5/2/2017 0 Comments semester reflectionThis semester has gone by so fast. Reflecting back on previous weeks, I have grown so much. My time in this course taught me valuable lessons I can use for my public relations career, but I can also use for my own personal life. While I was apprehensive of an online course at the beginning, I've grown to appreciate the beauty and benefits of it.
Many of the assignments in this course have helped me learn more about the extent of the public relations field. There were many things I didn't know were part of the daily work of public relations professionals. When I first started this course, I thought the only things PR professionals did was write press releases and pitches. Now, I've seen all the different pieces of work a PR professional can create. This has made me more excited about this career path because it shows me the diversity that comes along with it. I definitely feel like I turned a corner in the middle of this semester. As I said at the beginning, I used to think writing press releases was difficult, but now, I feel like it's second nature. Everything became much easier in the middle of the semester when I finally got the swing of things and realized all PR professionals have to juggle. My proudest piece of work was the feature story. I also was proud of the Op-Ed piece. Both of these featured things I am extremely passionate about, so it was fun getting to work on them. I felt like my passion helped me to work my hardest on these pieces. A piece of work I felt like I could have done better one was my visual story. I felt like I could have put more passion into taking the photos and figuring out my story. I wish I would have figured out my topic sooner, so I could have put more effort into the pictures I took. I felt like I grew tremendously this semester as a writer. I learned new ways to write and new techniques. I am so thankful for all the knowledge I gained this semester, and I know I will continue to use it for the rest of college and my life. Thank you for all you've taught me this semester, Pritch. I am forever grateful!
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4/27/2017 0 Comments reflection 4.2I cannot believe I just finished my last big assignment for this class! I know I keep talking about how fast the semester has gone by, but seriously, this semester has flown by! I am sad this class will be over because I've enjoyed a lot of the assignments we've had! However, I am ready for summer because I will be living at the beach! WOO!
So for this assignment, I had a hard time trying to figure out what story I wanted to depict. After spending all last week pondering what the subject of my visual story would be, I finally decided to use Loveworks as my subject. I volunteer at Loveworks every week, and it is such an awesome organization I think everyone should know about. The actual assignment was interesting. I forgot the amount of detail that goes into writing captions for pictures. It seems like it would be an easy assignment, but it was actually pretty difficult. I did enjoy the photography aspect of the assignment. Pictures can truly speak so much on their own, so it is important to write the correct captions to further the purpose of the photo. This assignment doesn't seem like something that would be relevant to public relations, but once again, I am surprised by the different types of work public relations professionals do. I think this assignment gave me valuable skills, especially with writing captions. 4/12/2017 0 Comments reflection 4.1This week we learned how to write a public service announcement! This is something that makes sense to be part of a public relations professional's skill set, but for some reason, I have never connected the two before. I used to always think PSAs were government sponsored things, but now I know organizations can send out PSAs.
I learned the small amount of words that can be used for TV and radio spots. 30 seconds seems like a long time, but it's not nearly as long as it seems. 65 words for 30 seconds seems like way too small of an amount, but if you talk for 30 seconds at a normal speed, then 65 words is the right amount. It's crazy to see the differences between print and audio medias. While both are forms of media, it is a completely different method in writing for each. For some reason, I don't associate PR professionals with television spots because those are mostly advertisements. While you pay for PSAs to be broadcasted, the point of them isn't to gain a profit. I would never expect to write PSAs in my professional career, but after this assignment, it is something that interests. This is yet another thing this class has taught me that will help me to have a well-rounded skill set for my career. I can't believe we only have one more major assignment left after this! This semester has seriously flown by! 4/5/2017 0 Comments reflection 3.6This class has seriously been flying by! I cannot believe we are almost finished for the semester. Op-eds are something I have been somewhat familiar with, but I am not as familiar with letters to the editor. However, both of them were pretty simple to write.
Op-eds are fun to write because it's is all your own opinion, which is easy to write. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone normally wants to share their opinions. Writing about opinions is the best when it's something you're passionate about, which op-eds are perfect for. They give you the perfect outlet to express your feelings in a scholarly way. Letters to the editor are awesome ways to discuss articles with other people in society who are also able to share opinions too. I've written op-eds and letters to the editor before, but I never associated them with a public relations career. Here's yet another surprise in the field of public relations. This class is awesome because it continues to show me things I didn't know were involved in public relations. Both assignments are great ways to express your opinions, and I hope to one day use them as part of my own public relations career. This class continues to teach me skills that will make me a much more well-rounded individual for my future career. I'm so thankful to learn important, but also interesting concepts in both public relations and journalism. 3/29/2017 0 Comments Reflection 3.51. This week we were asked to write a feature story. Normally, feature stories are something you would think journalists would write, which they do, but it is a skill PR professionals need to know as well. This included doing quite a bit of research as well as conducting interviews.
