Welcome to Media Writing

Hello media writing students!

My name is Tim Cigelske and I’m your instructor for media writing. I’m sending this to get you equipped with a few tools/resources you’ll need for next week Tuesday so we can hit the ground running. As you’ll soon discover, this class will be very active and hands-on.

There is no physical textbook in this class (you can return it if you bought one), and instead you will access all of the reading material through an interactive online platform called Top Hat. You can get the material here. I’ll also send you an email inviting you to the course material.

We’ll primarily use D2L for weekly online quizzes and dropbox submissions. You’ll use dropbox to submit quiz questions 24 hours in advance (more about that in the syllabus).

Speaking of the syllabus, you can access it on Tophat along with an introduction to Media Writing for you to read before the first class. There will be an incentive to save time by coming prepared ahead of time. You’ll find out about that in the first class.

Most of our writing will take place on a platform called Medium. Sign up for an account at https://medium.com

Note that the class starts at 5 pm, not 5:30. I think because people are used to a 5:30 start, there’s always someone who casually walks into at 5:25 in the first few weeks, and then gets confused why class is already in session. That person is always a little mortified and I feel bad for them. So just remind yourself that class starts at 5 and that won’t be you. By the way, you can reply to this email with the secret code “we are all the media now” for a bonus of one extra credit point. Thanks for reading closely.

Now a quick bio about me:

I’m a former journalist, current social media director at Marquette, and part-time instructor for the College of Comm and Honors Program. Media writing is definitely one of my favorite courses to teach because there’s always something new, emerging and different in the field. This is one of the most vibrant and exciting times to study how to harness the power of media, and learn how we can apply important and long-held writing principles to rapidly evolving mediums.

As an instructor, I learned early on that to make a loooong night class interesting, it has to be active, experiential and hands-on. I also believe that’s the best way to learn. So expect to get outside the classroom, try new things, look at old things in a new way, expand your comfort zone, and do a lot of writing. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do!

The first few weeks we’ll focus on the journalistic skill of paying close attention, which is the key to unlocking quality media writing. so if you’re still reading, high five to you. Here’s a small reward for your attention right now: The answer to №18 on the first quiz can be found in the “note about mistakes” paragraph on the syllabus. That’s one of the questions that often trips people up, but just by paying attention you’ll have an advantage. Keep this email for reference.

See you Tuesday at 5 pm.