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Feature Writing - JRN300 Fall 2026
Course
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David Vaughan
In this course we look at some interesting ways of breaking the rules we have learned in other classes.
/files/3125989/JRN300-Feature_Writing-F26-Vaughan.pdf
This course moves beyond basic journalistic reporting and news writing. Students will gain experience in writing longer, impactful feature articles. We’ll work on techniques to find angles and develop them into research-based non-fiction stories that have characters, show development and follow a structural, narrative arc from beginning to end. The class is run as a magazine editorial team, with students pitching their stories and workshopping their drafts. We shall look at different ways of writing for different platforms and at multimedia aspects of feature writing, including audio and video.
Here is the course outline:
1. Lesson 1
Sep 3
Introduction to the course |
2. Lesson 2
Sep 10
Profile Writing |
3. Lesson 3
Sep 17
Interviewing |
4. Lesson 4
Sep 24
Introducing Features |
5. Lesson 5
Oct 1
Profile Writing: peer reviews |
6. Lesson 6
Oct 8
Feature Writing: finding the story |
7. Lesson 7
Oct 15
Feature Articles: Student presentations |
8. Lesson 8
Oct 22
Prix Bohemia: Assessing radio reports submitted to the international competition Prix Bohemia, October 2025. |
9. Lesson 9
Nov 5
Visit from Jan Bělíček from the online newspaper Deník ALARM. |
10. Lesson 10
Nov 12
Prix Bohemia - continued Feature articles - progress and the art of the ending Preparation for next week's visit from the novelist, diplomat and journalist Marek Toman |
11. Lesson 11
Nov 19
Visit from the Czech novelist, diplomat and journalist Marek Toman |
12. Lesson 12
Nov 26
Rewriting a feature story |
13. Working with sound...
Dec 3
Using sound as part of the story. |
14. Lesson 11
Dec 10
Meeting Marianne Allweiss from German public-service radio ARD |
15. Lesson 12: Sound Mixes
Dec 17
Using sound to tell a story |