The Current Event Coverage Report

The following resources are presented as a supplement to our article "Putting Synthesis and Media Literacy within Reach: The Current Event Coverage Report," published in Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments. Here is the abstract of the article:

This article introduces a project for teaching synthesis skills and media literacy in a junior-level composition course. The project, which consists of an annotated bibliography and report synthesizing what sources reveal about a current event of national interest, was developed to address weaknesses in an existing approach to teaching synthesis, composing literature reviews on topics in students’ majors. The project enabled students at an open-enrollment institution to gain greater mastery of synthesis-related skills in a way they found more accessible, while at the same time increasing their understanding of public discourse and news media, important topics in an age where research shows media literacy to be at historic lows.

Here is a copy of the assignment instructions:

[Current Event Coverage Report]

Suggested Schedule and Resources

The Coverage Report is a major project (one of three) in the junior-level composition course for which it was developed. As such, we spend around five weeks of the semester on the project. Lacking a specific textbook to provide readings and activities, we gathered or created our own, presented here for the reader's use or adaptation.

The class represented here, taught by David, met twice a week for 75 minutes per session. The readings and assignments listed are meant to be completed before class on the day listed.

Day 1

On this first day of the unit, I present to students the idea of education as a necessary prerequisite to democracy, pointing to the (very general and often debatable) trend that, as America has increased access to the vote it has, of necessity, increased access to education so that the electorate will be empowered to make wise choices. One outcome of a college education that students might not have considered before, therefore, is that, in addition to preparing them for the workforce it also prepared them to be responsible, engaged citizens of a democracy.

We discuss the Nussbaum reading, focusing on her "three abilities of citizenship," and it's always a joy to hear students wax both philosophical and practical about their educations.

Having posited that students are engaged in a social contract wherein they receive access to and/or subsidizing of education in return for active civic engagement, I then ask them what obstacles prevent them from doing so in regards to engaging with the public discourse, specifically news media. Their answers often include things like time, money, access, apathy, disillusionment, a desire "not to grow up yet," etc. At the end of the lesson I tell them that one goal of the unit is the reduce or eliminate these barriers so that, if they choose to accept the terms of the social contract, they will be empowered to do so.

Day 2

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Day 3

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Day 4

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Day 5

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Day 6

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Day 7

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Day 8

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Day 9

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Day 10

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