News and Feature Writing (P4092)

30 credits, Level 4

Autumn teaching

The module introduces you to the practical and analytical skills involved in professional news writing, news gathering and research. In the autumn term the focus is on print media and you will learn about conceptual issues linked to the production of print news and features (such as news values, narrative structures and objectivity in reporting) and you will also acquire the skills necessary for the production of print news and features. Legal and ethical constraints on the work of journalists will also be covered in the module. You will work individually and collaboratively in order to produce stories, evaluate sources, carry out interviews and revise writing. The module will also encourage you to critically evaluate examples of news and feature writing, news gathering and research and to reflect critically on your own production practices.

 

Teaching

100%: Practical (Workshop)

Assessment

100%: Coursework (Essay, Project, Report)

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 42 hours of contact time and about 258 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2022/23. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.