Related Course/s:

A unit of study in the Journalism Major.

Aims & Objectives:

After successfully completing this unit, you should:

§         Be able to use public records, including court files, company searches, land title searches and the electoral roll to develop and break stories.

§         Be able to use Freedom of Information legislation to research and break stories.

§         Be able to conduct difficult interviews, including confrontational and sensitive interviews.

§         Have a knowledge of the history of literary journalism, documentary making and creative non-fiction, and be able to apply the techniques to your own work.

Teaching Methods:

1 hours lecture and 2 hour tutorial per week.

Assessment:

Generic Skills Outcomes:

 You will be provided with feedback during the assessment for this unit of study on your progress in attaining the following generic skills:

§         analysis skills,

§         problem solving skills,

§         communications skills,

§         ability to tackle unfamiliar problems

§         ability to work independently

Content:

This is an advanced journalism course designed to apply skills learned in the pre-requisite units to investigative and other long-form journalism. Students will be taught the key investigative skills of using public records and interviews while conducting their own practical investigative journalism projects. Students will also study the work of leading practitioners of long form literary journalism both here and overseas, and will gain experience in using narrative techniques in their own work.

Reading Materials:

Ricketson, Matthew Writing Feature Stories Allen and Unwin 2004.

Tanner, Stephen (Ed) Journalism Investigation and Research Longman 2002

Additional readings and course notes will be handed out in class. A large part of the reading for this course will consist of examples of creative non-fiction writing from Australia and overseas.