Students will be judged on their ability to handle different types of assignments, including: researching and writing interactive news quizzes; reporting and writing a variety of multimedia stories, breaking news pieces and a photo essay (see below); writing headlines, captions and smart Web links; coding and packaging Web content; selecting, sizing and cropping digital photos for story pages and special reports; collecting and posting audio on the Web and digitizing and posting video on the Web. You'll be assessed on your ability to follow Associated Press style, to follow rules of good grammar and to write accurately and fairly. Your grade will also reflect your demonstrated news judgment--since you'll be asked to help pick stories for display on the home page and elsewhere. And you will be judged on your creativity in suggesting interactive projects and special reports or other features for the site. 

It is essential that you meet deadlines and complete assignments.

In addition to the points noted above, your final grade will reflect on your work habits, time management, attendance, punctuality, attitude and demonstrated improvement.

In the bureau, you will get routine, informal feedback on your progress on particular assignments. You'll also get a written mid-term evaluation, similar to a professional job evaluation, in which we will discuss your strengths and weaknesses and you will be given advice on how to improve your work. 

Each week, you will be given responsibility for updating the home page and/or two section fronts. This means you will have a say in what stories are selected for packaging, how they'll be displayed, and what photos, graphics and headlines will be used to accompany text. You should always talk to me before changing out a section front or home page. Working from Maryland Newsline templates, you will write the basic code to place new features on the page.

In addition, you also will be juggling some reporting, research and photo assignments, as well as building at least one special report and collecting, editing and posting video and audio. 

Here are the minimum reporting/research/photo editing assignments that grad students are expected to complete:

