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Print Price: $99.99

Format:
Paperback
192 pp.
2 figures, 7" x 9"

ISBN-13:
9780199013326

Copyright Year:
2016

Imprint: OUP Canada

Feature Writing for Journalism and Media Students

Dan Rowe

Feature Writing for Journalism and Media Students provides readers with an engaging introduction to the vibrant world of journalistic feature writing. Drawing on his own expertise as well as his one-on-one interviews with the talented journalists behind the articles, veteran writer and educator Dan Rowe provides insightful commentary that helps students see - from an insider's perspective - exactly what makes each feature story in this collection so exceptional. Brimming with practical advice on the processes that journalists use to research and craft their stories, Feature Writing for Journalism and Media Students will help readers appreciate outstanding feature writing and learn effective approaches to creating their own original and compelling stories.

Readership : Feature Writing for Journalism and Media Students is a core text for second- and third-year feature writing courses offered out of university and college journalism programs. The text is also suitable as a supplemental text for introductory reporting courses where a greater focus on feature writing is desired.

Reviews

This book offers analysis of a broad spectrum of feature writing forms and subjects, plus it provides a contemporary look at the people and processes behind some of the country's best feature writing."
--Larry Cornies, Conestoga College
``I like the practical aspect of this book. I also like the discussion with/about the writer of each article, which helps readers understand how the piece came together and how the writer approached it."
--Christopher Clark, Western University

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Structuring a Feature Story
2. Deadline Driven
Article: Bruce Arthur, "Penn State Scandal a Crisis of Faith in Happy Valley," National Post (2011)
3. Short Profile
Article: Danielle Groen, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Russell Oliver," The Grid (2013)
4. International
Article: Stephanie Nolen, "If India Is Booming, Why Are Its Children Still Starving?" The Globe and Mail (2009)
5. Lifestyle
Article: Katrina Onstad, "Baby Wars," Toronto Life (2008)
6. Sports
Article: Brett Popplewell, "Fall of the Boogeyman," Sportsnet (2011)
7. Arts
Article: Jody Rosen, "Platinum Underdog: Why Taylor Swift Is the Biggest Pop Star in the World," New York (2013)
8. Investigative
Article: Greg McArthur and Colin Freeze, "Colonel Russell Williams: The Making of a Mystery Man," The Globe and Mail (2010)
9. First Person
Article: Scaachi Koul, "Face of the New West," Maisonneuve (2015)
10. Long Profile
Article: Jana G. Pruden. "Street Fighter: Mark Cherrington Wages Unconventional Battles for His Vulnerable Teen Clients," Edmonton Journal (2014)
11. Immersion
Article: Mac McClelland, "I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave," Mother Jones (2012)
12. Narrative
Article: Chris Jones, "The Things That Carried Him," Esquire (2008)
Online Chapter - Multimedia Features
Article: John Branch, "Snowfall," The New York Times (2012)

Online chapter
- "Snow Fall" by John Branch, New York Times
Podcasts
- Recordings of interviews with feature writers from the text
Online Resources
- List of links about feature writing

Dan Rowe is professor of Journalism at Humber College and coordinator of Humber's four-year Bachelor of Journalism program. He has previously taught journalism and media studies at Ryerson, Wilfrid Laurier-Brantford, and Syracuse University. In his work as a practicing journalist he has contributed articles to The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, and the Victoria Times-Colonist, as well as Toronto Life magazine. Between 2003 and 2006, he was a staff writer, and later, news editor for Quill & Quire. Besides his journalistic work, he has been published in The Journal of the Institute of Justice & International Studies. Feature Writing for Journalism and Media Students is his first book.

News Writing and Reporting - Christopher Scanlan and Richard Craig
Reporting for the Media - John R. Bender, Lucinda D. Davenport, Michael W. Drager, Fred Fedler, Maxine Ruvinsky and Charles Hays

Special Features

Features 12 previously published pieces to illustrate what makes a strong feature story, rather than simply explaining techniques.
Profiles a variety of feature styles--including long and short profiles, international, arts and lifestyle, sports, investigative, and more--giving students an appreciation of the range of the genre.
Detailed annotations distilled from interviews with the journalists themselves give students special insight into the creation of each piece.
Features from Canadian and US sources--such as The National Post, Maisonneuve, New York Magazine, and Esquire--demonstrate the range of feature writing in North America.
Online chapter, profiling the innovative multimedia feature, "Snow Fall" by John Branch, looks to the future of feature writing in the digital age.
Podcast interviews with the featured writers bring the process of researching and writing features to life for students.
Engaging box program familiarizes students with key figures, and publications, and provides students with historical context.
--LEGEND boxes profile influential journalists of the past in the field of feature writing.
--MASTER boxes profile widely read feature writers who are currently influencing the profession.
--SOURCE boxes profile the media outlets that run feature stories, providing a clearer picture of how and why a story makes it to press.
--5 Essentials about... boxes at the end of chapters 2-12 provide five essential tips concerning writing strong features in each genre.