A Little More Context

This project is important for many reasons. First, strategic communications professionals must excel at writing. No matter what trends take over on social media or in other disciplines, communications professionals must exhibit stellar written communication skills. Working on the CPRE initiative will make you mindful of the standards you’re expected to uphold.

Second, this is a great opportunity for you to polish your own professional writing. You’re going to shape and revise the three deliverables so that they’re clear, succinct, in AP style, and likely to appeal to the news media.

You want reporters to “run with your story”; however, you are not drafting an argument or appeal. The purpose of your news release is to inform reporters about the state of writing in the United States. To that end, you should present facts so that they are clear and easily understandable. You should not be editorializing, making an argument, or issuing a call to action. You will do these latter activities—that is, you will write to persuade—in Project 2, where you develop an op-ed on the same topic.

Planning Your Work

You have three weeks to produce your three deliverables for Gavin; be sure to read through all the steps of the project first so that you can plan your time wisely and keep on track. Complete the steps as follows:

• Week 1: Steps 1–3
• Week 2: Steps 4–6
  • submission in Step 4
• Week 3: Steps 7–10
  • submission in Step 8

Participate in the discussions along the way; these are great opportunities for you to consult with your Parabolic colleagues and share ideas.

If you have questions at any time, please visit the Ask the Professor discussion. (To locate a discussion, go to the My Tools tab, click Discussions, and then scroll to the discussion you want.)

Career Connections

We want you to become a competitive force in the marketplace as well as a communications strategist.

To that end, we encourage you to create a job-seeking profile that you can start in this project and expand throughout the program. Each course will contain some activities to help you with the profile and, in some cases, a deliverable to help you increase your overall attractiveness to employers. For example, in Project 4 of this course, you’ll complete a career pathway plan based on some prep work in Project 1 and Project 3. Look for these Career Connections boxes for guidance.

Right now, we encourage you to take these two steps:

• Register with UMUC’s CareerQuest if you haven’t already done so.
• Download and save our job-seeking profile template as you’ll be adding to it throughout the program. You could use the template to enhance your resume, add to your LinkedIn profile, or build a job-seeking website. We recommend the website: It will help you stand out, showcase your creativity, and share examples of your graduate and professional work in an online portfolio. Refer to our guidance on creating a strategic communications portfolio to consider what samples to include and whether your profile should be print- or web-based.

*Although CPRE is a real organization, this project is a fictional scenario, and the backgrounder was written by the scenario authors.

Competencies

Your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below.

• 1.2: Develop coherent paragraphs or points so that each is internally unified and so that each functions as part of the whole document or presentation.
• 1.5: Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and audience.
• 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
• 2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
• 2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.
• 3.3: Analyze mathematical or statistical information, or the results of quantitative inquiry and manipulation of data.
• 7.1. Produce appropriate products for communicating with target publics.

Orient Yourself to the Field

You’re eager to get started on your first job at Parabolic, but before you begin, your mentor, account executive Gavin Hanson, wants you to review some information the company gives new hires.

“We want to make sure our team has a shared understanding of what strategic communications is and where the field is going,” says Gavin. “First, what is strategic communications? How do we define the field, how has it changed over time, and how do we work in tandem with other disciplines, such as marketing and advertising? You may be interested to learn, if you don’t know already, how the term we use, strategic communications, has evolved and how it differs from public relations, public affairs, and related concepts.”

“Once you have a good foundational understanding of the field, read up on the strategic communications professional. The profile of the typical communications strategist has changed over the last few decades—and with it, the opportunities available to us and the challenges we face. You may find it interesting to see how you fit in and what options you have for growth. Be sure to review the panel discussions and other videos to see what leaders in the field have to say.”

Career Connections

Now that you’ve read about the history of the field and the career paths available to you, you’re ready to make the first entry in your job-seeking profile.

Use a career exploration tool such as O*NET or a job-seeking site you’re familiar with—or an industry site such as the PRSA Job Center, PRSA NCC Jobline, or Ned Lundquist’s Job of the Week (JOTW)—to browse the career paths and positions available to the communications professional. Where would you like to be at the end of this program, or five years after that? What position might you seek the next time you’re on the market?

Using the job-seeking profile template as needed, fill in the Target job field. This will help you build your career pathway plan in Project 4.

