“Blogging for Journalists” Syllabus MCOM 3813—Section 14633 ...

“Blogging for Journalists”
Syllabus
MCOM 3813—Section 14633
Fall 2013
Class meets 9:30-10:45 TR—COM 215
Dr. Terry M. Clark
Office: UC 319. e-mail: tclark@uco.edu; Phone 974-5122
Office hours: 8:00-9:15 TR, 9-12 W
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Blogging for Journalists prepares students to
understand, analyze and utilize the role and operation of Internet blogs in
journalism culture and practice. The course gives students practical experiences
in creating and maintaining a blog. Prerequisite(s): ENG 1113, ENG 1213, MCOM
1133 and junior or senior standing.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: To enable you to establish and maintain a blog; to
familiarize you with the impact and reach of Internet blogging in journalism and
other fields; to improve your writing through weekly postings, and assignments.
TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING: This course addresses three of the university’s
transformative learning goals—discipline knowledge (journalistic writing and blogging;
problem-solving--scholarly and creative pursuits (Setting up and maintaining a blog,
research and presentation) ; and health and wellness (The ability to take criticism,
and thus mental health by avoiding failure).
Course Requirements:
1. Faithful attendance. Grade will drop one level for each three absences. You
may not make up missed in class writing and take a 0. If you miss more than
six class sessions, you will flunk. NO LATE WORK. Any late work will
earn a “0.”
2. Be on time to class. Three tardies equal an absence.
3. Design and creation of a blog.
4. The ability to write grammatically correct complete sentences.
5. Weekly postings of original content on the blog, including class notes,
and speaker stories. Beginning with the end of week two, blog posts
must be each week. If you miss a week, you lose those points.
6. Weekly following and comments on all other class members’ blogs.
7. Following a professional blog in your area, with blog report,
presentation.
8. 500-word essay on blogs in today’s world.
9. Bring text to every class.
10. Follow http://blogblog.uco.blogspot.com,
http://clarkcoffee.blogspot.com
Editor’s note on attendance: Grade will drop one level for every two absences. If
you miss six or more class sessions, you will flunk. If you have a medical
condition that will mean extensive absences, you must notify the professor the
first week of class, with documentation.

Text: Google Blogger for Dummies. Susan Gunelius. Wiley, 2009
Recommended Texts:
• JournalismNext. Mark Briggs. CQ Press, 2010.
• The Huffington Post’s Complete Guide to Blogging. Simon and
Schuster.com, 2008.
Required web sites:
• Technorati.com;
• BlogOklahoma.com;
• mashable.com;
Recommended web sites:
• pioneerwoman.com;
• Huffingtonpost.com
GRADING SCALE: 100-91--A; 90-81--B; 80-70--C; 60-69--D.
• Creation, design, improvement and maintenance of blog—300 points
• Weekly posts—300 points
• Blog Essay—100 points
• Blog presentation, paper—150 points
• Blog comments—50 points
• Final test, multiple choice—100 points
• Total: 1,000 points
• Note: The final test will be over blogging terms from the text and class,
and comments from the speakers.
This syllabus is fluid. As a class committed to transformational learning, your
participation and interaction is expected and encouraged. You will help modify
and establish the syllabus requirements and course content. Syllabus may be
amended at any time by professor.
COURSE SCHEDULE
• Week one-- Intros, transformational workshop—student syllabus
requirements, organization, syllabus, intros to blogging, course requirements;
• Week two-- Text intro, chapters 1-3; Designing the blog, vocabulary, selection
of blog favorites; professor’s critique of blogs
• Weeks three, four--Text chapters 4-6; Writing for the web, typography
• Week five—Text chapter 7—templates; Guest speaker
• Week six— Text chapter 8—Refinements; Progress reports
• Week seven—Text chapter 9--Management
• Week eight,--Text chapters 12, 13; networking, Blog essay due.
• Week nine—Fall break
• Week ten-- text chapters 10.11, business; Guest speaker
• Week twelve—blog reports

