OFFER: Writing Coach Wednesdays
Dear Students:
We are writing to inform you of a new way to receive writing coaching at the
Journalism School. Currently, the only way a student can get writing
coaching outside a class setting is if a professor refers the student to the
Dean of Students office for remedial coaching. We will continue to offer
that service on a limited basis.
But there was there was no mechanism for a student who just wanted a way to
improve his or her work, or just wanted to bounce ideas off someone else, to
get help from our coaches.
That chanes with what we are calling “Writing Coach Wednesdays.” On an
experimental basis, on Wednesday, March 5, and on Wednesday, March 12, a
writing coach will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in a classroom here.
Students can sign up for a 15- or 30-minute block of time during that
period. These are off-the-record, one-on-one sessions with no records kept.
Students can bring a piece of writing (anything goes: a sentence, a para, a
page, or more) and have the coach work on it with them and offer
constructive feedback. The students can use the sessions for any class work
(or for relevant freelance work).
* Your course professors are still your main teachers and any reporting and
writing issues should be tackled primarily by them. This is just an
additional, optional service.
* One of the conditions of using this service is that students cannot use
anything they learn in the sessions to argue with their course professors -
“but the writing coach told me….”
* While the coach will be happy to look at parts of your Master’s Project or
Master’s Thesis, you cannot expect the coach to read and line-edit your
entire project/thesis.
* This is an experiment, so we will reassess it at the end of each week. If
there isn’t enough demand, for example, or there’s more demand than we can
accommodate, we will make adjustments.
The writing coach who will be doing the first few sessions is Prof. Mervin
Block. He is a long-time member of our adjunct faculty and has worked as a
writer for a variety of media outlets and served as the editor of a weekly
newspaper. He is a terrific line editor of both print and broadcast writing
and has helped thousands of journalists take their writing to new levels.
You can see some of his tips at http://www.mervinblock.com
NEXT STEPS: If you’d like to schedule a 15- or 30-minute session for
Wednesday, March 5 or Wednesday, March 12 (10 a.m. - 1 p.m.), please contact
Yahaira Alonzo, Student Affairs administrative coordinator at
ya139@columbia.edu or 212-851-0204 or stop by to see her at her desk in 207,
outside the offices of Deans Huff and Sreenivasan.
You will have to bring two copies of your writing sample(s) - double spaced,
please. If you bring a broadcast script, make sure it is NOT in all caps. If
you bring text intended for a website, make sure it is double-spaced, too.
It is critical that once you get a confirmation from Yahaira, that you show
up promptly at the assigned time and location.
Thank you for participating in this experiment. We look forward to getting
your feedback.
- Dean Sreenivasan