2. I now know a lot more about conducting interviews and how to prepare for them. I have conducted interviews before, but I learned how to better prepare for them and how to act during them. I also learned more about the different types of ledes for feature stories and how to write each one. 3. I would like to learn more in depth information about how to choose what type of feature you want to write. It would also be interesting to learn more about how to write different features for different publications. 4. I was surprised by this assignment because I assumed feature stories were something only written by journalists. This has really shown me that PR professionals wear very many different hats and can have a wide variety of assignments, which is exciting to know. It is so interesting to learn about all the things that can be incorporated into a public relations career. 5. I think this could help me in my career because it is yet another skill I could use. Learning skills like this help me to become a more well-rounded PR professional, and it also teaches me important skills like communication and interview skills. Interview skills could definitely help me to learn how to act when going into an interview for a job. 3/9/2017 0 Comments Reflection 3.41. This week was a doozy. We were asked to write a position paper over Tipton Children's Home, and we had to take the position that Tipton is a better option over normal foster care. The paper was fairly easy to write because I believe Tipton is such a great program, and I think it is definitely something that needs more attention around Oklahoma for all its efforts.
2. I now know how to research a topic thoroughly in order to make your point valid. I also know how to take a clear stance on issue, while also making sure to acknowledge and refute the counterarguments. I believe I could use this skill in my every day life as well. When making an argument, it is better to have all the research done before stating your opinion. 3. I would like to learn more about proper research techniques, which I will hopefully learn in PR Research next semester. Woo! 4. I didn't realize position papers were something PR professionals wrote. I am curious to know how often position paper are used and when to use them. They are definitely different than writing a press release or a pitch. I would like to know who is in charge of writing position papers within a PR agency. 5. I feel like this would help me to see how much research I need to put into my work before releasing something to the public. I feel like it would also be useful in my every day life because it shows how much research I should put in before making an argument over an issue. 2/22/2017 0 Comments reflection1. This week we were asked to write both media advisories and media pitches. Media pitches are made to journalists, and they are a pitched idea for a story that the PR professional is somehow related to. It is normally for the organization the PR professional works for, and the pitch is about the organization. Media advisories are basically a condensed press release given to reporters. They normally serve as a reminder for the reporter to get them to cover an event.
2. I didn't even know media advisories existed before this unit, so I learned a whole new PR concept. I also learned how to write a media pitch once, but it was a little different from what we learned. I now know how to write both, so I will hopefully have even more to add to my portfolio. 3. I would like to learn how often media advisories are actually used. I also would like to learn more about how to make pitches more exciting for the reporter and learn how to give them the sharp angle they want. 4. I definitely think knowing how to pitch to journalist is essential in public relations. If you want people to write about your organization, you have to be the one to get them to want to write about it. I see this skill being a big part of being a PR professional. I think media advisories are important, but they don't seem as important as media pitches. Media advisories serve as reminders to get reporters to events, which is still a big part of public relations. 5. I could see both these skills helping me quite a bit in my future. I can see myself using both these skills often as a PR professional because they are essential ways to get your organization's name out to the public. 2/15/2017 0 Comments reflection1. For this unit we were asked to write two news releases, as well as do a media markup. Writing the news releases was a little difficult; however, I know learning this will benefit me later on. The media markup helped me see the elements of a news release in real life, not just an assignment. I hope I will be able to add my news releases to my portfolio!
2. I now know to include a bridge along with the lede. I didn't learn this when I first learned to write news releases, but I can definitely tell it helps transition the story well. I also can better understand the way the inverted pyramid works. 3. I would like to learn more about how to write specific news releases for different sectors, such as fashion, beauty, etc. I also would like to better understand how often news releases are written for specific organizations and how different organization work to get the releases out. 4. I think this is an important skill most public relation professionals should possess. This skill seems to be used quite often because organizations are constantly putting out press releases to get printed by journalists. 5. I think this would help me a ton in my career. I love to write, so I think I could use this skill quite a bit in my future career. This is basic knowledge I think anyone going into public relations should possess. |
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May 2017
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