My Major

Although I am currently listed as an honors undecided major, I am going to declare journalism. If you have questions about what journalism entails, or what being a journalist is like, continue reading; I am going to answer a few assigned questions below.

Spot Us, "Objectivity in Journalism Wordle"  8/30/2010 via flickr.
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1. What do students in your program learn how to do?
   
   

In the Journalism program, students learn how to write critical articles of various genres and prepare to face the variety of journalists of the 21st century. Essentially, they learn how to write critical and entertaining articles that will provide their reader with some form of information on a specific event, controversy, person, etc.

2. What do people who get degrees in journalism usually go on to do for work?
   
   

Journalists generally write articles or blogs for newspapers, online news hubs, magazines, news broadcasting, or even on television. Being a journalism major, I hope to someday write articles for an online news hub or magazine.

3. What drew you into this field?
   
   

I love to write, especially about topics I feel passionate about. In high school, I helped start an online news hub for my school called the Potomac Pulse. Because the website was completely student run, and because I was a founding member and executive editor of the website, I was able to write about any topic that interested me as well as assign articles to other students. Whether it be politics, school events, global news, pop culture, you name it, I could write about it. I enjoy voicing my opinions in articles and reporting news to my readers.

4. Who are the leaders/most exciting people involved in your field right now? Why? These could be individual people or specific companies, organizations, businesses or nonprofits.
   
   

To me, some of the most important leaders in journalism are The Wall Street Journal, The Buffalo News, The Boston Globe, BuzzFeed, and Twitter. The first three I mentioned are all highly ranked print and online newspapers which cover all the topics of journalism. On their websites you can find articles on politics, religion, business, entertainment, economy, technology, etc. I personally believe that articles written by journalists for these news hubs are credible and relevant. More often, the articles from these sources are less opinionated and more informational.

BuzzFeed is different, I love reading articles on BuzzFeed because they are entertaining, visual, and sometimes comical. Although BuzzFeed's articles seem to be mostly for entertainment, sometimes you will come across an article that is actually relevant to current controversies. Unlike the sources above, BuzzFeed's articles almost always have a clear opinion. 

Finally, Twitter is an application that can make anyone a journalist (but that doesn't mean a credible one). On Twitter, people are able to write about current controversies or events and share their opinions using simply a hashtag. It is an easy way to see people's reaction to a certain controversy. 

5. What are the leading academic/scholarly journals in your field? Where are they published? Give us the names and locations of at least 3.

Three leading academic scholarly journals for journalism are JSTOR, JournalSeek, and Questia. These three databases provide innumerable scholarly articles for journalists to access. JSTOR has more than 900 publishers providing access to current and non-current journals. JournalSeek provides more than 6,000 publishers and more than 20 search categories. Finally, Questia offers more than 10,000 articles selected by professors and librarians for anyone to access. These databases are critical for journalists who are writing about topics that could need more information and research from past articles. 

Overall, the internet is a Journalist's best friend. The internet provides you with innumerable sources for information and a way to communicate your writing, opinions, and ideas with others instantly. The internet is definitely my best friend!

Reflection:

After reading Jenny and Rachel's posts, I found that the three of us picked majors that we were passionate about and had previous or current relationships to. Like Jenny, I have experienced working in my field of study and it has only made me more passionate about journalism. And similarly to Rachel, specific people have influenced my decision to study journalism. One being my father, who loves to read my work and encourages me to write about topics that are important to me. Another being one of my best high school friends, who wrote articles with me for my schools online website, the Potomac Pulse. After reading about my peers' future plans, I feel as though the work we will be doing in the future will benefit others (I hope). With journalism, I hope to provide my readers with information and share my opinions with them. For Jenny, she will be educating the minds of our future. Finally, Rachel will be completing research to help find a cure for various neurological diseases. That is, if all goes as planned for us! It is relieving to know that all the work put in at school isn't for nothing, but rather, for the benefit of others.