English 325--Feature Writing & In-Depth Reporting

Class: TTH 1:10-2:25, CLA 105           Instructor: James Plath

Office: CLA 143    Phone: 556-3352

Office Hours: MWF 11-12 & by appointment

URL: http://titan.iwu.edu/~jplath        Email: jplath@titan.iwu.edu

Text: Required text is Writing for Story by Jon Franklin. Additional online stories and handouts provided by the instructor and students. Required first reading: "The Gift: A Transplant Journey," by IWU (and English 325) alum Chris Fusco, now editor-in-chief at the Chicago Sun-Times.

Newspaper Links.

Course Requirements: This class will be conducted in true workshop/seminar fashion, meaning that students will share the responsibility for filling the air with ideas, questions, answers, notions, fears, problems and solutions. Students will produce five assignments:

All articles must be typed in standard professional format, to be explained on the first day of class.

Deadlines: Though this is a class in non-deadline (feature) writing, students must nonetheless observe due dates or face a one-grade penalty for every class period the assignment is late. We will try to follow this rough timetable:

Week of Jan 9--Thinking Features: Focus, Originality, Depth, Impact; Have you ...?; types of stories; READ: Chris Fusco's "The Gift: A Transplant Journey" for Jan 9.

Week of Jan 14, 16--How-to/informational features; gathering information. How-to feature due on Jan 21.

Week of Jan 21, 23--Profiles; interviewing. Profile due on Jan 28.

Week of Jan 28, 30--Audience & Market; DUE: oral analysis of two markets with "clips" of articles from target publications of the type the student is attempting (travel, human interest), on Feb 4.

Week of Feb 4, 6--Structuring the travel/event article. DUE: Final drafts of first two assignments, Feb 11.

Week of Feb 11, 13--Fiction techniques and fleshing out an article; DUE: draft of travel feature on Feb 18.

Week of Feb 18, 20--Writing the human interest/personal experience feature; DUE: five ideas for a human interest story on Feb 20.

Week of Feb 25, 27--Workshopping; DUE: Final draft of travel/event feature on Feb 27.

Week of Mar 3, 5--In-Depth Research and problem-solving; Select group project; DUE: draft of long feature on Mar 5.

Week of Mar 10, 12--SPRING BREAK

Week of Mar 17, 19--Workshopping; investigation problems and methods; division of installments and research labor.

Week of Mar 24, 26--Project discussions; complex stories & investigations; DUE: final draft of long in-depth feature.

Week of Mar 31, Apr 2--No class on Tuesday (research); putting it all together.

Week of Apr 7, 9--No class on Tuesday (research) Workshopping and investigation. DUE: draft of research installments on Apr 9.

Week of Apr 14, 16--Workshopping

Week of Apr 21--Workshopping

FINAL EXAM:  Friday, April 24, 10:15-12:15; due at the start of the final exam period: final draft of long feature/investigative piece

Grades will be based on the following:

Attendance and participation (including peer critiques)-----------------20 percent

How-to/informational article------------------------------------------------10 percent

Profile---------------------------------------------------------------------------10 percent

Travel/event--------------------------------------------------------------------10 percent

Investigative story (group)---------------------------------------------------20 percent

Human interest feature (in-depth)------------------------------------------30 percent 


Plath Country