The Journalist's Toolkit
24 hours face to face + blended
One Semester or equivalent
Hawthorn
Available to incoming Study Abroad and Exchange students
Overview
This unit provides students with the knowledge and skills to undertake interviews and research, write, and edit features. Students will learn how photographs assist in journalistic storytelling, adding value to stand-alone text-based features. They will also be introduced to and analyse case studies of successful long-form journalism and feature writing and apply different writing techniques and storytelling structures in their work.
Requisites
Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
04-August-2025
02-November-2025
02-November-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-August-2025
Census date
31-August-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
19-September-2025
Results released date
09-December-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Use critical examination of journalism’s democratic role to identify and engage with diverse publics and news sources.
- Identify traditional and emergent audiences across media forms
- Apply journalistic sourcing, interview and editing techniques to news storytelling practices
- Implement independent research, planning and development skills in journalism to produce news media for publication using industry standard technology
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| On-campus Class | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Specified Activities Various | 3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| Unspecified Activities Various | 6.50 | 12 weeks | 78 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scriptwriting and Script Editing | Individual | 35% | 3,4 |
| Studio Project | Individual | 35% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Report | Individual | 30% | 1,2,3,4 |
Content
- Theory, and practice of feature writing
- Ethical and professional norms informing feature journalism and the work of leading practitioners
- Storytelling techniques, structures, and writing styles of journalism feature articles and profiles
- Applying tools to real-world-related learning
- Writing and editing skills
- Photographic skills, including taking photographs to complement printed word stories
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.