Module manager: Carl Hartley
Email: c.d.hartley@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This new module will incorporate parts of COMM1305 Introduction to Journalism
This module is not approved as a discovery module
This module provides students with key professional skills relevant to journalism. Students will explore how journalists find stories and use writing, interviewing, research, and storytelling techniques before applying these within their own developing practice. They will gain and demonstrate skills in critical analysis, research, and communication. In addition, students will learn about the news process and how newsrooms work, including some of the roles involved in producing news content.
Through workshops and seminars students will learn and practice journalism skills such as research, storytelling, writing, interviewing. Through seminars they will be able to critically analyse how these skills are used in a range of news media content. By the end of the module students will be able to research and develop their own news story idea and use these skills to produce a basic piece of journalism.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Apply knowledge of journalistic concepts and values to produce news content that is worthy, factual, and accurate.
2. Reflect on and analyse experiences of professional journalism practice.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
3. Apply a range of basic journalism skills such as; finding news contributors, fact-checking and interviewing along with basic news writing skills.
4. Apply core teamwork skills such as time management, working relationships, confidence and communication skills.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Practical | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| Seminar | 9 | 1 | 9 |
| Independent online learning hours | 10 | ||
| Private study hours | 160 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 30 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Students will be set tasks within their practicals and workshops relating to the skills and understanding they have been taught. Some activities will be completed in their private study time and in all cases, students will receive formative verbal or written feedback on areas of achievement and improvement.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Group presentation and individual reflection | 30 |
| Coursework | News report | 70 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Resits for the group presentation will be an individual presentation and reflection Resits for the news report will be the same as the original task
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 12/05/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team