The Community Journalism Project is an intermediate reporting class that sends students into ghettos, barrios, and poor white and working class communities of Western Massachusetts. Journalists have become increasingly out of touch with the majority of the population. The working class, the poor, minorities are often overlooked in the mainstream media. This course puts students into the homeless shelters, food pantries, health clinics, community centers, public schools, and low-wage job sites in hope of finding solutions and answers from the real experts.

Students build on the skills learned in Journalism 300, while gaining the technical skills to tell stories in online platforms, using digital images and audio podcasts. Students learn how to find and work with online sources, and produce online news packages in areas like the environment, the economy, education and other topics.

This course will introduce students to the traditions and expectations of the Journalism Program, as well as resources and opportunities that will help them as they move through the major. Through workshops and exercises, students will meet faculty, get to know campus media and career services staff, learn about the writing and academic expectations of the program.

This course will introduce students to the traditions and expectations of the Journalism Program, as well as resources and opportunities that will help them as they move through the major. Through workshops and exercises, students will meet faculty, get to know campus media and career services staff, learn about the writing and academic expectations of the program.

The class covers a variety of memoirs; students will write a personal history that combines rigorous emotional honesty with high literary standards. Readings may include the works of Mary McCarthy, Tobias and Geoffrey Wolff, Russell Baker, George Orwell, John Wideman, Mary Karr, Vladimir Nabokov, Harry Crewes, Reeve Morrow Lindbergh, Mary Gordon, David Eggers, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Sebold, Wendy Mnookin and others.

Not long ago a journalist could get by with little more than a notebook, a pen, and his or her wits. Today, working in the media demands that students know an assortment of web design and web building skills. Students will learn basic web design, HTML and CSS skills, and by the end of the semester they will be able to build a basic website, including how to incorporate JavaScript plugins. The course will also cover online ethics, mobile strategy, search engine optimization, and the role of social media in successfully publishing journalism work online.

This course covers the basic requirements of newswriting and reporting, including interviewing, covering news events, and more. This class will include in-class and outside reporting assignments, and fulfills Junior Year Writing requirement.

In Introduction to Journalism we will study the principles and practices of journalism as well as journalism's role in a democratic society. We will explore journalism's impact on public policy, private lives, and the increasing role of citizens within the context of the contemporary convergence of multimedia. Class discussions will address the historical development and future of the field, including new technologies and changing strategies. Techniques, methods, and models guiding the contemporary practice of journalism will be given particular emphasis.

A hands-on course aimed at how to write, edit and cover sports stories. Interviewing skills will be honed in this class, and you will need a flexible schedule in order to cover games outside of classes. Students will learn to write a variety of stories ranging from straight game stories to previews to features and breaking news. Students will read and analyze successful writing styles from sportswriters in all mediums, including broadcast and the Web.

In this course, students will learn how to use their journalism skills to find and create new opportunities, through startup businesses or freelancing. Topics include: idea strategizing and development, marketing and audience development through social media, time and business management. Projects include case studies of profit-making journalistic websites, and the development of a site, from concept to business plan.