Communication Studies 311
Telephone: 964-5157 or 975-4683
Office & Hours: MW 10-12 and 1-2 and by appointment in 24 McNeill Hall.
Email: steffen@storm.simpson.edu
You've all survived Beginning Newswriting and Reporting. This course will provide you with new challenges in editing, designing and laying out publications. Editing and Design is a required course for all journalism and mass communication majors and minors at Simpson. It is a strongly recommended course for corporate communication majors and minors.
You must have access to a word processing unit, possess a good supply of soft lead pencils, and a good dictionary and thesaurus (bring them to class).
Our main text will be Thom Lieb's Editing for Clear Communication (2/e), which does a great job of presenting the variety of situations in the communication professions in which editing and design skills are important. Students also are required to purchase and use the AP Stylebook, which is considered the industry bible when it comes to questions of style, and Kessler and McDonald's When Words Collide. Don't forget to keep reading at least one major daily newspaper and taking steps to keep up with what's going on in the world. Not only will you continue to be responsible for the news, but you should also be observing how publications are edited and designed.
We will complete a number of in-class and overnight assignments from the Lieb text and elsewhere that will help you develop your skills as an editor and designer. We will also be learning and using the Quark Express 4.1 software program, the leading desktop publishing program in the industry. You will find Quark Express an easy and helpful design and layout friend once you pick it up.
There will be two 25-question multiple-choice examination during the course of the term. We will also have the six pop current affairs quizzes that were such a hit during in Beginning Newswriting and Reporting.
Honesty is a must for those who engage in editing and any communications-related work. The College's policies regarding academic dishonesty are outlined in the 2001-2003 Simpson College General Catalog. With regard to this course, acts of dishonesty include, but are not necessarily limited to, cheating on examinations, plagiarizing material from other sources, making up material or sources of information, and/or submitting work for this course originally completed for other courses without instructors permission. The penalty for academic dishonesty shall be failure of the course.
Students will receive up to 450 weighted points for their work in the course. The point totals for each portion of the course will be weighted as follows:
| Component |
Weighted Points |
| Examinations |
100 |
| Exercises |
100 |
| Quizzes |
50 |
| Stories |
100 |
| Final Project |
100 |
| Total |
450 |
Students with no unexcused absences on their records and superior classroom participation will be rewarded with an increase of up to 1/3 of a letter grade on their final grade. Students will be penalized 1.5% of the course point total for each unexcused absence. At the end of the course, final grades will be determined on a straight percentage basis (100-92%=A, 91-90%=A-, 89-88%=B+, 87-82%=B, 81-80%=B-, etc.).
| Topic | Read in Lieb |
| Introduction and Planning | Chapters 1-2 |
| Coaching | Chapters 8 |
| Macro-Level Copy Editing | Chapters 5-7 |
| Micro-Level Copy Editing | Chapters 3-4 |
| Headlines | Chapter 9 |
| Graphics and Media Design | Chapter 10 |
| Desktop Publishing | To be announced |
