JOURNALISTIC writing

Students will write content responding to an industry brief, following ‘house style’. The content should reflect an original body of their written and visual work consistent with the communication style of the selected publication. This is a piece of JOURNALISTIC writing and the style and presentation adopted by the student should reflect that. In this text the student is required to find their own unique voice and display a flair for constructing an ordered narrative that informs, challenges and entertains.

TASK

1. Select a magazine for which the 2000 word article should be written.
2. Familiarise yourself with the tone and style of the writing in that publication.
3. Define the ideal reader of that title in terms of both demographics and taste.
4. Choose a subject that relates to fashion, cool or luxury lifestyles or current issues affecting fashion – like identity, diversity, sustainability etc.
5. Mind-map or make written sketches of your ideas, then make a plan that puts your ideas in a logical order (chronology of events etc.).
6. Read as many articles from the chosen publication as possible to comprehend the attitude and deeper political position of the editorial texts. Note if there is any variance in style for the printed publication and online version.
7. Choose a voice: first person (reflexive), third person etc.
8. Try not to ‘hero’ any brand you choose to feature and be sure to objectively criticise as well as praise. Construct your argument in an even-handed way.
9. Do not trust company reports or corporate literature that is not substantiated by independent sources.
10. Read many other articles in quality publications such as The Guardian as a comparison to your developing work.
11. You do NOT need to use Harvard to cite your research sources in the text, although all sources should be attributed in an editorial style. You must be sure to do a full reference list using the MMU Harvard system guidelines.
12. Do not use auto-formatting software for any references unless it conforms with the MMU version of Harvard referencing.
13. Final submission can be in the form of a magazine layout with images OR, if submitting text only, it is suggested that the font Calibri with double line spacing should be used.
14. The reference list should comprise a MINIMUM of 10 quality texts (books, journals, websites etc.). Please note that the MMU Harvard reference style reference list (not included in the word count).
15. The Appendices (not included in the word count).