JOUR 303 /2 FEATURE WRITING

Fall semester, 2023

Thursdays 8h45 to 11h, in room 3.306
Instructor: Sarah Musgrave
Emails: [email protected]
Office hours: Tuesdays 9-10h, via Zoom by appointment

Land Acknowledgement
This is to acknowledge that Concordia University is located on unceded Indigenous lands. The
Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of these lands and waters.

Course description
This workshop course is designed to help students develop and enhance their writing
abilities and prepare for a range of approaches to storytelling in journalism, from brief
colour stories to profiles to in-depth features. We will work on developing style and
form, pitching and writing, research and interviewing, as well as editing and revision.
Throughout the semester, we will read contemporary and classic examples of feature
journalism, and learn to identify best practices and core techniques while developing
your own individual voices. Students will be expected to publish at least one of the
features written for this course.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will:
- Strengthen your writing and interviewing skills for feature-length stories.
- Be inspired by excellent feature writing.
- Develop your ability to take a more creative approach to storytelling.
- Get an inside view of the editorial process from pitch to publication.
- Recognize different techniques and tools for creative nonfiction.
- Write for voice, rich description, sensory detail and scene setting.
- Undertake different forms of in-depth research and organize material.
- Develop story ideas for the current market.

Required reading/materials
There is no textbook for this course. You will be assigned several feature stories to read
and you’ll be expected to discuss them in class.

References & Titles

+ Strunk and White, The Elements of Style
+ Canadian Press Style Guide
Assignments
For this course, students are expected to follow Canadian Press style. All assignments must be
submitted on time with no grammatical, spelling or factual errors. Students are strongly cautioned
to carefully proofread all assignments before submitting their final draft. Repeated mistakes,
particularly misspelled names, will result in deductions to the final mark.
Lateness will be penalized, with 10% deducted per day past the deadline. Unless otherwise
stipulated, all written assignments are due via email by 5pm ET on the date of the deadline.
Assignments designed to be presented in class are noted in the class schedule below.
Sources must be verifiable, and appended to / included with the final copy with contact
information, as would be required in a professional editorial setting. You are required to keep
supporting materials, such as recordings of interviews, and may be asked to produce them.
Please use the following “slug” convention for submitting assignments. It keeps everyone
organized, and sets the tone for professionalism and organization for both writers and editors:
JOUR303-yourlastname-titleofassignment, for example: JOUR309-musgrave-profile and
JOUR309-musgrave-profilefinal

Grading
Grade Numerical Meaning
A+ 95-100
A 90-94 Outstanding
A- 85-89
B+ 80-84 Very Good
B 75-79 Good
B- 70-74 Acceptable
C 55-69 Marginal
F 0- 54 Failure

Universal policy statement - Attendance and Punctuality

As an applied program, the Department of Journalism is committed both to teaching students how
to practice journalism as well as how to conduct themselves as working professionals. For this
reason, we enforce strictly a number of rules concerning attendance in class and deadlines for
course assignments. Attendance in all classes is mandatory and is excused only in the case of
serious medical or personal reasons (supported by a signed doctor’s note) or an internship
organized by the department. Students on internship must inform their instructors in advance and
remain responsible for all assignments during their absence. Once registered for a course, a student
missing four classes, for whatever reason, will receive a failing grade. Instructors may deduct up to
10 per cent of a student’s final grade for poor attendance, chronic lateness or inappropriate
behaviour. All course assignments must be completed in the sequence and time frame stipulated in
the course outline. Students must submit all assignments at the beginning of class, unless otherwise
specified by the instructor. University-wide regulations are contained in the undergraduate and
graduate calendars and the full list of department-specific rules and regulations is posted on the
third-floor bulletin board, the computer labs, and classrooms.

Original Work
Using material that someone else has produced and passing it off as your own is plagiarism.
This is a VERY serious offence—basically, you’re fired. Plagiarism includes: buying the work of
someone else; having someone else or an artificial intelligence write an assignment for you;
copying the work of another student; copying material, whether in whole or in part, from a
published or an unpublished source, or from the Internet; or paraphrasing an author’s text without
citing the source. The use of Chat GPT or other generative AI tools or apps to create, edit or
modify assignments for this course is prohibited, unless explicitly stated for a specific
assignment. In accordance with university rules, all plagiarized work will be reported to the
department chair for further action. To avoid charges of plagiarism, DO NOT COPY,
PARAPHRASE OR TRANSLATE ANYTHING FROM ANYWHERE WITHOUT SAYING
WHERE YOU OBTAINED IT. All assignments for this course must be completely original;
you may not re-submit work from previous classes.

Other Policies
Please turn off your phones once class starts—we don’t have a lot of time together so let’s
focus on what’s happening in the room. Laptop use will be limited to writing in-class
assignments (keep it closed during lectures and presentations). In-class discussions are
strongly encouraged — in fact we will be workshopping stories together as an editorial
team — and will be reflected in the participation mark.

Class Schedule
The sequence of topics and required readings are subject to change.