• Week thirteen—blog reports
• Week fourteen—blog reports.
• Week fifteen—blog reports, Thanksgiving
• Week sixteen—blog reports, evaluation
• Final—9 am, Dec. 10.
Blog essay assignment: For this assignment, you must write a 500-­‐word essay in
which you describe the current impact of blogging on American culture and
journalism. You must provide links to your source material. All information about
blogging is easily available on the web. You can easily obtain this material through
simple Google searches. You might ask yourself these questions as you prepare to
write your essay: How do blogs compete with traditional media sources? How
important are blogs in politics? Do blogs promote democracy? What are the
drawbacks of blogs? Ultimately, you must make a claim, or argument, about the
significance of blogs in today's world. (Thanks to Dr. Kurt Hochenauer for this
assignment.) More guidelines will be on http://blogbloguco.blogspot.com
Blog report guidelines: 10-15minute presentation to class about your
professional blog selection, evaluating it for content, effectiveness and design
and how it has influenced you. One page outline to class. Three-page paper
professor. More guidelines on http://blogbloguco.blogspot.com
• All university policies regarding grading, grade appeals, academic dishonesty,
adding and dropping apply. See appropriate university publications.
www.uco/academic-affairs/aa-forms/faculty/StudentinfoSheet.pdf
• Any case of plagiarism will result in a 0 for the entire assignment. A second
case will flunk you for the course, and ruin your future as a journalist.
• UCO subscribes to the Turnitin.com plagiarism prevention service. Students agree that by taking
this course, all required assignments may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to
Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted assignments will be included as source
documents in the Turnitin.com restricted access reference database for the purpose of detecting
plagiarism of such assignments. In the UCO Student Handbook, there is a process for contesting
any plagiarism allegations against you.
• Note: Turn off cell phones or pagers. No texting. If your phone or pager
goes off or you text, in class, you must leave and take a 0 for the day.
DEADLINES: Must be met. Absolutely. Period. End of discussion. Journalism
is a deadline business. Accordingly, late work will not be accepted. Don’t bother
to hand it in—you get a “0” grade. Absence is no excuse.
Department of Mass Communication Policies – Fall 2013
Departmental Phone: (405) 974-5303
Website: http://www.uco.edu/la/masscomm/
UCentral Student Media has an app! Go to iTunes to download it for free!
Follow the department Twitter account @UCO_MCOM
“Like” the UCO Department of Mass Communication Facebook Page!
Student Advisement:
MCOM has two Student Success Advisors for MCOM majors.
• Ms. Albani Milton-Smith advises Interpersonal Communication and Professional Media majors.
o Office: COM 103
o Phone: 974-5140

o Email: amilton3@uco.edu
• Ms. Heather Peck advises Organizational Communication, Photographic Arts, and Strategic
Communication majors.
o Office: COM 103 A
o Phone: 974-5108
o Email: hpeck3@uco.edu
Each student is responsible for seeking advisement information each semester in order to graduate in a
timely manner.
UCO Media Ethics Conference: Wednesday, September 25 and Thursday, September 26
Contact Yvette Walker, Edith K. Gaylord Endowed Ethics Chair, for more information at ywalker@uco.edu.
UCentral Student Media: http://www.uco.edu/la/masscomm/ucentral/index.asp
UCentral is the student media network at the University of Central Oklahoma, featuring traditional media
(television, radio, newspaper) and new media (web, netcasts, social networking) created by students
majoring in professional media. UCentral is located within the Mass Communication Department on the
campus of UCO.
UCO Student Code of Conduct: Students are responsible for all information in the Student Code of
Conduct 2013-2014. This can be accessed on the Student Affairs Publications website at
http://www.uco.edu/student-affairs/conduct/index.asp.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AND PLAGIARISM:
The UCO Student Code of Conduct describes Academic Dishonesty and outlines the steps for disciplinary
action in the Guidelines for Alleged Academic Dishonesty. This information can be found in Section III, C, 3
& 4.
Academic dishonesty: Includes but is not limited to the “giving” and “taking” of improper assistance in
examinations and assignments; not adhering to correct procedures for identification of sources in reports
and essays and all creative endeavors; intentional misrepresentation; cheating; plagiarism; and
unauthorized possession of examinations. The UCO Student Code of Conduct provides further details.
Additionally, any work submitted as an assignment for one class may not be submitted for credit in another
class, without prior permission of the professor. Any work so submitted will receive an automatic "0."
Plagiarism: When a student submits any assignment for a course (written, oral, videotape, audiotape,
photograph or Web Site), the student will submit entirely original work or will properly cite all sources utilized
in the preparation of the assignment. Without proper citation, the student is guilty of plagiarism, which is not
tolerated at UCO.
As a student, you are responsible for understanding what constitutes plagiarism. You should talk to your
professor to ensure that you can recognize and avoid all types of plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs in two
primary ways:
1. Word-for-word copying, without acknowledgement, of the language or creative work of another person.
Having another person complete all or part of your assignment is plagiarism and is clearly forbidden.
But, in addition, the student should include NO written, video, audio, or photographic material from an
existing source, no matter how brief, without acknowledging the source. When using the written words
of an existing source in your assignment, either place the borrowed words in quotation marks or set the
quotation aside as a block quotation. Additionally, you must include the citation for the material in your
assignment. This applies to even the briefest of phrases if they are truly distinctive.
2. The unacknowledged paraphrasing of an author’s ideas. The student should no more take credit for
another person’s thoughts than for another person’s words. Any distinctive, original idea taken from
another writer should be credited to its author. If you are not sure whether or not an author’s idea is
distinctive, you should assume that it is: no fault attaches to over-acknowledgement, but underacknowledgement
is plagiarism. Most style manuals (e.g., Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association) provide information concerning how to paraphrase and cite the ideas and
writings of existing sources.
Students may be dismissed from the university for plagiarism. University guidelines provide a range of
disciplinary action dependent upon the severity of the offense including but not limited to: requiring a
substitute assignment, awarding a reduced grade, awarding a failing grade for the assignment, awarding a
failing grade for the course, or expelling the student from the university. Acknowledging that instances of
plagiarism may range from minor to severe, the Department of Mass Communication allows the course

