COMM-200 Lecture 1: Com 200-002; all semester notes
Communications 200-002
Professor Young
January 19, 2017
-Good writing is:
●Simple
● Efficient
●Precise
● Clear (no ambiguity)
● Modest-not showing off how “smart” you are
● Authoritative
●Writing to inform, not to impress
-Basic techniques:
●Write simply
●Use simple sentences- use active voice constructions (subject-verb-object)
○Ex: Billy hit the ball. (active) VS The ball was hit by Billy. (passive)
●Vary sentence type and length
○Don’t be predictable
○Varying structure provides cadence, pacing
○Use combination of sentence types to keep readers engaged
●Embrace brevity
○Use the minimum number of words to make your point
○“Less is more”
●Eliminate jargon, cliches and bureaucratese/corporate-speak
●Nouns and Verbs
○Strongest words in the English language
○Most important tools in writer’s toolbelt
○Writing that relies on adjectives and adverbs is weak and ineffective
○Verbs describe action-the best ones paint a picture in reader’s mind
●Writing for Mass Media
○Subject matter
■Writers must take on a variety of topics and deliver across a variety of
topics
○Purpose
■Writing for communications has 3 major purposes:
○Writing environment
○Audience:demographics, interests, medium, device, investment
Today, American University campus police arrested five students for disorderly conduct and
charged several others with organizing a public meeting without a permit to do so, after more
than a thousand students gathered outside MGC to support university workers.
-Homework: Read chpts 1-3, do exercises 1.9 on pg.10, 1.13, and 1.14; and prep for new quiz
January 22, 2018
Stages of writing:
●Gathering information
●Thinking and planning
●Listing
●Writing the message as you would tell it verbally
●Rewriting
●Sharing/reading aloud
●Editing/polishing
Grammar and Good Writing:
●Subject/verb agreement
○Ideally, you should include only one or two ideas per sentence MAX.
○Dependent clauses
○Keep your subject and verb close to each other
○Subjects and verbs often get separated in writing, usually because we want to tell
the reader something about the subject before we get to the verb. When we do
this, even for good reasons, we risk confusing the reader
●Subordinate clauses
○Use them sparingly
●Subject -verb-pronoun agreement
●Singular pronouns: anyone, anybody, each, everybody, everyone, somebody, someone,
no one, nobody, neither, either
●Media is plural, medium is singular; data is plural, datum is singular
●Active/Passive voice
○Ok to use passive voice when the subject isn’t clear or important OR to emphasize
the importance of the object
Homework: complete exercise 1.15 “autobiography” print out and bring to class on Friday; read
ch.4
January 26, 2018
Writing in the Media Environment
●Audience
●Accuracy
○Spell names correctly
○Quote sources correctly/in context
○Be skeptical (“if your mother says she loves you, check it out”)
○Do the math
●Verification and Attribution(citing your work)
●Information, not opinion
●Clarity, coherence, context
●Deadlines
Elements of News
●Impact
●Timeliness
●Prominence
●Proximity
●Conflict/Drama
●The bizarre/unusual
●Human interest (tells about humanity/ the human experience)
●***Stories can include all or just one of these news elements, but the best stories
typically include most of them.
5 W’s and the H:
●Who? Major players, knowledgeable sources, stakeholders. Also, people who
support/oppose an issue or who may be directly/indirectly impacted
●What? What is going on? What happened?
●Where? More than just the aress? Pain a picture for the audience. What’s the location
look, sound, smell like?
●When? Timeline of events (essp important for developing/follow-up stories)
●Why/ Why things are happening the way they are. Why people are doing what they’re
doing?
●How? How did things unfold? Readers want to know how everything played out.
●So what? Why should I care about this story? Question especially important now that
we’re inundated with news online. Journalists must explain why the story matters and
how it relates to the reader.
Document Summary
Modest-not showing off how smart you are. Use simple sentences- use active voice constructions (subject-verb-object) Ex: billy hit the ball. (active) vs the ball was hit by billy. (passive) Use combination of sentence types to keep readers engaged. Use the minimum number of words to make your point. Writing that relies on adjectives and adverbs is weak and ineffective. Verbs describe action-the best ones paint a picture in reader"s mind. Writers must take on a variety of topics and deliver across a variety of topics. Writing for communications has 3 major purposes: Today, american university campus police arrested five students for disorderly conduct and charged several others with organizing a public meeting without a permit to do so, after more than a thousand students gathered outside mgc to support university workers. Homework: read chpts 1-3, do exercises 1. 9 on pg. 10, 1. 13, and 1. 14; and prep for new quiz. Writing the message as you would tell it verbally.