Assessment - Writing for media
This assessment requires students to write and collate for media (print and social). It comprises four phases.
Phase 1: Research and record the story (Twitter)
You will have set up a Twitter account as part of your blogging activities.
For this assignment, you need to attend an event in your local area. This can be any event but you will need to ensure that it occurs within a time frame that allows you to meet the deadlines for this assessment.
You will record activities of the event via Twitter. This means that throughout the event, you will tweet facts and quotes from attendees via your Twitter account. You should include photos and videos of the event. One tweet should be of you at the event (ie. a selfie or photo taken by someone else).
You should use the hashtag/twittercue/or Twitter name of the event in your tweets. If one doesn't exist, make up your own. You will need to include #profcomm and @CQUni in your first tweet, so that this can be registered in our study twitter feed.
You must record a minimum of 15 tweets on which you will base Phase 2.
Phase 2: Write the story (Print - Microsoft Word)
Write a short 250 word news story about your event. This must be written using the inverted pyramid, and have a strong lead paragraph/s that are based on the 5Ws and H. You will need to include some quotes from attendees or organisers.
Phase 3: Curate the story (Social media - Storify)
You will have set up a Storify account as part of your blogging activities (Assignment 1). For this assessment, you will curate a story about your Phase 1 event on this Storify account. You will need to write the story and link your tweets so that readers will have an understanding of the event. You may use the print story as the basis of this narrative, but will have to adjust it so you can integrate social media. You do not need to include all of your tweets but should have a minimum of six (6) that are your own. You may include other people's tweets of the same event. You must:
- Have a strong introductory lead based on the 5WS and H.
- Conclude the story appropriately;
- Transition between tweets and narrative so that the story moves forward; and
- Attend to grammar, spelling, and punctuation so that your work is technically correct;
Once your Storify page is completed, post it on the Assessment forum.
Phase 4: Submit your story for assessment
Submit one file that contains:
- a cover page
- your news story (250 words)
- a URL for your Storify
- self-assessment.
Self-assessment
You will self-assess your work prior to submission. This means you will need to fill out the assessment marking criteria based on how you think you addressed each element (line on the criteria sheet). This will be new to many people, but it's valuable. You will become familiar with the assessment requirements, and we know that you'll possibly be tougher on yourself than we will. Overall, we find students to be very accurate when they self-assess. A video will be made available below.