in the news assignment

PSY 1010: General Psychology

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Psychology in the News Assignment

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Psychology is a fascinating topic that many people are interested in! However, scholarly articles published in peer-reviewed journals often use technical language and are so detailed they can be difficult for the general public to use. For this reason, psychology research studies are often summarized in popular news sources such as magazines and news sites like TIME Magazine, CNN, or The New York Times . You might see UVU research projects summarized in local news sources like The Salt Lake Tribune or Daily Herald ! This makes psychology research accessible to more people, since you don't need formal educational training in psychology to understand the popular news article.

• Peer-Reviewed Articles : Published in scholarly journals. Articles are written by experts and reviewed by several other experts in the field before publication to help ensure high quality. They often report the results of a research study, including how the study was conducted, how researchers collected and analyzed the data, and the results of the study. May include technical language or jargon.
• Popular News Articles: Published in magazines, newspapers, or on commercial websites. Typically written by a journalist or staff writer who has interviewed someone else as part of their writing process—if the article is summarizing a research study, you'll often see quotes from the expert who did the research. Articles do not go through peer-review and can be published very quickly. Typically written so the article is understandable even if the reader hasn't studied psychology.

Tips for Finding Your Articles

You can usually find psychology news articles with a search engine like Google, or by looking on news websites and searching for "psychology research." By contrast, peer-reviewed journal articles usually require using a library database and often aren't free to read online without a library subscription.

When you find a popular psychology news article summarizing a research study, look for clues in the news article to help you track down the original scholarly article about the study. Phrases like "a recent research study found" are a sign you're reading an article that's summarizing scholarly research available in more detail in a journal. Look for a link that leads you to the original article, the name of the researcher, the name of the journal, or a formal citation at the end of the article—you can use any of these details to help find the peer-reviewed article! If you follow a link and it takes you to a journal website asking you to pay to read the article, try copying the scholarly article title and then searching for it in the OneSearch database on the Fulton Library's homepage.

The following websites are examples of places you can look for popular psychology research articles. They do not include peer-reviewed articles.

Note: Not all psychology news articles summarize specific peer-reviewed articles, and not all peer-reviewed articles will be summarized in a popular article.

Example Psychology Articles

The following examples are a popular article from a news magazine and a scholarly article from a peer-reviewed journal. The popular article is a summary of the research study described in the scholarly article. Do not use these articles for your assignment! You'll need to find your own articles, using the tips in this guide. Your scholarly articles may need to come from an approved psychology journal—ask your instructor if you have any questions or see the list of commonly used psychology journals on the Find Articles page of this guide.

Popular Article from a News Magazine

• This is Your Brain on Puppies A popular psychology article published in the news magazine The Atlantic . It summarizes psychology research on a concept called "cute aggression" that you can learn about in more detail by following links in the article to the scholarly research article.

Scholarly Article from a Peer-Reviewed Journal

• “It’s So Cute I Could Crush It!”: Understanding Neural Mechanisms of Cute Aggression A peer-reviewed article from the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience on a research study related to "cute aggression." It includes a detailed Methods section, explaining how the researchers conducted the study.

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Teach Current Events With These Free Worksheets From The Week Junior

Article summary worksheets and news accuracy tips for grades 3-8! 🗞️

The Week Junior magazine is a kid-friendly, unbiased current events news source. It’s a safe and trusted partner to help you explain to kids what’s happening in the world while providing fun reading content including puzzles, recipes, crafts, and more. 

The benefits of using current events in the classroom are practically endless. News stories help students better understand their communities, new perspectives, and real-world events. Introducing current events in the classroom can promote critical thinking, empathy, reading skills, global awareness, and so much more. Whether you’re assigning weekly current events summaries or conducting a single lesson, our free current events worksheets for grades 3-8 are the perfect companion.

Inside, you’ll find two options for current event summaries. In addition, our savvy news reader tips and activity will guide students through determining if an article is trustworthy. In a world of so many media outlets, news literacy is a crucial skill!

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Current Events Summary Worksheets

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• When giving current events assignments, give students the option to use one of two article summary worksheets to get started.
• Choose from a graphic organizer–style worksheet or a traditional fill-in worksheet to evaluate an article.

News Accuracy Worksheets

• Begin a lesson on news literacy. Use the list tips to educate students on determining a news article’s accuracy and credibility.
• Then, have students complete the corresponding worksheet to practice what they learned and evaluate a news article on their own.

The Week Junior , an Unbiased Classroom Current Events Resource

The Week Junior magazine is an awesome way to expose 3rd through 8th grade readers to current events through a kid-friendly, unbiased magazine. There’s something for every student, with sections on sports, culture, movies, crafts, recipes, and so much more! Get a free issue of The Week Junior , and watch kids dive into this interactive reading resource.