professor to determine the severity and the disciplinary action for the first instance of plagiarism committed
by a student in the professor’s course. However, if that student commits plagiarism a second time in the
course, departmental policy requires that the student receive both a failing grade (“F”) for the course and a
referral to the UCO Student Conduct Officer. Students should make sure they understand professor
expectations for sources and content to be cited.
Turnitin.com Plagiarism Syllabus Statement: UCO subscribes to the Turnitin.com plagiarism prevention
service. Students agree that by taking this course, all required assignments may be subject to submission
for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted assignments will be
included as source documents in the Turnitin.com restricted access reference database for the purpose of
detecting plagiarism of such assignments. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Terms and
Conditions of Use posted on the Turnitin.com website. Turnitin.com is just one of various plagiarism
prevention tools and methods which may be utilized by your faculty instructor during the terms of the
semesters. In the UCO Student Handbook, there is a process for contesting any plagiarism allegations
against you.
University Policies
ADA Statement Regarding Special Accommodations:
The University of Central Oklahoma complies with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Students with disabilities who need special accommodations must
contact Sharla Weathers, B.S., C.S.R. in Disability Support Services [sweathers2@uco.edu] in room 309 of
the Nigh University Center, (405) 974-2549. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor as soon
as possible after DSS has verified the need for accommodations to ensure that such accommodations are
implemented in a timely fashion.
Transformative Learning: http://www.uco.edu/central/tl/
“At the University of Central Oklahoma, we help students learn by providing transformative experiences so
that they may become productive, creative, ethical and engaged citizens and leaders contributing to the
intellectual, cultural, economic and social advancement of the communities they serve. Transformative
learning is a holistic process that places students at the center of their own active and reflective learning
experiences. All students at UCO will have transformative learning experiences in five core areas:
leadership; research, creative and scholarly activities; service learning and civic engagement; global and
cultural competencies; and health and wellness.”
Class Attendance: (Taken from the 2013-14 Faculty Handbook, 3.1)
The university expects students to regularly attend classes in which they are enrolled. Faculty members are
expected to establish specific attendance policies governing their classes. Attendance policies must appear
in the course syllabi. Faculty members may require appropriate documentation to verify absences. Students
are responsible for work missed due to absences. It is the student’s responsibility to initiate a request to
make up class work or examinations missed.
Individual policies must allow for a reasonable but not unlimited, number of excused absences, for legitimate
reasons. Excused absences approved by faculty members should be consistently applied to all students. An
excused absence means that an instructor may not penalize the student and must provide a reasonable and
timely accommodation or opportunity to make up exams or other course requirements that have an impact
on course grade. Excused students should be allowed the same opportunities as students who were present
in class.
Faculty members are obligated to honor the following circumstances as excused absences:
a. travel considered part of the instructional program of the university and
requiring absence from class (e.g. field trips, research presentations, etc.);
b. invited participation in activities directly and officially sponsored by and in the interest of the university
(e.g.
athletic teams, debate teams, dance company, etc.);
c. jury duty;
d. military obligation (See Appendix K.);
e. serious illness, medical condition, accident, or injury; and
f. death or serious illness in immediate family.
Additional policies for this course are included in the Fall 2013 UCO Student Information Sheet and
Syllabus Attachment that can be accessed at http://www.uco.edu/academic-affairs/