Carl Cockrill- Challenges

The first thing that comes to mind is all the rules associated with journalistic writing. Writing one to three sentence paragraphs is not that difficult a concept, but for beginning journalists, it can pose a problem. Setting quotations in a paragraph by themselves is also a little tricky. Journalistic writing is more direct and to the point; whereas, academic writing does not pose these problems near as much. All writing has to have some form of accountability, but journalistic writing is more demanding, and therefore, more accountability and integrity. In academic writing, the first paragraph is used to introduce topics of discussion in the paper with a conclusion at the end to tie everything together. In journalistic writing, there are no conclusions and everything we have done up to this point has been in the form of the inverted pyramid.

Brianna Kwasny - Challenges

Journalistic writing and academic writing differ greatly. I have written academically since my schooling began, and therefore it comes naturally to me now (AP style and all), but journalism presents new guidelines to learn.

This class is the firth time I have learned about and had to practice writing journalistically. In journalism writing, paragraphs are only one to three sentences long. If someone wrote a paragraph that length in academic writing, their writing may not even be accepted.

Also, there is no conclusion used in journalistic writing. The journalist's goal is to write as concise as possible, which completely opposes the long, elegant writing expected in academics.

Cameron Patterson - Challenges of Journalistic Writing

Until this semester, academic style writing has been drilled repeatedly into my mind. Now, faced with journalistic style writing, the challenges have been ironic yet endless.

Journalistic writing is actually much more simple and blunt in comparison with academic. It is written to inform about an issue, event, problem, etc that has some purpose in being told to the public. When I reminisce of writing in high school, a thesaurus is my first thought and there is no urgency for having my paper read by anyone but my teacher. If I used impressive language with symbolism had a grade-A paper.

Journalistic writing differs in purpose, audience and writing environment. Above these differences, it is crucial to the public. Using precision, perfect grammatical skills, and being ethical in every sense of diversity are just a few of the challenges I’ve faced so far. Factual errors are sometimes impossible to seek out, no matter how many times I read over my story.

Melanie Stone- Challenges

Writing journalistically has been a challenge for me because writing academically was the first way I was taught to write. I’ve been writing academically for as long as I can remember and now AP style rules have completely changed the way I write.

It’s hard to remember all the things AP style says is right and it’s even harder to forget what I’ve been taught academically all my life. When I’m writing journalistically, some of the things sound wrong when I read them out loud to myself because it is wrong when looking at it academically. It’s difficult to ignore the fact that it sounds wrong to me and just accept that according to the AP style, it’s correct.

Courtney Goforth- Challenges

The English language was introduced to me as soon as I arrived on earth. The fundamentals and structure of how the language is written was taught upon the arrival of my public schooling. When I graduated and received my high school diploma, I had confidence that I was provided with the complete, necessary and accurate information in all subjects to move on to a college where I would take on a major that required those skills.

But, unfortunately, I was bombarded with all of these new rules, styles, structures and formats that are completely foreign to me. Journalistic and academic writing differ in style, content, format and quite frankly, seem like an entirely different language than the one I was taught.

It is hard to switch to an AP style after journalistic style, relaxed speaking and perhaps being taught poor grammar have been embedded into my mind for 19 years. Fixing old habits, learning new material and making something second nature takes time. But, if I did it as a child, I think a little time will enable me to do it now.

Helen Grant - Challenges

The challenges I face in journalistic writing are that I have a hard time keeping track of the numerous AP style conventions while I try to remember the rules of good grammar and organize my information by order of importance. The AP style conventions are important, they are a benchmark of professionalism, this in turn gives credibility to the news source, but there are a lot of rules. This style of writing varies from academic writing because in academic reports there is the use of technical jargon in the analysis, analysis generally follows a chronological order, and there is usually a conclusion at the end of the report. Journalistic writing reorganizes the information in an inverted pyramid; information is not always given in chronological order. I understand why it is done, but coupled with AP style conventions, that can change year-to-year; it is difficult to write this way without a fair amount of practice.

Brittany Aubert--Challenges

Although both journalistic and academic writing require some of the same skills, the styles are different.

One of my biggest challenges is remembering to attribute almost everything. Also, I sometimes assume things. In academic writing, you are supposed to draw conclusions and give your opinion. Journalistic writing is the opposite.

I sometimes forget not to use descriptive words. I do this to make it sound more interesting, but it puts my opinion in the story and makes it more personal and less news-like.

Transitioning from academic to journalistic writing is difficult, but I know it is important because that is what makes a good story.