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Lesson Plan

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Lesson plan: Decoding media bias

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Extension Activities

• News organizations have great power—deciding which topics are important enough to cover and where to position those topics within their newspaper, TV program, or website. People can also exercise power through the news stories they choose to engage with. Have students go to Newsmap and examine the trending news stories. The larger the news story box, the more people are reading about the story. You can also choose specific topics by selecting the topic check boxes on the bottom. Discuss what this says about the informed status of the electorate.
• Another option is to have students go to All Sides to introduce them to news topics written in three distinct viewpoints: left, center, right. Discuss this as a tool to recognize bias. The site also serves as a resource that people can go to read something that may challenge their assumptions, and with which they may disagree, as suggested in the We The Voters film “MediOcracy . ”

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Current Events: What's in the News?

Learn how to analyze and interpret current events with the help of this graphic organizer! This one-page social studies worksheet provides a framework to help students read and analyze current events in local, statewide, national, or international news. Students will first identify key information on the source of the news story. Next, they will answer questions identifying and analyzing the details of the news story, as well as its importance and any questions they are left with. Geared toward middle school learners, this worksheet can be used as a weekly assignment or to help students research a current event for a paper or class presentation.

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Dynamics of News Reporting and Writing: Foundational Skills for a New Age

Student resources, news writing assignments.

Assignment 1:  What grabs you?

Description of Assignment: Basic news writing focuses on figuring out what is important and then giving that information to your readers. It sounds simple, and with a lot of practice, it can be. Problems tend to crop up when writers try to do too much, ignore some basic tenets of journalism and generally don’t think about the audience before writing.

Here's your chance to rate your local newspaper or online news site. Find today’s edition, set aside 40 min, and read it. Just read. Then, make a list of stories, then rank them from the story that interests you the most to that which interests you the least.

Consider what it is about each story that caught your fancy. Was it the writing style? Was it the subject matter? Did the story tell you something you didn’t know? Did it answer your questions?

And consider each story that you didn’t like. Was it poorly written or organized? Did it contain errors? Was it useless to you? Did it leave you with more questions than when you started reading it? Could you even get through it?

Be prepared to discuss these findings in class. Understanding what you value in a story will make it easier for you to write and report your own stories.

Public Domain Source Material: Your daily newspaper.

Assignment 2: What happened at work today?

Description of Assignment: The core of any good news story is the lead, which is where you try to give people as much of the most important information as possible. A good place to start is the 5W’s and 1H: who, what, when, where, why and how.

Now apply this to any variation of the age-old question asked in every household: How was your day? What happened at work today? What did you study at school today?

Think about starting with a core, and then add layer after layer of information as you move outward. Answer each of the 5W’s and 1H. Then start with a simple “noun-verb-object” structure that answers the question “Who did what to whom/what?”

Here’s an example: The owner and head chef of the restaurant where you work part-time as a server learned today that he was nominated for a national award. Even though it did not involve you directly, it was still one of the most exciting days you have experienced on the job, and you want to share it. So, break it down:

Who: The owner and head chef of Dante’s Café, Dante Gardot

What: Nominated for the prestigious “Outstanding Chef” award by the James Beard Foundation

When: About 3:05 p.m. today

Where: In the kitchen at Dante’s Café, in downtown Hallsville.

Why: For setting high culinary standards and serving as a positive example for other food professionals.

How: He learned by a text message from his wife that he was nominated when the list was published online at 3 p.m.

What are the most important elements of the 5W’s and 1H? In this case, it’s the “who” and the “what,” followed by the “where” and “why.”

Now, write it out: Dante Gardot, head chef at Dante’s Café, was nominated today for the prestigious “Outstanding Chef” award from the James Beard Foundation for setting high culinary standards and serving as a positive example for other food professionals.

Try it out with something that happened during your workday.

Assignment 3: Spoiler alert! Learning the inverted pyramid.

Description of Assignment: This drill will ask students to think of their three favorite movies or novels, and report them as news stories using summary leads and an inverted pyramid style. Please write at least four paragraphs per film or book. Don’t worry about giving away the ending! News stories generally require the writer to give up the goods at the start of the story. That way, the reader doesn’t get bored and miss the point of the story before moving on to the next one.

For example, here is a news story of Charlotte’s Web , by E.B. White:

Charlotte A. Cavatica, a barn spider who helped save Wilbur the pig from slaughter by extolling him with English words spun into her web at Zuckerman’s farm, died Friday at the county fair. She was 1.

Charlotte is survived by Wilbur, who rose to regional fame thanks to his dear friend’s cunning, and dozens of babies who emerged from her egg sac thereafter and departed before Wilbur could name them. The spiderlings who stayed with Wilbur were named Joy, Nellie, and Aranea.

Assignment 4: Birthday assignment

Description of Assignment: You may not remember it, but the day of your birth was very special for your parents. Interview your mother or father (or both) and ask them to recall what they experienced on the day you came into the world. At what time did your mother go into labor? Was it a natural birth, or did she have a C-section?

Shape their answers into the 5Ws and 1H format, and write a story reporting the events of your own birthday, using the inverted pyramid structure, as if it had been published in a family newsletter the day after your birth.

