Overview

This is it! It is time for YOU to be the journalist, and practice and display the skills you have learned through this Specialization journey. You will create your own professional journalistic portfolio, culminating in the creation of your own news report from start to finish. You will go through all the steps and skills used by professional journalists: conceptualizing a news report idea, reporting, interviewing, researching, and then compiling the information for an audience. Your learner community, along with the Michigan State Journalism team, will be with you every step of the way. Having a professional portfolio will help you market yourself as a journalist, showing off your work product, as well as practice and hone your journalistic skill set. You will receive an exclusive premium "Journalism" badge for social media, to display your Capstone completion.

Syllabus

Capstone news report portfolio: the start!

You are now embarking on the important steps to create your own journalistic news report portfolio, which is be your Capstone final assignment. This journey will take you through the process journalists use to deliver the news to their audiences, providing a strong opportunity to display your skills honed during the Specialization Courses. You will start your portfolio here, through making your first choices: determining the topic and style for your news report.

Capstone news report portfolio: News gathering

Gathering of information for your Capstone news report is a critical step, as strong development and work at this stage will help produce a professional quality final product. You will gain experience and practice using news sources such as government documents, statistics, planning for interviews with people. You will plan your sources for your news report, and further your understanding of the newsgathering process.

Capstone news report portfolio: Interviewing sources

This may be the most challenging step of the process for some Learners! But we know you can do it. Journalists need to be strong interviewers - and listeners - in order to get the information, quotes and understanding needed to compile professional news reports. You will master the interviewing process, by developing your questions, ethically and effectively conducting the interviews, and then reviewing your content for your news report development.

Capstone news report portfolio: Assembling your news

This is the stage where you take all the research, interviews and facts and transform it into a news report for a public audience. You will execute, based on your own journalistic process, developing critical thinking skills, news judgment and the art of delivering ethical and effective news reports for your audience. It's sometimes easy, sometimes very challenging. Each news report is unique. Follow where your facts, news gathering and interviews take you.

Capstone news report portfolio: The final product!

Congratulations! You are almost to the finish line of this Specialization Capstone. We know you have come a long way in learning about journalism and how journalists work. Now it is your turn to present your work to our Coursera community. But first, you need to make sure your news report is ready for the world! You will present a draft to the learner community, receive the Learner peer feedback, and use it make the news report final! It is time for YOU to be the journalist, using your skills, ethics and standards honed during this Specialization. Your social media "Journalism" badge will also be unlocked for you within this course.