Discussion: Your Career Path

This is an excellent time to reflect on what you’ve learned during this step, whether you’re a newcomer to the field or a longtime communications professional. What appeals to you about strategic communications, and what role do you see yourself playing in an organization or in the discipline itself? Share your thoughts in the Discussions area and review those of your cohort.

Next, you’ll read the article upon which your client, the Commission on Public Relations Education (CPRE) wants to develop its news release.

Read the Article and Learn About Writing in the Field

Now that you have a foundational understanding of the profession, read the article your client, CPRE, has sent you. This article—along with the backgrounder the client has provided—will be the basis of your news release.

Here is the citation of the article, which can be found in the University of Maryland Global Campus library.

Cole, R. T., Hembroff, L. A., & Corner, A. D. (2009). National assessment of the perceived writing skills of entry-level PR practitioners. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 64(1), 10–26. doi:10.1177/107769580906400102

As you read the study, think about what should be included in the news release, which is meant to inform its readers—members of the media—in such a way as to convince them to produce a story on the subject. (You’ll learn more about news releases in Step 4.) You’ll want to identify the thesis of the study—that is, its central point, also known as the nutshell paragraph (or nut or nut graph) in journalism—as well as the most important and salient facts that support it. Additionally, the authors of the original research report have conducted quantitative research to support their position, and you will need to figure out how best to present this information in a way that will attract the interest of a reporter while still being understandable to the average reader.

Just as you finish reading, a chat pops up from Gavin.

New Conversation: Gavin Hanson

Prescient article, eh? Now that you’ve read that, take a look at some of our own resources on writing within the discipline of strategic communications. These will give you a sense of what we expect here at Parabolic, not just in writing, but in editing, which is a lot of what I do. I would never have gotten to where I am if I didn’t know how to wrangle a runaway sentence or untangle twisted syntax. Happy reading!

The article and the Parabolic informational packets have given you some food for thought. Consider the role writing has played in your career thus far: How important have writing skills been in your previous and current jobs? Have you done a lot of writing yourself, or edited the work of others? What feedback have you gotten, and how has it shaped your approach?

Discussion: Great Writing Is Not Optional

After reflecting on your strengths and weaknesses as a writer, join your colleagues in the Discussions area to share your thoughts and learn from others entering or working in the discipline.

Note: Although strategic communications products are written in AP style (which you’ll learn about in Step 4), use APA style to cite sources in your discussion posts. This will help you credit the authors of journal articles and books and avoid accidental plagiarism when you quote or refer to the ideas of others. Whether in a discussion post or in a document for a client, it’s important to provide attribution for all sources in whatever style is required.

Next, you’ll perform some research in preparation for writing the CPRE news release.

Read the Backgrounder

You’ve read the article your client wants to highlight in the news release and reflected on the importance of writing in strategic communications. Now, you’re going to take a look at the backgrounder your client has put together.

Before you look at the backgrounder, take some time to study What is a backgrounder?, another packet from Gavin. This will help you understand what you’re reading and will help you later on as you edit and revise CPRE’s work.

Now, read the client’s backgrounder: Backgrounder: State of Writing in the United States. As you read, you will notice style, format, and syntax errors. That’s okay for now as the facts presented in the document are correct. You’re going to edit and revise this document in Step 6. For now, you’re just going to read what the client gave you making note of any errors you find, and think about how to synthesize the information in the backgrounder with the information in the article to write a 400-word news release that conveys the most important points in the most digestible way.

Be sure to take into account the quantitative data as well as the qualitative information: Your goal here is to synthesize and package all the relevant information and make it easy to understand. Read about analyzing and presenting quantitative data so that you can present the most relevant statistical information from both sources in a clear and concise way. The sections most relevant to you for now in this topic are Analyzing Your Data (though don’t worry about tabulating) and Presenting Your Data. Although you will conduct more challenging quantitative tasks as you advance at Parabolic, your goal here is to identify the key statistics or indicators that have already been calculated.

To keep yourself on track, be sure that you have read the article and backgrounder and participated in all discussions thus far by the end of Week 1.

Learn About AP Style and Writing a News Release

Now that you have your bearings on the subject matter your client wants to highlight, you’re ready to start writing the news release, your first strategic communications product for Parabolic.

