JOUR 3709: Story 3

“Story 3 Ideas” (Assignment 5) Value: 5 %

Due date: March 11 via BB

Final Story Value: 15 %

Draft: Have ready in class last week of March
Due date: April 1 midnight

The goal of this assignment is to improve our reporting and interviewing skills.

For this assignment, you will work alone or in pairs to produce one written story with artwork and social
media posts suitable for potential publication in the Calgary Journal. The expected body length is 350-400
words and it must contain interviews with two distinct sources. All work must meet the standards of the
department’s Journalism Code of Ethics and Professional Practices.

The loose theme of this assignment is adaptation in Calgary or “the action or process of changing
something, or of being changed, to suit a new purpose or situation.” Adaptation comes with a built-in
tension: Something has happened that wouldn’t usually happen. You may choose to cover an event, write
a profile of a person or of a non-profit organization or business, or write a news story based on your own
original reporting.

Here’s some recent news stories as examples:

Pets adapting to the owners returning to the office
Adapting empty office space for affordable housing

You’ll begin the process by outlining two ideas and I’ll approve one of the two.

“Story 3 Ideas” (Assignment 5)

For each idea please provide:

● Proposed headline. Remember headline style rules. (Value = 2)
● An explanation of how this story idea contributes to the theme of adaptation in Calgary
● Names/titles of two potential sources and what point of view each will add to your story. (Value
= 2)
● Potential total points = 5 (2.5 assigned to each idea)

Please email me with any question.

Submission Grading Guide

/15
Excellent (A)
Story is comprehensive.
All angles are covered.
Coverage is fair/balanced
Story contains at least two
sources. Each source is the
appropriate authority for
their contribution.
Story is excellent; sources
are portrayed so the target
audience will care and feel
emotionally connected.
Excellent artwork has been
created by the authors (or
sourced properly where
appropriate), and all have
cutlines/labels/credits.
Story contains no issues
with
spelling/grammar/typos/CP
style.
Submitted story has
incorporated feedback from
the instructors.
All work has been
completed to a
professional, ethical
standard.
Good (B) Acceptable (C) NOTE: Components not
meeting the
“acceptable” criterion
will receive a D or an F
for that column.
No major questions left Some major questions
unanswered. left unanswered.
Some crucial story
All crucial angles are angles are not covered.
covered. Coverage has minor
elements that would
Coverage is fair/balanced. question the
fairness/balanced
nature of the site.
Story contains one source. Story displays no
Most sources are the sources and/or there are
appropriate authority for some questions around
their contribution. the appropriateness of
sources.
Story portrays sources so
the target audience will Story portrays sources
probably care and feel in a way that would
emotionally connected to allow the target
the sources. audience to care
minimally, or to feel
emotionally connected
to the sources on a
basic level.
Good artwork has been Artwork has not been
created by the authors (or sourced properly, or
sourced properly where does not have
appropriate), and all have cutlines/labels/credits.
cutlines/labels/credits.
Story contains some minor Story contains multiple
errors with errors with
spelling/grammar/typos/CP spelling/grammar /
style. typos/CP style.
Submitted story has Submitted story has not
incorporated some incorporated feedback
feedback from the from the instructors.
instructors, but some work
remains. There are some very
minor ethical questions
All work has been with site (e.g., unclear
completed to a wording, etc, but no
 professional, ethical serious ethical
Student uses CJ template standard. concerns)
https://sites.google.com/
mtroyal.ca/ Student uses CJ template Student does not use
calgaryjournalhub/how-to- but is missing elements the template
submit
https://sites.google.com/
mtroyal.ca/
calgaryjournalhub/how-to-
submit