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How can I prepare for my journalism degree??!!

I'm starting my BA Journalism degree at UCLan in September and I'm wondering how I can prepare for this? I have a horrible feeling I'm going to be miles behind/not prepared at all!!! :eek:

Has anyone done theirs and wished they had known something before they started?? And I don't mean the obvious "stay up to date with current affairs and get some work experience".. I mean things like books to read or material to cover before I go....

So nervous!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply 1

MorrisseyForever

I'm planning on going to uni next year to do journalism and I was told to just make sure I had researched the subject a lot. There isn't much you can do apart from work experience and current affairs so you should be fine :smile:

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Reply 2

apassingfeeling

Original post by silver94

I'm starting my BA Journalism degree at UCLan in September and I'm wondering how I can prepare for this? I have a horrible feeling I'm going to be miles behind/not prepared at all!!! :eek:

My recommendations from having studied journalism for the past 2 years:
Read:
- My Trade by Andrew Marr
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves
- Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers by Harold Evans
- NCTJ Shorthand Gold Standard for Journalists (not sure who wrote this but if you look it up on Amazon it's the one with a green cover & CD)
- The Universal Journalist by David Randall

...I don't know what your course covers but that's what I'd recommend based on my experiences :smile:

And I know you said no obvious things, but it really is important to keep up to date. Current affairs are important, but more than that - read widely, read any newspaper you can (and don't be snobby and avoid the tabloids, they're just as important :wink:

), read magazines, watch the news, documentaries, etc.

And i'd bet that if you do any amount of preparation before you go you'll be ahead of others, even if it's just watching the six o'clock news once a week!

Reply 3

JammyMan

Original post by silver94

I'm starting my BA Journalism degree at UCLan in September and I'm wondering how I can prepare for this? I have a horrible feeling I'm going to be miles behind/not prepared at all!!! :eek:

Congratulations on getting into UCLan! You'll have a great time and you're on a good course.

I can assure you, you don't NEED to do any prep before coming to UCLan. However, I might be able to let you know what to expect and perhaps you can find some reading around those areas.

In your first year you'll mainly be studying:

UK Journalism - Basically a history of the industry from late 19th century to present day.

Electronic Journalism - The modern newsroom, online journalism, citizen journalism and so on.

Journalism Practice - hands on work writing stories from press releases/court.

That is mainly it! To be honest - the best thing you could do to prepare is to familiarise yourself with some of the discussions in the industry at the moment i.e. Leveson, Wikileaks, Murdoch.

NB: Get Me a Murder a Day (K. Williams) will be your bible for history of journalism and you'll be told to buy it anyway.

You will be choosing an extra elective module (a module of your choice from any school), it is worth thinking about what you'd like to do to enhance your experience. I chose one which would give me more camera work practise but you can do anything - if you want to give dentistry a try, why not?

P.S. You won't be starting shorthand until Y2, and won't be studying it at all if you do broadcast. It's difficult, but an invaluable skill to have.