English 308 is the intermediate journalism skills course, following English 307. Students pitch stories weekly on their specific beats, write profiles, file a FOIA request, research and live Tweet a city council meeting. We also work on videos, photos and a podcast.
Above, a 308 student practices writing a scene without sight.
Most of the stories are published in the student paper, The Review. However, students must pitch a story to a non-student publication (several get published and paid.) At the end of the semester, students put together a basic resume and write a cover letter as if they were applying for an internship or a job.
In Fall 2015, Pope Francis came to Philadelphia and the class covered all three days of the visit. They live blogged under the hashtag #udelpope and their stories were picked up by The Delaware News-Journal, Delaware Today and WHYY, the local NPR affiliate.
For the Fall 2016 election, many politicians came to Philadelphia. I obtained full press credentials for select students to cover Hillary Clinton (twice), former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and then-President Barack Obama, as well as the “super night” with the Obamas, the Clintons and Bruce Springsteen.
Spring 2016 Syllabus (regular semester) Fall 2016 308 Syllabus (election semester) Fall 2016 course schedule Beat Thought Process -Housing FOIA and response Roller Derby Profile American cuisine feature story Meeting Tweeting Instructions Meeting Tweeting Pope Tweets 2012 Election video (Which one is Biden?) Podcast for WJBR episode 1 Podcast episode 2 Alumni Interview Published: Delaware Today (feature) Published: Delaware Today (profile) Election Coverage 2016 stories (Note: We requested credentials from Donald Trump's events but were denied.) *Barack Obama *Michelle Obama *Hillary Clinton 1 *Hillary Clinton 2 *Bill Clinton
