Other Helpful Texts

• The Process of Writing News (1992) by R. Thomas Berner (available online).
• We the Media (2004) by Dan Gillmor (available online).

Grammar / AP Style Resources

• Band-Aid AP Stylebook (the short version online)
• Dr. Sweeney’s guide to AP style (include a “test yourself” section)
• Ask the AP Stylebook editor (for those style questions that don’t appear in the AP Stylebook)
• The Tongue Untied – A guide to grammar, punctuation and style
• McCune’s favorite online grammar/style resources

News Writing Resources

• What is News on The Gully Online Magazine
• Lead-writing links on the international JournaWiki
• Writing Leads and Nut Grafs on the NewsWriting blog
• Writing “Soft” or Feature Leads — on the NewsWriting blog
• Writing Leads: How to Open with Style on The Gully Online Magazine
• How to Write News on The Gully Online Magazine
• Using Quotes on The Gully Online Magazine

Online Journalism & Multimedia Resources

• News University — free online journalism/tech tutorials
• Knight Digital Media Center at UC-Berkeley — free online journalism/tech tutorials
• Lecturer Steve Sloan’s handouts on using iMovie and Audacity

Other Online Journalism Resources

• Crash course in copyright law
• My memo on “How to write a memo“
• Interviewing: The Ignored Skill at that wonderful resource Poynter Online
• Ira Glass on storytelling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7KQ4vkiNUk&feature=related
• Pitch letters and proposals
• How to write a pitch letter

Broadcasting Links

• Prof. Bob Rucker’s tips on writing for broadcast
• NEW! Broadcast Writing — a PowerPoint presentation in pdf format (download the pdf)
• Broadcast yourself…using iMovie, YouTube and your blog  
  • Direct link for this pdf:
• YouTube help page: Sharing a YouTube video (posting a video on your blog)
• Freevlog tutorials on putting videos on the web…and on your blog (see tutorials #4/4a, 5/5a & 7)

Writing Reviews

• Prewriting questions for book, movie, or play reviews
• Guidelines for writing reviews – blogcritics online magazine
• The art of writing reviews – The Write Spot blog for BlogHer ‘07
• Ten secrets of writing reviews – by blogger Jonathan Dreamer
• When writing reviews, make them fun – blog post at Online Gaming Radio
• Some examples of movie reviews I liked:
  • Review of Taken, by Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com (1/30/09): Read the first two lines of paragraph 2 to get a sense of what fun she had writing this review.

Writing Columns

• Here are examples of some different types of columns I’ve written for my blog:
  • Personal meditation column: What I can’t forget…at least not yet
  • Slice of life column: California Dreaming, Death on Wings
  • Topical commentary: Are you “Sicko” yet?

Sample Classmate Profiles

• Sample Classmate Profile #1
• Sample Classmate Profile #2
• Sample Classmate Profile #3
• Sample Classmate Profile #4

SJSU Resources

• The Writing Center, Clark Hall 126, assists students with all parts of the writing process, including grammar, organization and syntax. For more information, visit http://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter or call 408-924-2308.
• Journalism and mass comm. research page at SJLibrary.com
• Plagiarism reference page at SJLibrary.com
• Here’s how to get an SJSU library card so you can access the SJSU’s academic databases online:
  • Go to the MLK Library’s web site at http://www.sjlibrary.org/index.htm
  • Click on the SJSU Students and Faculty link (lower left side)
  • Click on Distance Learning (see list on left side)
  • Then click on Connect From Home — a pop-up window explains how to set up a library account and a PIN number (using your SJSU ID number), so you can access SJSU databases online.

Some YouTube Videos Worth Watching

• From Prof. Michael Wesch of Kansas State University:
  • The Information R/evolution
  • Web 2.0: The Machine is Us/ing Us
  • A Vision of Students Today

Some Interesting Blogs to Explore

• Romenesko blog (Poynter Online)
• Steve Rubel’s Micropersuasion (PR/mktg.)
• Mark Glaser’s Media Shift/PBS (journalism)
• Craig Silverman’s Regret the Error blog (journalism)
• Ryan Sholin’s Invisible Inkling (JMC grad student focusing on journalism/new media)
• Daniel Sato’s Photojournalism Blog (JMC photojournalism grad)
• Robert Scoble’s Scobleizer (JMC alum)
• Steve Sloan’s SJSU Tech on a Mission blog
• Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things