“Hold on there,” says Gavin when you tell him you’re eager to get started. “Let’s make sure you’re up to speed on industry standards. You know about the need for flawless writing, but there’s more to cover before you can start writing a news release.”

“Here is some guidance: What is a news release? Study this thoroughly; it provides not only information on different kinds of news releases, but an example of a news release that you will find illuminating as well as entertaining.”

“Absolutely vital to writing a news release is your mastery of AP style. You’ll be using AP for all strategic communications products, including tweets and blog posts. AP style is so important to your work at Parabolic, we’ll be watching your application of it with an eagle eye. If we send something to the media that is not in AP style, they are much less likely to use it, which can have a direct and very negative impact on our clients. If our clients aren’t happy, it can negatively impact our business.”

“Also, be sure to use the inverted pyramid structure. We always try to structure our releases like an actual newspaper article, and the inverted pyramid is what journalists use. In order to get your most vital information to the most people, you want to frontload the most important news, then supply the details. The inverted pyramid can even be used to write a Tweet or Facebook post.”

Discussion: Applying the Inverted Pyramid

Now that you’ve learned about how to structure a news release, join your fellow junior account executives in the Discussions area to outline your draft. How will you make your readers, the news media, care about the topic in just 400 words? What information will you provide at the top, or as we call it, the lead? What details from the study and backgrounder will you use to make your release impactful?

Now that you’ve thoroughly investigated AP style and the inverted pyramid structure, you’ll draft your news release. Submit your milestone draft by Friday of Week 2 so you can receive feedback in time for you to make edits before your final submission is due.

Sharpen Your Editorial Scalpel

While you’re waiting for Gavin’s feedback on your news release draft, you’re going to edit the client’s backgrounder and write the fact sheet.

By now, you’re used to Gavin popping up to hand you readings or advise you in some way. It’s no surprise that he calls you from a conference to give you a few more pointers before you get started on the client work.

“Now that you have a sense of our expectations and of the importance of creating flawless prose,” says Gavin, “I want to draw your attention to some industry no-nos. As you edit the backgrounder, you’ll need to be aware of these types of mistakes, because clients make them all the time. It’s up to us to correct them—and you may have opportunity to do this in your revision work for CPRE.”

• “First, avoid five-dollar words. Everyone thinks they’ll sound smarter if they say antediluvian rather than old. You’ll look more impressive if you exercise authorial restraint.”
• “Second, avoid industry jargon. Your client may know all about value-based purchasing or subsidized coverage, but the average reader won’t know what you’re talking about.”
• “Third, avoid repetition. If you’ve said it once and said it well, you probably don’t need to repeat it. Say it with pith and move on.”
• “Finally,” continues Gavin, “you’ll want to check your logical sequencing. Make sure you build enough connective tissue between ideas. The thought you’re trying to convey might make perfect sense to you, but will it make sense to somebody else? Sometimes, it helps to read your work out loud, either to yourself or to a colleague, to guard against incoherence.”

“Now,” says Gavin, “It’s time to put your skills to the test. I’m going to send you and the other junior account executives a challenge: a bloated paragraph that badly needs puncturing. Use your knowledge of logical flow and concision to trim it down to size, then see how your work compares with everyone else’s. Be brutal!”

You receive the paragraph in a text message.

New Message: Gavin Hanson

Here is our monster passage:

ACME Writing Services LLC today announced that it’s EBITA ascended to the unprecedented height of $4,500,000 for the period from June to December 2018. This result reflected a confluence of factors including greatly expanded market demand, effective cost—cutting, acquisition of Cognetron. Cognetron is a Princeton NJ based AI start-up specializing in NLP, image analytics and RPA. All of these technologies directly benefit ACME’s core competencies which will lead to ongoing revenue stream enhancement. “Their is now doubt we had a very strong second half”, said Johannes Pennsive, founder and CEO of ACME Writing Services. “While these results are satisfying we cannot become to satisfied, and most always focus on continuous improvement.”

Discussion: Paragraph First Aid

Rewrite Gavin’s paragraph using the tips above, seeing just how much streamlining you can do. Then join your fellow junior account executives in the Discussions area to compare revisions. Did anyone produce a more spartan passage than yourself? Do you have tips for fellow junior account executives whose paragraphs still contain verbosity?