• You must research and write at least two interactive news quizzes for existing or new Special Reports on the site. Topics should be cleared with me. For strong examples, see Lisa Tossey's "Physical Traits of Presidents," Daina Klimanis' "The Future of Hubble" and her "Bartlett vs. Rolle, on the Issues," Nicole Albowicz's "History of Slots in America," Nicole Richardson's "How Well Do You Know Cole?" and Nikki Hawkins' Maryland symbols quiz. 
• You must report, shoot and write at least one photo gallery with informative, extended captions on a newsy event or a feature topic. Please clear a topic with me before setting out on it. The photo gallery must include five to 10 pictures, taken by you with one of our digital cameras. The reporting, writing and packaging of this counts for as much as the photography. Your pictures and captions should tell a story. Extra points for also including audio or for experimenting with flash. For inspiration, check out Melissa Pachikara's flash essay on Tom Stuckey; A.J. McComb's gallery on dressing for job interviews; Jennifer Fu's "Testudo's Troops," April Chan's "Living at the D.C. Armory," Sonia Kumar's "Panda Provisions," Kim Harris' "Sea Art in Charm City," Amy Silva's "The End of an Era: Maryland Tobacco Auction in Photos," Nikki Hawkins' "Pit Bulls in Maryland, Nicole Richardson's "Two Weeks in the Life of the D.C. Blossoms" and Amanda Karr's "Driving in Style: The Life of Vintage Car Collectors." We will have the software SoundSlides available for use on projects integrating photos and audio.
• You must report and write at least one light, bright feature story. You must include at least two relevant Web links for the piece. You must also include at least one photo -- either one you took or one you got permission from the copyright holder to re-use. You must also write a proposed headline and caption. Bonus points for adding audio. For strong examples, see A.J. McComb's "Ghostly Tales Offered on University Tours," Melissa Pachikara's "UMD's Turtle Sculptures Go on Auction," April Chan's "University Library Celebrates 75 Years of Nancy Drew," Kendra Nichols' "Amateur Cooks Learn Ways to Warm a Woman's Heart" and her "Exhibit Shows Women Weren't Just Pretty Faces in Early Days of Broadcasting," Jessica Shyu's "Digital Library Preserves Fading Cultures for Younger Generation," Danny Conklin's "From Torts to Tarts," and Shelley Buter's "Historic Home Linked to University of Maryland's Past Gets Facelift, Garden."
• You must report and write at least two breaking stories on a daily deadline. You must include at least two relevant Web links for each story. You must also write a proposed headline. Photos and audio are optional. For examples, see "Parade Spectators Claim Their Own Pieces of Inaugural History"; Stephen Mather's "Hundreds Remember Muppets Creator With Statue Dedication at UMD"; and Daina Klimanis' "Circus Fun Erupts When Seuss Is Honored With Reading, Stamp."
• You must report and write at least one profile of up to 1,000 words of a soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan or an interesting or quirky person, businessman or inventor, public official or candidate for office. Multiple sources must be interviewed during the reporting phase; information must come from paper and people sources; LexisNexis should be used for backgrounding; and, preferably, some government records will be searched. Sidebar stories and boxes can be used to accompany the story, to fit in vital info that exceeds the 1,000 words in the main piece. The profile must include digital photos taken by you or archival photos retrieved and cropped by you and at least one audio clip collected by you and edited for the Web, which we will link from the story page. Extra points for using flash or a nonlinear format. If written in a linear format, you must include subheads in the body of the text, to aid in readability. Please clear this assignment with me before beginning on it. For examples of other students' work, see April Chan's profile of a New Orleans family displaced by Hurricane Katrina; Mike Santa Rita's profile of a Maryland soldier killed in Iraq; Kim Harris' profile of a survivor of the World Trade Center attack, and Fanen Chiahemen's profile of an AIDS sufferer.
• You will be required to report and write two complex stories of 800-1,000 words. Students should pitch their ideas to the editor. Possibilities include: a trend story (see Melissa Pachikara's "Maryland Revs Up for Alternative Fuels Market," Mike Santa Rita's "Wounded Soldiers Return from a Different Kind of War," Desair Brown's "For the Love of Anime: Middle Schoolers Plunge into Japanese Language Classes," Kaukab Jhumra Smith's "Internet Fraud Grows in Maryland," Jessica Shyu's "Kids Partner With Adults to Conduct Research for Kids," Fanen Chiaheman and Amanda Karr's "Baltimore Struggles to Slow Spread of Drug-Fueled HIV," Maha Ezzedine's "Comics Finding Niche Audiences on the Net," and Kim Harris' "Final Score: Wrecking Ball Razing Memorial Stadium,") or a database-driven story (see this piece by Kathleen Johnston Jarboe). All stories must include at least two relevant Web links, at least one audio clip collected and digitized by you, and at least one photo taken or collected by you. You must also write a proposed headline. It is strongly recommended that at least one of these stories be included in the special report you must build (see below).
• You will be asked to pull together archival and current stories, links, photos and video or interactive features and then build at least one major new package for the special reports area. You may be assigned to work on this with another student. Packages from previous semesters include: "2007 Maryland Inauguration"; "2007 National Cherry Blossom Festival"; "Homeless in Maryland"; "Maryland Votes 2006"; "Green Energy"; "Teens and Technology"; "Final Auction"; "Katrina's Aftermath"; "Casualties of War"; "Inauguration 2005"; "Uncovered: Maryland's Health Insurance Crisis"; "Maryland Votes 2004"; "Brown vs. Board of Education 50 Years Later"; "Saving the Chesapeake Bay"; "AIDS: Dealing With an Epidemic", "In War's Shadow"; "Census 2000"; "Political Ethics in Maryland"; "Reach the Beach"; "Farewell to Cole"; "State Symbols"; "The Death Penalty"; and "The Tobacco Industry."  Special reports will only be produced on ongoing stories with staying power. Please clear this assignment with me before beginning on it.

In addition, you will be asked to update/add to existing Special Reports on the site, to demonstrate to others in the bureau any new tools you teach yourself to use during the semester, and to use your creativity to pitch ideas for new features and pages for the site. Remember, employers want new hires to demonstrate a fearlessness about picking up new tools and technologies! 

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