English 2783
The Art of Fact: Contemporary Literary Journalism
Prompt # 5
17 September 2010
Choosing a source, and reporting on it
There is now, on the Web site and linked from the main course page,
a page with a list of all the suggested
sources people have emailed to me. Your task is to choose one of
them, find it, spend a couple of hours with it, and construct a
written report to the rest of us on what it has to say. Your job
isn't to evaluate it or recommend it; your job is to report to the
rest of us what it has to say that will help us as we begin an
exploration of literary journalism.
To avoid duplication, here's how the choice process will work. When
you've decided on your choice, email the class list (it's at hunt2783@stu.ca).
But first, read your email to make sure no one else has already
chosen it. If they have, go back to the list and make a second
choice. And so forth. And here's the trick: if it turns out you
can't find it, you'll need to make another choice -- again, being
sure that no one else has already chosen the new one.
Reading and reporting
As you read, be watching for the following:
- Ideas about what this form is, and what it's not
- Information about its history
- Information about its notable practitioners (the writers of
it)
- Information about the situations those practitioners work (or
worked) in -- where did they publish, how did they make money,
who influenced them
- And especially -- further resources that look as though they
might be valuable. You might want to end your report with a list
of them
There may be other issues that are important, too -- but bear in
mind that you're not a reviewer, but a reporter. A journalist. Your
job is to tell the rest of us, as best you can in the time you have,
what we need to know about what your source has to teach us about
literary journalism. Think of it as an executive summary. You need
to decide what's going to be most useful to the rest of the class.
I'd recommend writing this as a word processor document (or, if you
work in longhand, on paper), editing and re-editing as needed. When
you're done, post it to the site I'll have created on the course
Moodle page.
How long does it need to be? As usual, as long as you need, and as
much time as you can budget, within the constraints of the course
(7-8 hours a week, remember).
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