Science and Environment Writing

PHOTO: Scientists and journalists have many things in common, including a fascination with nature. Here, members of the Society of Environmental Journalists tour the laboratories of the Scripps Oceanographic Institute. (Photo by Bill Kovarik, 2005).

COMM 4254 Virginia Tech T-Th 5-6:15, Shanks 180
MSTD - COMM 407 Radford University M-W-F, 2-2:50, Porterfield 173

Selected topics in media writing; emphasis on critical analysis and writing. Senior standing required. (3H,3C)

Brief Description: This science and environment writing course involves analysis of environmental issues and their scientific aspects, along with instruction and practice in researching, interviewing and writing in this topic area. Both science and communication students welcome.

Rationale (in brief): This is an optimal moment for a topics course in Science and Environmental Communication in that Virginia Tech is hosting the Oct. 15 – 19, 2008 conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). This COMM 4254 course would take advantage of expert speakers and other opportunities for student engagement that the SEJ conference offers.

On a more general level, there is a persuasive argument to be made that more should be done to train journalists in scientific issue analysis and writing, given the increasing importance of these issues. Perhaps the most chlling warning about this came from the late Carl Sagan, who said:

I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time, when the United States is a service and information economy ... when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical facilities in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media ..". -- Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World, Random House, 1995

Textbooks

Bob Wyss, Covering the Environment: How journalists work the green beat (New York: Routledge, 2008)
OPTIONAL: Jon Franklin, Writing For Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction
OPTIONAL: Mark Neuzil and Bill Kovarik, Mass Media and Environmental Conflict (Sage, 1996)
OPTIONAL: Arthur Squires, The Tender Ship, Birkhauser (April 1986)

Overview

This class will be composed of both scientists and journalists on the graduate and upper division undergraduate level. It will consist of one open lecture per week and one seminar / writing laboratory session per week. Individual and team coaching sessions will also be arranged.

This is an interdisciplinary course where students will work together on journalistic, non-fiction narrative and expository writing involving a variety of environmental subjects. The course will involve a weekly writing / coaching session and then a one and a half hour seminar open to the academic community. Guests speakers at the seminar will include journalists, scientists and scholars in this area. Critical analysis of issues and broad historical perspectives will be emphasized along with research, interviewing and writing skills. Each student will be required to write five original news or feature articles. Publication in a variety of formats will be encouraged.

The class will also take advantage of conferences and events that, by virtue of optimal proximity, could help engage students in the learning process. In October of 2008, for example, the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists will take place at Virginia Tech. In the spring of 2009, Students may arrange to help cover sessions at the conference both for class credit and for low- or no-cost admission to the conference.

All class members -- scientists and journalists --will write for the class, alone and in teams. Research, interviewing and writing exercises are described below. A minimum of six original short articles and one major research - writing project is expected for a passing grade in the class.

Goals for the professor and the students

For the professor:
- To create a supportive climate for writers in this crucial area for public understanding
- To help scientists understand the writing process and to encourage writers to understand the scientific process
- To understand and appreciate the issues students are dealing with in their professional lives and to find routes toward optimal growth
For the students:
- To understand the field of science and environment non-fiction writing
- To understand the roles of those who interpret science for the public
- To understand non-fiction genres of writing with styles ranging from exposition to literary narrative to investigative journalism.
  
  To increase skill in science & environment writing
  1. research scientific and environmental issues
  2. evaluate the public impact of scientific research
  3. locate authoritative and primary sources
  4. write about a research project for the mass media
  5. profile scientists and their work
  6. fathom permits and other public documents
  7. explain environmental controversy to the public.
  8. illustrate and visualize scientific materials for the publ

Assignments and grading

Reading assignments - review professional science and environment writing and lead discussions; (10%), partly on a class wiki
Research reports concerning biographical, theoretical or historical information as a
contribution to the classroom learning environment; (10%)
Interviews recorded and partlyi transcribed or podcast (10%)
Written articles assessed with standard journalistic and literary criteria such as grammar, logic, creativity, scope of subject, insight into the subject, appropriate writing style and (where appropriate) respect for privacy and reputation. Some assessments or feedback about your articles may be requested by the scientists or other sources interviewed for the articles. The articles will include:

Environmental News / Information (expository - inverted pyramid lead)
Personal or research group feature profile (non-fiction/ literary journalism)
Nature / Outdoor writing (non-fiction literary description)
Fourth non-fiction article (contract grade for A)
Editorial / opinion (optional)

Major research / writing project of your choice (30%)

Policies regarding submissions

* All articles are non-fiction and intentended for mass media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, web, podcast, etc).
* It is understood that all submissions for the class will be made public.
* All information must be original and accurate and published with the informed consent of sources.
* All information published must be on the record. No off-the-record or unattributed information will be acceptable.
* Students retain copyright, but must assign reproduction rights to the class website unless prevented from doing so by assigning copyright through contract with a commercial mass media publication.

Addiitonal policies

* Attendance policy: Attendance will be recorded but allowance will be made for the normal course of events. We assume that students signing up for an elective course actually are interested in the course. Overall, absense of more than 20 percent of the class will result in questions concerning the students commitment and possible grade reductions.
* Late policy: Late completion of projects will result in reduction of grade by one letter grade per week.
* Disabilities policy: We are glad to work with all students to accomodate disabilities on a non-discriminatory basis. Students with special needs may be required to clear accomodations through the disabilities resource office of the university.
* Honor Code: By accepting admission to this university, each student makes a commitment to understand, support and abide by the University Honor Code without compromise or exception.
* Plagiarism -- Students who directly copy entire bodies of work from anyone else, without attribution, will not pass the class and will also be reported to the Dean of Students office. Other ethical lapses to be dealt with as appropriate may range from sloppy uses of quotes (as in the case of John C. Merrill) to more significant problems that do not border on outright malpractice.