General
Guide to your Cookbook
Assignments
Tilt:
As
preparation for these assignments, you are required to
visit: http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu.
If you use your home
computer, take "tilt lite".
If you use the school's computers,
you can take "full tilt."
Full tilt will not function on your home
computer. You must do three modules,
take each test and send
the results to me at the email address above. Each module will
count towards your grade.
This assignment represents 3% of
your grade. This assignment is due
before the end of the first
month of class.
The Seven Cookbook Assignments:
Background:
There are three distinct purposes for these
assignments:
1.For you to extend your knowledge about current and
past media issues;
2. For you to develop oral and written presentation
skills
related to journalism and media presentations;
3. For you to develop research skills.
Each of these areas
are of equal value, so think of each of them
being worth about 33 % of your
grade for the assignment.
To successfully complete each assingment:
1. It will be helpful for you to use the infotrac site
that is
provided with your text.
2. It will be helpful for you to visit the library. Use the
reference sections, the
communication stacks and the
audio visual collection.
3. Visit the Com program's
trade magazine and tape library
area in 202.
4. Visit Neil's book shelf.
To do
these assignments properly, it is necessary for you to:
READ THE TEXT.
READ
THE COOKBOOK
THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE READ.
DEVELOP AN INTEREST IN A TOPIC DISCUSSED IN
THE TEXT
The cookbook
assignments are:
Bio (715): For this
task, think about your readings. Think about a
person from your readings who is
of interest to you. If no one
pops out, think about an interest that you have
related to the
readings. Ask yourself: Who did that? Research that person using
at least three sources. Think about the most interesting thing that
you learned
about that person. Think about the way his/her life
related to the things that
you learned about. Develop a
presentation. Figure out a way to present the
material to your class
in an engaging and interesting way. (You might wish to
develop a
handout). Practice your presentation.
Example (725) or
Compare Media Examples (708)
or
Old
Favorite/New Favorite
(702): You may choose either a
725,
a 708 or a 702 for this assignment. The idea is to increase your
understanding and critical analysis of individual media items.
You can bring in
a media piece to describe to the class as an
example. You can compare media
examples about the same
topic or event from two different media, or you can
compare a
new favorite with an old favorite. This assignment should be
more than
a "show and tell." You must have the media piece.
You must be able to
tell the class or give out a handout that tells
the class where the media piece
is from, who developed the
media, and who and what roles individuals played in
the media.
You must be prepared to put the example in context. You must
be
prepared to critique the media (see 713: Critique a Critic)
using a source from
the critical media. You should have
the
source material available.
Interview
(711): The purpose of this assignment is for you to
interview an outside
expert about the topic. The outside
expert
might be a parent or grandparent, or older neighbor. It could
involve a
telephone call or letter to a person who knows about a
particular topic area.
Also, persons have collected various
material about a historical figure, and
"interview" them.
Precis (709): A
precis is a short, concise summary of the content
of a media item. It is used
all the time in the media. The directions
in the cookbook should be followed.
You will have to turn in your
outline and the article read. Note that the
cookbook forgets to
state: "Write 3
sentence summary of your work." This
summary is the precis.
Quote (714) or
Today's News (707): Choose either a 707 or
714. In this
assignment you must research a quote or media story
from an outside source, not
the text books. Bring in the item
that
you plan to quote or summarize to the class and be prepared to
discuss the
reasons why you chose that item.
Sidebar
(718): Again, follow the directions in the cookbook.
In
general sidebars can take two forms.
1. A short, "aside" usually
used in the book.
Look on the margins of the book for classic
journalistic sidebars. 2. A
longer look at a specific item or idea
that is generated from the text.
This is like a feature, but not as
long.
Survey (715) or
Time line
(710):
You can choose to do a survey
or a time line.
The term assignments
are:
Group project (719): Described in
class.
Term paper: The term paper must
be at least seven pages in length
and have at least seven different sources that
are cited at least
seven times. It's topic needs to be approved and a thesis
statement and outline needs to be presented in class prior to the
time you begin
writing. If you have trouble
understanding the idea
of a term paper, or how to cite a reference, please talk
to me or a
counselor in the learning center about this. This is covered in the
school's core composition course, Eng Comp 102.