Year 1 Journalism

Lovely Sarah

Hey everyone,

Im starting Journalism in a couple of weeks in The Aungier St campus. Just wondering if there's anyone out there doing the same course. Would be great to chat with any fellow students :-)

Im also a mature student and would love extra info regading the Mature Student Support within DIT.

Cheers everyone!!

phic

Lovely Sarah wrote: »

Hey everyone,

Im starting Journalism in a couple of weeks in The Aungier St campus. Just wondering if there's anyone out there doing the same course. Would be great to chat with any fellow students :-)

Im also a mature student and would love extra info regading the Mature Student Support within DIT.

Cheers everyone!!

Heya I'm starting journalism and a language in aungier st this year! I'm very excited to get started, sick of all this waiting round! Glad I'm not the only journalism student on here, it seems to be mainly computer science!

Um I don't really know anything about mature student support, apart from what was in that pack they sent out, but I did notice at the information day there were a lot of "mature" people, so you won't be alone with a loada kids! think theres a society for mature students as well?

Lovely Sarah

Hey Phic,

Thanks a mil for your reply and best of luck in your course. I reckon we'll be working in close conjunction with the language course as well so might even meet ya at some stage.....And as for the young uns scenario....Well sure i'm still a big kid at heart eeekkss:rolleyes:.

Anyone else please leave a comment

ditmature

Hi Lovely Sarah,

I'm the Mature Student Support Officer here in DIT and we have a wide range of supports available for you!

Each year, we run academic study skills classes, provide financial information and support and much much more.

We also have a Mature Students Society and are holding a Mature Students Welcome Event on the 8th of September at 10.30am in DIT Bolton St - you may have received an invitation in the post...If you're able to come, just drop me a line at ms.info@dit.ie or call (01) 402 7658 and let me know!

Loads of information available here: http://www.dit.ie/mature/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VDHmhi1a3c

See you in DIT!

Bob

Frankiestylee

Ah there are a fair few journos floating about the boards. Soon to be final year *fingers crossed until the exam boards*

penpusher

Hey Sarah
I hope you got registered ok today - it was confusing wasn't it. Luckily in my mature student disguise the gaggle of bank folk outside the front door ignored me so I was saved that hurdle. See you tomorrow for orientation....
Fionnuala

Lovely Sarah

Hey Fionnuala....

Im a mature student too but i still managed to be haggled into opening an aib account...Well for a free 50 euro, ya cant go wrong. Only thing i need to do now is to find some funds to put into the darn thing haha!!..

See ya tomorrow, Looking forward to meeting you

phic

haha enjoy you're shout out in the induction today?
the second he said is there a sarah here I knew what was coming!

Lovely Sarah

Lol Phic!..Slightly embarassed there today but good craic so its all good lol....I didnt meet ya today did i?????

Well sure plenty of time on Monday :D:D

Cant wait to get to knw everyone in our classes and its great that the two journo courses are combining..The more the merrier

C ya Monday;)

phic

Lovely Sarah wrote: »

Lol Phic!..Slightly embarassed there today but good craic so its all good lol....I didnt meet ya today did i?????

Well sure plenty of time on Monday :D:D

Cant wait to get to knw everyone in our classes and its great that the two journo courses are combining..The more the merrier

C ya Monday;)

Haha no, I was down the front row! I just heard and laughed! I'll say hi on Monday!
yeah its cool that we're just one big group, my classes would be tiny otherwise, theres only about 15 of us doing a language!
anywhoo see ya bright and early monday morning!

LovexxLife

Hi im in 6th year and am wondering what the course like?

penpusher

First year, we do politics, media studies, news reporting, narrative journalism/literature, journalism in democracy and society, shorthand, grammar, typing and photojournalism.
It's very practical as opposed to lots of abstract theory, the lecturers are good, and I'm learning a lot and enjoying it. I'm a mature student and I would actually recommend doing a primary degree in something like politics or economics or arts, then a 1-yr MA in journalism - I think journalism is a very useful skill that can best be applied to an existing body of knowledge that you have.
Writing well is important, but establishing contacts, relationships and being nosy are the most critical traits.

