Course Overview
- Title:
- Beat Basics and Beyond
- Type:
- Self-Directed Course
- Time Estimate:
- This course takes two to three hours to complete.
About Self-Directed Courses
In a self-directed course, you can start and stop whenever you like, progressing entirely at your own pace and going back as many times as you want to review the material.
Starting on a new beat assignment? This course will help you identify the key issues and sources on your beat, learn how to determine what’s included in your beat and develop the resources to focus your coverage.
In addition, you’ll get some tips from veteran reporters; use the Beat Breakdown tool to see what’s included in various beats; get a list of online resources; and write your own beat description.
At the end of the course, you will be able to confidently approach writing the first stories off your new beat.
What Will I Learn:
Upon completing this course, you will be able to:
- Identify key issues and sources on your beat.
- Define areas of coverage.
- Develop resources to focus your coverage.
Who should take this course:
This course is designed for reporters but it's also a good exercise for anyone who wants to do a thorough job writing on a specific area or topic. It's for writers in any media.
Course Instructor:
Steve Buttry
Steve Buttry is C3 innovation coach for Gazette Communications. He has been a reporter, editor and writing coach for The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Omaha World-Herald; Des Moines Register; Minot Daily News; Kansas City Star and Times and Shenandoah (Iowa) Evening Sentinel.
Technical Requirements:
For this course you will need to have at least version 7.0 of the Flash plugin installed. For the best experience, we suggest that:
- PC users use Internet Explorer or Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox
- Mac users use Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox or Safari
- you set your monitor resolution to 1024 x 768 or higher
- you use a high speed connection