Reflection Topic #9

Throughout this course I have had to do some excercises that I did not think I would have to for this major. I was asked to look into all areas of media and not just the side of my public relations major. My favorite writing assignment was the press release. It fit into my style of writing more than anything else. My lease favorite was the advertising. I always have ideas that pop into my head and sound really good in my head, but I always have a problem organizing them and putting them on paper. It never seems as good on paper like it does in my head. The writing challenges I have occured in this class was being more concise and remembering the AP style grammar. I still haver problems remembering the AP grammar rules. I believe I have gotten better with being moer concise, but I know I have a lot more work to do. I have overcome many issues by just listening to my classmates and how they think. They are very creative. Listening to people who think differently than me helps me have a more broad view on how things can be. It helps me step out of my comfort zone, because I know other ways can work besides just mine. I am excited about taking my upper level courses. The major seems like it would fit me and I believe I can be very successful with it. I really enjoyed taking this class.

Public Relations vs Advertising Topic #8

Public relations and advertising are similar in what they what are trying to accomplish, but different in how they go about getting it done. Advertisers pay to get space to show their ad, public relations work to get free media publicity for your company. Also since advertisers pay to get space for their ad, they have say so in what goes into the ad and how it is shown. Since public relations work to get free space they technically have no control over how the media portrays your message, or for how long. Advertisers also get to have their ad ran over and over until their budget runs out, public relations get to have their announcement once.

http://youtu.be/mjtqoQE_ezA

This is an ad for Windows 7 computer. It uses the plain folks appeal because it shows an everyday family trying to take a normal family picture. Her family never cooperates for the picture so by using the Windows 7 she can make the perfect picture. It is effective because many families can understand what she is going through.

Broadcast Writing Topic #7

Broadcast writing is different from other forms of writing. Broadcast writing is different from print news writing because broadcast writing is very watered down. It has a lot cut out because of the amount of itme it has to present itself. Broadcast writing is also very sensationalized and does not have source names to put into a story like print news writing. Print news writing is very precise and full of facts. Print news is very unbiased and based off of proven actions. Both writings are similar, however, in the sense that they tell stories and give information to people. Some criticisms of broadcast writing is that it is so sensationalized and sometimes they do not have a true source. There source does not have to be as backed up as one in print news, so therefore it is criticized by the public as gossip. One way to help the criticism could be to fact check there sources more and maybe have some pictures shown. It is hard for broadcast writing do this because of the time they are allowed to do it in, so it is also criticized for cutting out material due to time length but that is not something that can really be helped.

Paige J.

Press Release Topic #6

Writing a press release takes time to prepare because of the deciding factors of the purpose, who is meant to see it, and when it is needed to be seen. In a press release the needs of the organization need to be clear so the person writing it knows what information to include. For example in the press release for class goal of the Cancer Society is to raise money. So therefore, we had to make it clear in the press release that the goal is to gain volunteers to raise money for the organization. The goal of the media for the press release is always to make sure that the story they are printing is newsworthy. So for example, in class for our press release we had to make sure that we made the story prominant to USM students and the pine belt community. Not only were we promoting Relay for Life which is a popular event in itself, but by stating that it would be held first ever at The Rock, made it newsworthy for the comunity. That also can tie into the needs for the intended public. The media wants the story newsworthy and for a story to be newsworthy it deals with prominance, proximity, timeliness, controversy, etc. Prominance, timeliness, and proximity all help address the needs of the public intended. The public always wants to know what do they get out of it if they help. So for example we explained to them in our press release how all funds go to the Pine Belt chapter of the American Cancer Society, so all of the money they earned stays in their community. A press release is similar to a news article in the way in which it is telling newsworth stories. It informs the people and tells information ina timely manner. It is different from a news article because it is longer and has isn't paid for to be put into places.

Paige J.

Writing Habits Topic #5

Melissa Donovan gives very good advice in her article "12 Better Writing Habits." How good writing is for me varies depending on what type of writing it is. If I had to write a paper for a creative writing class, it would be better than a research paper I write for a history class. The tips that she gives to write better seems to depend on what type of writing you are striving to do. For example, if I am writing a research paper for a class a teacher may have a certain way on how she wants it written. If that is the case, experimenting with different forms is not going to help me, but in fact it just might hurt me. I do agree with reading. If you read more of what you are striving to write then you will gain a better understanding of what you need to do. If you need to improve on writing essays, then reading different essays will help you with finding your style, and even expanding your vocabulary. If you are trying to improve on writing press releases, then reading other press releases may help improve on how you get your thoughts on paper. I actually agree with all of her ideas if you are trying to improve your overall writing abilities. I would use all 12 of her tips to help me improve my writing. I would use number nine the lease though, because it has just always been hard for me to give feedback on someone else's paper because I usually do not know the topic very well, and I feel it is not my place to give my input on anything except grammar. The only suggestion I would add to the list is stay positive, because if your attitude is anything less than positive there is not much you can accomplish.

Paige J.

Print Story Topic #4

I did encounter some problems writing the print story. One of my problems was of course coming up with a good lead. This is just something that will get better with practice. Then I had difficulties arranging what I thought was important and where to place it. I sometimes caught myself just typing what was on the fact sheet without wording it different. I always went back and fixed it, but just seeing it happened let me know that I have a lot of work to do. I approached the assignment thinking it was going to be easy and just started jotting down drafts of how the story should sound. Then I went through and made one draft adding the quotes where they flowed well with the story. I did look through my notes to try and help me write it, but I just was not sure which details were needed and which did not really matter. I'm not sure how many drafts I went through, but I am not very confident with my proofreading skills. I've always struggled with proofreading skills because it takes me longer to catch things then other people. I am, though, getting much better.

Paige J.

Lead Writing Topic #3

The most challenging aspects of lead writing is actually being able to get your thoughts down exactly how you want them. In the lead you want to give the most important information, but you also do not want to leave anything out. It's hard to decide what you want to leave out. There really was not a least challenging part for me. I found lead writing difficult because I am such a wordy person. I have also always had a problem with awkward writing so trying to be short and concise was difficult all around. Being able to write the rest of the story made things much easier, but at the same time harder. Now you know you have the whole story and you have to figure out where everything fits best, but it gets easier.
Here is an example of what I think is a good lead, it is in bold.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11429439
I think this is a good lead because it answers important questions, is concise, and catches people's attention. I have no recommendations for a super exceptional lead because I am the one who needs them.

Paige J.