To keep yourself on track, be sure that you complete this discussion by the end of Week 2.

Next, you’ll apply your skills to the backgrounder.

Edit and Revise the Backgrounder

Gavin is pleased with your ruthlessness in excising jargon and cutting overblown words down to size.

Now, it’s time to edit the backgrounder and add the section on the Cole et al. study.

First, make sure you’re up to speed on editing in strategic communications: revising your own work and the work of others. Writing is one thing, but revising incorporates all of your knowledge about grammar, usage, and concision. You’ll also need to make sure that the document is formatted neatly, the writing flows and is well-organized, the meaning is clear, the focus is on the right information, and that the document furthers the goals and objectives of the organization.

Recall that the news media will use the backgrounder to obtain more information on the subject of the news release. The backgrounder should answer these questions: Why is CPRE publishing this news release? Why now? What’s going on in the world and in the field of strategic communications that makes it important for us to focus on this issue? The backgrounder is part of the media kit that CPRE will provide to the news media, which includes the fact sheet. Make sure you’re up to speed on media kits and their purpose so that you understand how the backgrounder fits in.

The backgrounder needs to be in AP style, especially as regards attribution. The language should be media-friendly and approachable. As you edit, see where you can increase clarity, increase logical flow, focus the writing (or change the focus as needed), and shape the writing so as to attract media interest. There may be opportunities to present quantitative information by creating graphs or other visual representations; you can do this using Excel, PowerPoint, and many other applications. Be sure to include a section on Cole et al.

Download and revise the client’s file, Backgrounder: State of Writing in the United States.

In the next step, you’ll write the fact sheet. By the time you’re finished, Gavin will have provided you with feedback on your news release; you’ll use this to refine all three documents.

Write the Fact Sheet

Now that you’ve edited the backgrounder, draft the fact sheet. The fact sheet should be around two pages in length, in single-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font.

Gavin has yet another packet to help you along: What is a fact sheet? As with the news release and backgrounder packets, he has included examples that will assist you as you work through the assignment for the client.

Gavin will provide feedback on your news release soon. Once he does this, revise all three of your deliverables for CPRE.

Revise the Three Documents (Submission)

You’ve gotten your feedback on your news release draft from Gavin; now it’s time to apply all the writing, editing, and revising guidance you’ve received, along with your knowledge of AP style, to send the client three flawless documents:

• a roughly 400-word news release, in single-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font;
• a revised backgrounder, in single-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font; and
• a two-page fact sheet, in single-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font.

Remember that you can send your files to the Effective Writing Center (EWC) for a review before submitting; if you do this, be sure to give the EWC and yourself the time needed for you to meet the deadline.

To keep yourself on track, submit your files by the end of Week 3.

You’ll receive any revision requests from the client within a week.

Check Your Evaluation Criteria

Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check to confirm you have incorporated all of them. To view the complete grading rubric, click My Tools, select Assignments from the drop-down menu, and then click the project title.

• 1.2: Develop coherent paragraphs or points so that each is internally unified and so that each functions as part of the whole document or presentation.
• 1.5: Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and audience.
• 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
• 2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
• 2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.
• 3.3: Analyze mathematical or statistical information, or the results of quantitative inquiry and manipulation of data.
• 7.1. Produce appropriate products for communicating with target publics.

Take Action

Submit your assignment to your instructor for review and feedback.

Follow these steps to access the assignment:

• Click My Tools in the top navigation bar.
• Click Assignments.
• Select the relevant assignment.

Congratulations on completing your first Parabolic assignment!

Project 1: News Release and Media Kit
Step 8: Revise the Three Documents (Submission)

Now it’s time to apply all the writing, editing, and revising guidance you’ve received, along with your knowledge of AP style, to send the client three flawless documents:

• a roughly 400-word news release, in single-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font;
• a revised backgrounder, in single-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font; and
• a two-page fact sheet, in single-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font.

Remember that you can send your files to the Effective Writing Center (EWC) for a review before submitting; if you do this, be sure to give the EWC and yourself the time needed for you to meet the deadline.

To keep yourself on track, submit your files by the end of Week 3.

You’ll receive any revision requests from the client within a week.