1: Introduction
- Page ID
- 231617
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Welcome to The OER Guide to Media Writing. This free Open Educational Resource text covers essential topics for students in introductory media writing courses. It is designed to be up-to-date, approachable, and useful, complete with writing examples and suggested exercises in most chapters.
The text is structured to provide an academic foundation for why media writers do what they do in the ways that they do, and it provides classroom-tested writing samples and exercises that comprise the "guide" portion.
The OER Guide to Media Writing is intended for college students learning to write for the news, advertising, public relations, and broadcast & streaming media industries. It is written in English, and examples focus on the U.S. media system and its stylistic norms; however, it is hoped that this text will be of use to students in introductory media writing courses around the world.
This is intended to be a modular text. Instructors should feel free to use only the chapters or chapter sections they find most useful. Instructors may, of course, wish to rearrange the order of chapters to fit their course structure. That said, the writing exercises from the first three Art of Clarity sections are built to progress in a linear way.
Instructors may find it best to use those Art of Clarity sections early on regardless of the order of topics covered in the first 3-4 weeks of the course.
All other Art of Clarity sections are included in association with the appropriate chapter topic.
CCBY
As an open educational resource (OER) digital textbook, this work was published under a CCBY license, which means it is free for anyone with access to use in whole or in part, with minor exceptions. Some chapter sections are remixed from a previous OER text published under a stricter use license. Those specific sections are indicated in the text. Please honor the original author's wishes and do not repurpose those sections for commercial use.
In plain terms, what the CCBY license indicates is that educators, students, and other interested parties may download, edit, add to, and/or re-publish this text to their heart’s content. The only stipulation is that attribution must be shown when this text is shared in whole or in part. You can learn more about the CC BY 4.0 DEED at the previous link.
This text is itself a media product and only exists because of the work of professional instructors, professors, librarians, instructional designers, editors, etc. at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
Two previously published OER texts that some sections of this book are based on include Writing for Strategic Communication Industries by Jasmine Roberts and Tools for Podcasting by Jill Olmsted. Any content in this text that is based on portions of those works is clearly labeled. If future OER editors or "remixers" use selections from this text, they must provide appropriate attribution for Ms. Roberts, M.A., Ms. Olmsted, M.A., and/or Mark Poepsel, Ph.D. and Mitchell Haas, MSLIS.
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Some images used in this text come from image sharing platforms with open copyright policies, such as Unsplash. Others have been published with their own CCBY licenses, or they were developed for this text and are included under its CCBY license. Each image is labeled with its license information, alt text, and information about the photographer or designer.
Why OER?
The OER movement has as its goal to make knowledge free and to make education as free as possible. This text is published in that spirit. Whether you are reading this text online, downloading it to read on a phone or other mobile device, printing it to read on paper, or uploading it to your brain Matrix-style, it is hoped that you find it educational, useful, current, and fun.
Suggestions for improving The OER Guide to Media Writing should be sent to the corresponding author, Mark Poepsel, Ph.D. at mpoepse@siue.edu.