SDS 236: Data Journalism

Collaboration

Much of this course will operate on a collaborative basis, and you are often expected to work together with a partner or in small groups to complete assignments. However, every word that you write must be your own. Copying and pasting sentences, paragraphs, or blocks of code from another student is not acceptable and will receive no credit. All students, staff and faculty are bound by the Smith College Honor Code, which Smith has had since 1944.

Academic Honor Code Statement

Smith College expects all students to be honest and committed to the principles of academic and intellectual integrity in their preparation and submission of course work and examinations. Students and faculty at Smith are part of an academic community defined by its commitment to scholarship, which depends on scrupulous and attentive acknowledgement of all sources of information, and honest and respectful use of college resources.

Cases of dishonesty, plagiarism, etc., will be reported to the Academic Honor Board.

Reporting

We will be exploring the concept of reporting throughout this course. You will be producing regular written assignments, following the quick pace of a standard newsroom and news cycle.

In general, assignments will include the following components:

• A pitch. In the first half of the course, I will provide the pitch to you. As the course progresses, you will be expected to research and pitch your own stories to me.
• Data research. This may include: searching on the web for data, reaching out to sources, submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
• Initial writing. Each piece of reporting you produce must go through a series of editing stages. Your initial draft should be produced quickly, and include the basic structure of a data story (headline, byline, lede, explanation, and additional information).
• Editing. This will primarily be done by someone serving in an “editor” role (sometimes me, sometimes your fellow students). Editing will include copyediting, proofreading, and reading for clarity.
• Finished product. Your finished product should be print-ready.

For assignments that include visualization, the components will be largely the same, with “visualization” substituted for “writing.” Visualizations still need to be pitched, go through a draft process, and be edited for clarity and accuracy.

Grading

When grading your written work, we are looking for writing this both technically correct and clearly explained. Assessment will take into account the intended audience, the venue for publication, the word count and other reporting briefs, accuracy of reporting, and grammatical clarity.

Your ability to communicate results, which may be technical in nature, to your audience, which is likely to be non-technical, is critical to your success as a data analyst. The assignments in this class will place an emphasis on the clarity of your writing.

Course Website

The course website and Moodle page will be regularly updated with lecture handouts, project information, assignments, and other course resources. Announcements will primarily be made via Slack. It is your responsibility to check these resources regularly.

Tentative Schedule

The following is a brief outline of the course. Please refer to the complete day-to-day schedule for more detailed information.