Week 1 / Thursday, September 7

Intro: The first class is an overview of the course. We’ll go over the goals and expectations for the
semester, including filing protocols and workflow, and we’ll get a sense of your specific areas of
interest in order to plan accordingly. We’ll look at what makes feature writing distinct from news
stories and other forms.
First assignment: Come up with two ideas for a feature profile, and prepare a short writeup of each
interview subject (150 words per idea). Send the ideas to me via email by 5pm on Wednesday,
September 13 and arrive in class ready to share one idea with the editorial team.

Week 2 / Thursday, September 14

Feature Profiles: Creative non-fiction comes in many shapes and sizes, and we’ll look at a few
different forms. Profiles are one of the mainstays of feature writing: what goes into choosing a
suitable subject, getting the material and putting it all together?
Due: Feature profile ideas, via email the day before class, to discuss in class.
Assignment: Prepare an outline of the steps to getting your feature profile done, and five of the key
questions you will be asking your subject. For in-class presentation next week, Sept. 21.
Week 3 / Thursday, September 21
Pitching: We’ll get into the art of pitching stories. It takes planning and research to shepherd a
story idea from inception to publication. Putting together a query letter, research and originality go
a long way.
In-class presentation: Discussion of feature profile plans, for editorial workshopping.

Week 4/ Thursday, September 28

Form: We’ll continue to look at forms of creative non-fiction writing, with an exploration of
different “ways in” to storytelling. We’ll touch on the finer skills of interviewing.
In-class: Be prepared to talk about your progress on the feature profile (800-900 words). The first
draft is due Oct. 5.

Week 5/ Thursday, October 5

This week, we’re working on storytelling: how to set the tone for your story and set yourself as a
writer—and your readers—up for success. Special focus on ledes, nut grafs and kickers.
Due: File the first draft of the feature profile.
Assignment: You’ll be doing an edit of your peer’s first draft for structure, clarity and content. Due
Oct 19.

Week 6 / Thursday, October 12

Reading week. No classes.

Week 7 / Thursday, October 19

Editorial Workshop: We’ll review how your stories are going as writers and we’ll offer
constructive criticism as editors during this team meeting.
(If there’s time, we’ll do an in-class writing exercise designed to ease writer’s block.)
Due: File the peer edit assignment.
Assignment: Prepare a 5-minute presentation on your idea for a feature story, and file the query
letter to me via email. You may use photos, video or other supporting materials for the presentation.
Note: It is strongly suggested that you have one preliminary interview done at this stage in order to
ensure that you can get the story off the ground. Due Oct. 26.

Week 8 / Thursday, October 26

Presentations: This class is structured like an editorial meeting, and will be devoted to your pitches
for the feature story. The class will offer constructive feedback.

Week 9 / Thursday, November 2

Process: We’ll go behind the scenes to follow a story from pitch, to letter of assignment, through
three drafts of edits to final layout. How does the editorial process work from pitch to publication?
What’s the feedback loop between story drafts? How do you know when you’ve done enough
research?
Due: File the final draft of the feature profile (800-900 words).

Week 10 / Thursday, November 9

Voice: We will look at voice and how a writer can develop their own distinctive writing style, with
the choice of words but also by going with their gut about where the gold might be. (If there’s time,
we’ll do an in-class writing exercise to work on sensory writing and rich description.).

Week 11 / Thursday, November 16

Structure: Gathering, managing and organizing lots of information and observation is the
challenge of creative nonfiction. Both for the writer and the reader, it’s important to have a roadmap
for where we’re going and how we’re getting there.
Assignment: Complete first draft of the feature article (1800-2000 words). Due Nov 21.

Week 12 / Thursday, November 23

One on one workshopping in class

Week 13 / Thursday, November 30

Final class: We’ll look at some excerpts of your work together. And we’ll recap the highs and lows
of the semester and address any problems you encountered and how to avoid them. Be ready for an
experiential writing assignment.
Assignment: Complete rewrite/final draft of the feature story (1800-2000 words). Due Dec. 5.

Course Protocols & Grading

This syllabus is subject to change. Given the ever-evolving situation with Covid-19 and its variants,
the order of subjects, the content and the nature of the assignments may be altered as we adapt to
evolving realities. The reading materials and themed classes will be adapted to suit the interests of
the group.
Grading is weighted according to the following considerations:
On queries and first drafts: originality of ideas, clarity of presentation and engagement in research.
By second / final draft: publishability, voice, execution and completeness of research and
interviewing are top of mind. For all and ant other assignments, attention to detail, tone and
organization are key. Remember this is feature writing, and assignments should be engaging to
readers and ready for real-world editors.

Assignments Value
Feature profile ideas (due Sept. 13 via email, ahead of class day) 5%
Feature profile outline, in-class presentation (due Sept. 21 with preliminary
research) 5%
Feature profile first draft (due Oct. 5) 10%
Peer edit of feature profile (due Oct. 19) 10%
Feature story pitch (oral presentation and written query letter) (due Oct. 26) 10%
Feature profile rewrite/final draft (due Nov. 2) 15%
Feature story first draft (due Nov. 21, ahead of class day) 15%
Feature story rewrite/final draft (due Dec. 5) 20%
Class participation 10%