it. Please note that no particular referencing style is preferred. In practising journalism the key thing is clarity about the source rather than any particular style of listing. So it could be a URL of a website, or it could be a news article (in which case, state the headline of the article, what newspaper or magazine it was published in, the date it was published and the writer if this is known) etc as well as why this was a helpful source for your research.
The three best primary sources – with names and contact details of three potential interviewees who could be contacted to give you some information about the event (you will interview two of these sources). Provide an email address or phone number of each source and an explanation about why you’ve chosen each source and what new information they can provide for your story.
2: INTERVIEWS – no word limit (marks awarded for this section – 8 marks)
***NOTE: in light of recent social distancing measures, and the fact that people are increasingly working from home, these interviews may be conducted by phone or Skype. Still be prepared to record your interviews so that your quotations can be accurate. As a last resort, interviews may also be conducted as a question and answer by email.***
Students need to obtain interviews with two different sources and include comments from each source in the article. You will be assessed on the quality of the quotes selected from each interview and their relevance to the story. We recognise that part of the learning experience of this unit is for students to experience the difficulties that journalists can face in getting ‘on the record’ interviews. So, ultimately, you will need to do the best you can with what you can get -‐ “the best obtainable version of the truth” of your story by the time the deadline comes up. If you have tried to get an interview but haven’t secured it, you may wish to write this into the story -‐ “XXX was approached for his comments, but did not return calls” -‐ or something along these lines. Remember, however, we will randomly select assignments where we will call sources to verify that you did at least attempt to make contact with these people and where applicable they opted not to comment or respond to your queries.
- We don’t need full transcripts or notes but we DO need contact details and a note of when and how the interview was conducted. Contact details for interview subjects chosen for the story MUST be included in the section a) the research file.
There is no set number of quotes needed or a word count for the quotes used. However, if your interviews have been successful, we’d expect you to want to include appropriate and interesting quotes from them in the story. So, if you have good interviews, do showcase them.
3: THE STORY (marks awarded for this section – 16 marks)
Compile a 300-350-word hard news story. This may be based on an event, or the repercussions from recent cancellation of an event. The story may also be unrelated to an event. You may also report on plans/concerns for a future planned event. The story must include comments from two interview sources as outlined in the research file.
You are assessed on how well you have followed the structure and format of hard news writing. This is an exercise, so there may be an element of artificiality to the process – but the aim is to replicate the experience of writing a story for a news outlet. We are flexible with the date that your story is occurring, and the circumstances under which you interview for and report on your story.
Please see detailed layout requirements and marking criteria for this assessment below.
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