DESCRIPTION

Magazine Fundamentals has more than one aim. One is to teach you the skills you'll need to produce the Ryerson Review of Journalism in your graduating year -- skills that will also prepare you for an entry-level editorial position in the magazine industry. To this end, you'll receive a thorough grounding in such areas as copy editing, fact-checking, proofreading, secondary display writing and copy editing on computers.

The other aim is to make you familiar with the day-to-day workings of magazines as well as the Canadian magazine industry. During the year, you'll learn about the art, circulation and advertising departments, and how the editorial department functions in relation to each. You'll be introduced to all the steps between raw copy and finished magazine, and you'll hear about the economic, technological and cultural policy environments in which publishers work.

Format

Classes will combine lecture and in-class practice, including some time spent in the Macintosh computer suite. There will be in-class and take-home assignments and one test, as well as assigned reading and homework. In the winter term, several of our classes will be devoted to seminars that you will present in pairs; we'll also hear from some guest speakers and take a field trip to the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association.

Required texts

• Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition
• The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 11th edition (1999)
• The Canadian Press Caps and Spelling (1998)

ASSIGNMENTS

VALUE

DUE DATE