In-Depth: Feature and Specialist Writing (11087.1)

Required texts

Prescribed texts:

Writing Feature Stories, by Matthew Ricketson and Caroline Graham, second ediiton, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2017. 

Recommended texts:

Journalism Research and Investigation in a Digital World, edited by Stephen Tanner and Nick Richardson, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2013.

There is a broad range of books, journal articles and media coverage about long form journalism and investigative journalism. The university's library has a good collection of references about the field as well as a developing collection of works of long form journalism. The books listed below are all held in the library, as are the books from which excerpts are taken for the readings prescribed in the week by week timetable. Some of the references below are how to guides that offer you alternative perspectives to the prescribed and recommended texts above, while others survey the field or discuss issues arising in its practice. A number of the books listed below are anthologies that contain examples of long form journalism and narrative non-fiction, which gives you an opportunity to sample the breadth of writing in the genre. Many of these books can be ordered online from various suppliers. Just search for the titles and authors on the internet.

Applegate, Edd, ed. Literary Journalism: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996.

Bak, John and Bill Reynolds. Literary Journalism across the Globe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011.

Bly, Nellie. Around the World in Seventy-Two Days and Other Writings, edited by Jean Marie Lutes, New York: Penguin, 2014.

Cheney, Theodore. Writing Creative Nonfiction. California: Ten Speed Press, 1991.

Connery, Thomas, ed. A Sourcebook of American Literary Journalism: Representative Writers in an Emerging Genre. New York: Greenwood, 1992.

Eisenhuth, Susie and Willa Mcdonald, eds. The Writer's Reader: Understanding Journalism and Non-fiction. Cambridge, Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Gaines, William. Investigative Journalism: Proven Strategies for Reporting the Story. Washington: CQ Press, 2008.

Glass, Ira, ed. The New Kings of Nonfiction, New York: Riverhead Press, 2007.

Harrington, Walt, ed. Intimate Journalism: The Art and Craft of Reporting Everyday Life. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997.

Harrington, Walt and Mike Sager, eds. Next Wave: America's New Generation of Great Literary Journalists. United States: The Sager Group, 2012.

Hart, Jack. A Writer's Coach: An Editor's Guide to Works that Work. New York: Pantheon Books, 2006.

Hart, Jack. Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Keeble, Richard and Sharon Wheeler, eds. The Journalistic Imagination: Literary Journalists from Defoe to Capote and Carter. London: Routledge, 2007.

Keeble, Richard and John Tulloch, eds. Global Literary Journalism. New York: Peter Lang, 2012.

Keelbe, Richard and John Tulloch, eds. Global Literary Journalism, volume 2. New York: Peter Lang, 2014.

Kerrane, Kevin and Ben Yagoda, eds. The Art of Fact: An Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism. New York: Scribner, 1997.

Ricketson, Matthew. Telling true stories: navigating the challenges of writing narrative non-fiction. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2014.

Sims, Norman. True Stories: A Century of Literary Journalism. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2007.

Tanner, Stephen, Molly Kasinger and Nick Richardson, Feature Writing: Telling the Story. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Wheeler, Sharon. Feature Writing for Journalists. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Submission of assessment items

Expectations

As a student journalist, you must assume that all content you generate in this unit is intended for publication. As such, you should aim to produce professional work to a high standard, observing all relevant laws and ethical standards. You are to:

• Observe the MEAA Code of Ethics (refer to The Owl Canvas site);
• Refrain from interviewing anyone who presents a conflict of interest, such as family, friends or colleagues, without the express permission of your tutor;
• Disclose all conflicts of interest or other relevant information in your stories;
• Inform sources and interviewees that your stories are for publication via The Owl and/or UCFM;
• In the first instance, produce your own original video, audio, images and text — if your tutor expressly permits the use of non-original material, you must observe copyright law and ‘fair dealing’ provisions related to news reporting (refer to The Owl Canvas site) and give attribution if required;
• Not plagiarise; and
• Observe defamation, trespass and other relevant laws

Failure to follow these guidelines could result in a fail grade for an assessment task or for the unit.

If you have any questions about these guidelines or a specific assignment task, speak with your tutor.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Participation requirements

None

Required IT skills

None

Work placement, internships or practicums

None

• Semester 2, 2023, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (213860)
• Semester 2, 2022, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (208613)
• Semester 2, 2021, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (199675)
• Semester 2, 2020, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (195394)
• Semester 2, 2019, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (184285)