COM340 Investigative Journalism

2023/2024

Assignment 1 Brief

Investigative Project

Date of briefing October 15 2023 Date of submission November 16 2023 (2pm) Submission method LMO Core Word limit 1,500 [plus/minus 10%] Weight 40% of module grade

Write an article using investigative research techniques on a topic selected from the list provided below. The story you report on must involve something of reasonable importance to the public and must be newsworthy. The article must be written in a journalistic style: your prose should be explicit and precise and include both direct and indirect quotes from reliable sources.

Your article must involve original reporting and demonstrate use of primary (people) and secondary (documents) sources who are likely to provide timely information. The article should include attributions from the following sources:

At least three people

Ø One of your sources must be a researcher working in a university in China or abroad. If you want you can use more than one researcher working in a university but I suggest you to vary the range of sources. For example you could use one researcher working in a university, one researcher working in the industry and a third person who is relevant to the topic covered (e.g. a journalist, a teacher, a lawyer, a policy maker, a librarian etc…).

Ø Feel free to use attributions from more than three sources if you want.

Ø It is highly advisable to interview at least ten people in order to be able to select the best quotes and information for your article.

Ø Full credentials, name, surname and affiliation must be provided for each person whose quote appears in the article, unless anonymity is needed to protect the sources.

Ø In case you have one or two sources who don’t want to be named, you will need to include in your assignment submission, at the end of the article in a separate section, a few lines of explanation as to why your sources want to remain anonymous. The use of anonymous sources must be justified and the explanation must be convincing.

Written or audio-visual secondary sources

Ø These can include, for example, documentaries, journalistic articles, electronic databases, recent books, policies, peer-reviewed academic articles, statistics and anything else that can provide in-depth, recent and reliable information.

Ø Secondary sources must be cited within the article following the journalistic writing style. At least one of the secondary sources must be a peer-reviewed academic article retrieved electronically from the Library Digital Site.

Ø If you want you can use more than one peer-reviewed academic article but don’t dismiss other material that could be relevant.

This is not a team project: the investigative article must be produced independently. Articles that are the result of a collaboration between students will be heavily penalized.

You can choose a topic to investigate within the following thematic categories. If you feel that the topic you want to cover does not fit into any of these categories, please discuss it with the module leader before starting your research. Please note this is not an essay, the themes provided are meant to guide you towards the identification of a problem to research. Your task is to identify the news within the theme, rather than writing about the theme in general terms. Interviews and research will help you to identify problems and news.

1. Facilities and programs for disabled people

2. Online shopping platforms

3. Internet fraud

4. Student contract cheating business

5. Study abroad agents

6. Street vendors

7. Employment traps

8. Public tax money spending

9. Multilevel marketing

10. Coronavirus outbreak and people mobility

11. On-demand food delivery platforms and wellbeing of deliverers/labours

12. Drivers and mobility technology platforms

13. Environmental impacts and energy consumption

Newswriting Guide

The following is a suggestion on the structure and content of the article. The actual structure and content can vary.

1. Headline

You must include a headline in your investigative article. Failing to add a headline will cause you to lose marks. Below the headline include the theme that you have selected from the list provided.

2. Lead

Your first paragraphs must be eye-catching and explain in a nutshell what the article is about, answering several (if not all) of the major questions (who, what, where, when, why, and how).

3. Details

The paragraphs following the lead will provide supporting details and background information.

4. Explanatory paragraphs

The next paragraphs will explain the findings of your reporting, quoting interviews and source material. The paragraphs can be organized in sections with different themes. You can give each section a sub-heading if you want.

5. Conclusion

Try to close the article with a "kicker", a surprising or poignant revelation.

Submission guidelines

1. Name the file in this way:

Family name_Given name_COM340_Investigative project

2. Your submission must include the coversheet on the first page

3. At the beginning of the article include a header that has your name and your student number.

4. Include the word count at the end of the article.

5. Format the article in Times New Roman font, 12 point, double-spaced.

6. At the end of the article, include the list of sources used to write the article.

7. The assignment must be uploaded on LMO Core by the deadline.