This course is designed to teach you some of the techniques of good writing in a professional media environment. It also introduces you to the major forms of writing for the mass media.

In this section you will learn a little more about the course content and the procedures for the course..

More lecture notes

The points that we want to emphasize this week are that:

• Writing is central to all of the media industries.
  
  
• The major purpose of writing for the mass media is to present information.
  
  
• Writing for the mass media should be accuracte, complete, efficient and precise.
  
  
• Attendance is extremely important in this course.

Readings for this week

Read Chapter 1 of Writing for the Mass Media. Make sure you understand all of the concepts and practices discussed there.

Reading room

The American Dialect Society has chosen the words of the year (1999), decade (1990s), century (1900s) and millennium. Find out what they are.

Mark Twain on James Fenimore Cooper. If you enjoy reading the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, you might change your mind after reading Mark Twain devastating critique of Cooper’s work. Take a look at how one of America’s literary giants goes after another one.

Lasting value. One of the reasons that documents have lasting value is that they express strong ideas and are written well. Look at the Declaration of Independence. It begins with, "When in the course of human events . . ." and contains phrases such as "all men are created equal" and "they are endowed with certain inalienable rights" and "among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We remember those phrases because their ideas but also because they are simply written. Two of the best written documents from American history are Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Thomas Paine's The American Crisis. The Gettysburg Address is only 272 words, but it contains ideas that continue to affect us today. When you read the work of Thomas Paine, note the simplicity and power of the language. Then there is Franklin Roosevelt's first inaugural address. The nation was in the depth of an economic depression, and FDR needed to say something reassuring. He chose just the right, simple few words: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."