LovexxLife

I was thinking of doing arts in UCD where I would study archaeology but what other subject would you recommend i combine with archaeology?

I cant take English or Politics with it as the university doesnt allow it

penpusher

well - what is it it you think you'd like to do after college - i.e. what general area?

History might be a good match with archaeology - but it's probably worth you talking this over with a career guidance person or a college professor in your target area - to make sure your don't limit your options?

LovexxLife

penpusher wrote: »

well - what is it it you think you'd like to do after college - i.e. what general area?

History might be a good match with archaeology - but it's probably worth you talking this over with a career guidance person or a college professor in your target area - to make sure your don't limit your options?

Well i wanna do archaeology but seeing as i never done it before my back-up plan would be journalism. So I was thinking archaeology with German or lingistics for my back-up plan would they have me on the right path for a journalism postgrad?


Also to do a postgrad is there any special requirements?

penpusher

A language is always a great thing to have - and linguistics is a great field. I'm afraid I haven't a clue what the postgrad requirements are for the MAs - I really think your best option is to call the colleges and ask - I don't want to steer you wrong as it's an important decision.
Find out the heads of schools (e.g. head of journalism) in the college via website and then call or email your questions.

LovexxLife

Thanks for your help i will talk to my giudance consellor next week cos she busy atm with all the cao and ucas forms.

Oh i was wondering how difficult is it to learn shorthand?
Can you just do your own shorthand?

penpusher

Shorthand is like a motor skill - like learning to drive a car - so it requires a lot of practice and is hard until it becomes second nature (I'm not there yet:) - not by long way).
It really requires daily practice and constant use - it bypasses the mental processes - so cramming absolutely not possible.
There are a few forms out there - t-line and pitman to name 2. Apparently t-line is easier - we do pitman. You'd mostly need it for phone conversations and court reporting (dictaphone for the rest) - so try to imagine getting all your information accurately (including quotes) using your own shorthand - very difficult.
And no-one else could read it, so could become the lost language of X:)

Frankiestylee

LovexxLife wrote: »

I was thinking of doing arts in UCD where I would study archaeology but what other subject would you recommend i combine with archaeology?

I cant take English or Politics with it as the university doesnt allow it

If you're interested in archaeology then go for it and journalism will always be waiting for you after your degree. A language opens so many doors and exposes you to different ways of thinking, so I think it's a good idea if you have the option, plus you can always do an MA in International Journalism etc.

Really you don't need to study journalism to be a journalist, but it certainly helps fill in certain areas. It's a bit like learning to drive without taking any lessons, you might be able to get from A to B but you'll have plenty of bad habits and may not have noticed certain subtleties.

If you decide that you really really want to be a journalist then I'd suggest doing an undergraduate course. Some say the masters course is pretty much covering the undergrad in one year rather than 4 (though one year of that is Erasmus/work experience) but it doesn't really work out that way.

A mistake a lot of people make is studying English with an eye on journalism... the styles are completely different and you'll learn many good habits for English that work against you when it comes to writing news. In the same vein many people study journalism because they love English in school, only to realise that they're completely different animals.

experiMental

Here's what I'd advise a budding journalist student to do:

1.) you are in Dublin. There isn't a better place to interview people. Seriously. So go out, interview random people, whether in country, college or the city. Write a lot of stuff about your interviews. Maybe target a specific sector of population, like buskers, etc, if you want. By interviewing, you will learn a lot of shorthand, and you'll be better at listening and will have more patience.

2.) You are in a college. That means lots of photocopiers and campuses both on the Northside and Southside as well. So that means there isn't a better place to start typing some of your observations up and printing them. You don't need a publisher. Just print your stuff out and distribute it to your peers. See if they like it. Also, don't forget that there is Temple Bar, a place which will always be on the lookout for any new written stuff.

3.) Team up with a designer or a photographer, like myself here . These people can help you to create visually catchy and compelling pages for your magazine. Some can also tell you how to cut costs in printing and publishing.
Great looking content will always get people to read it.

Having said that, go for DIT and Dublin in general. You have no idea how many foreign students there are who want to study journalism in Dublin. Some people are all the way from Russia.