Module: Feature Writing

Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title	Feature Writing
Module Code	CM2800 (ITS) / JRR1013 (Banner)
Faculty	Humanities & Social Sciences	School	Communications
Module Co-ordinator	Saumava Mitra
Module Teachers	-
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5
Pre-requisite	Not Available
Co-requisite	Not Available
Compatibles	Not Available
Incompatibles	Not Available

None
Array

Description

This course will teach students how to write compelling features, stories that look to a corner of the news and illuminate it. Unlike news stories, features are imbued with scenes and vignettes which often show rather than tell. A good feature is grounded in a specific time or place and is almost always inhabited by people. They can be embedded in an ongoing new events, or come at a story from an offbeat angle. The class will be grounded in a workshop environment in which students will begin to work on and understand this craft, critiquing their own and each other’s features.

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify the qualities of feature writing and how they differs from news.
2. Learn to develop a writing process that carries a story from concept to publication
3. Sharpen skills at focusing stories along a single, clearly articulated theme
4. Evaluate the importance of backgrounding in establishing the context, focus and sources of soundly reported stories
5. Analyze the connection between strong information and strong writing
6. Explore different models and devices for structuring stories
7. Constructively critique and be critiqued

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full-time hours per semester
Lecture	22	Weekly lectures
Assignment Completion	25	Types of feature stories. Practicum
Assignment Completion	24	Writing the first feature story
Assignment Completion	10	The 800-word newsfeature. A staple.
Assignment Completion	22	The longer feature
Independent Study	22	Reading from a wide variety of feature materials
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Writing Skills
50 per cent

Research Skills
25 per cent

Angles and story ideas
25 per cent

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	100%	Examination Weight	0%

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Course Work Breakdown
Performance evaluation	Evaluation based on a mix of features across genres and formats produced during the module. Focus on principal formats, with flexibility to reflect students' interests and ability.	100%	As required

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories: Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module. Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module. Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1

Indicative Reading List

Carl Sessions Stepp,: 2007, Writing as Craft and Magic, 2nd, Oxford University Press,
Sharon Wheeler,: 2009, Feature writing for journalists, Routledge,,
Harold Evans: 2000, Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers, 2nd,

Other Resources

None