Assignment 5: Take note

Description of Assignment: Note-taking is an essential skill in reporting. There is no such thing (yet) as real-time transcription of every conversation. Even if there were, it would only be a record of what was said. It would not tell you anything about the way it was said. It would not remind you of the insights you had during the conversation.

Your notes represent your understanding of the material you are covering. Yes, it is important to get some colorful quotes, but it’s also important to make a record of the surroundings, what you see, feel, hear, and understand.

Every writer must develop their own note-taking style. Try writing as concisely--and as fast--as you can while still capturing the information you will understand later. Take time after an interview or event to review your notes and improve them while the memories are fresh in your mind.

Your assignment: Watch tonight’s evening news and take notes. Watch the first 15 min of the broadcast, just once through, without pausing.

Then recreate the broadcast from your notes--with direct quotes, nuance, and your own writing style. Describe the clips in as vivid detail as you can muster. Remember to get accurate spellings of names.

Public Domain Source Material: Watch live on TV or choose a past newscast:

If you are watching from 8 to 11 p.m. EDT, check out the new national broadcast on WGN America: NewsNation, which promises opinion-free reporting.

NewsNation: https://www.newsnationnow.com/news-nation-live/

NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/nightly-news-full-broadcast-september-4th-91163205732

CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/090420-cbs-evening-news/

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Question: Econ 186: In the News Assignment #1Find an article that was published this year that discusses a price change of a product due to either a shift in demand or a shift in supply. The article should thoroughly describe the reason(s) for this change in price. The product should be in a competitive market where there are many buyers and sellers, and prices are

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10 News Writing Exercises for Journalism Students

Test your ability to produce well written news stories on deadline

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Looking for a way to hone your news writing skills ? Try these news writing exercises. Each provides a set of facts or a scenario, and it's up to you to produce a story from it. You'll have to fill in the blanks with imaginary but logical information that you compile. To get the maximum benefit, force yourself to do these on a tight deadline:

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It's 10:30 p.m. You're on the night shift at the Centerville Gazette and hear some chatter on the police scanner about a car crash out on Highway 32, a road that runs through a rural area of town. It sounds like a big crash, so you head to the scene.

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You're on the night shift again at the Centerville Gazette. You phone the cops to see if anything's going on. Lt. Jane Ortlieb of the Centerville Police Department tells you there was a shooting tonight at the Fandango Bar & Grill on Wilson Street in the Grungeville section of the city.

Shooting Follow-Up No. 1

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You're back at the Centerville Gazette on the day after the shooting outside the Fandango Bar & Grill on Wilson Street in the Grungeville section of town. You phone the cops to see if they have anything new on the case. Lt. Jane Ortlieb tells you that early this morning they arrested an ex-con named Frederick Johnson, 32, in connection with the shooting.

Shooting Follow-Up No. 2

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It's the day after police arrested Frederick Johnson in connection with the shooting death of Peter Wickham outside the Fandango Bar & Grill. You call Lt. Jane Ortlieb of the Centerville Police Department. She tells you that cops are having a perp walk today to take Johnson to the Centerville District Courthouse for his arraignment. She says to be outside the courthouse at 10 a.m. sharp.

It's Tuesday morning at the Centerville Gazette. Making your usual phone checks, you get word from the fire department about a house fire early this morning. Deputy Fire Marshal Larry Johnson tells you the blaze was in a row house in the Cedar Glen section of the city.

School Board Meeting

You’re covering a 7 p.m. meeting of the Centerville School Board. The meeting is being held in the auditorium of Centerville High School. The board begins with a discussion of ongoing cleanup at McKinley Elementary School, which experienced water damage during heavy rains and flooding  two weeks ago in the city’s Parksburg section, near the Root River.

Plane Crash

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It’s 9:30 p.m. You're on the night shift at the Centerville Gazette. You hear some chatter on the police scanner and call the cops. Lt. Jack Feldman says he’s not sure what’s happening but he thinks a plane crashed near Centerville Airport, a small facility used mostly by private pilots flying single-engine craft. Your editor tells you to get over there as fast as you can.

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You're on the day shift at the Centerville Gazette. The city editor gives you some information on a teacher who has died and tells you to bang out an obit. Here's the information: Evelyn Jackson, a retired teacher, died yesterday at the Good Samaritan Nursing Home, where she had lived for the past five years. She was 79 and died of natural causes. Jackson had worked for 43 years as an English teacher at Centerville High School before retiring in her late 60s. She taught classes in composition, ​ American literature , and poetry.

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The Centerville Chamber of Commerce is holding its monthly luncheon at the Hotel Luxe. An audience of about 100, mostly local ​businessmen and women, is in attendance. The guest speaker today is Alex Weddell, CEO of Weddell Widgets, a local, family-owned manufacturing firm and one of the city’s largest employers.

Soccer Game

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You're a sportswriter for the Centerville Gazette. You’re covering a soccer game between the Centerville Community College Eagles and the Ipswich Community College Spartans. The game is for the state conference title.

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Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply —use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove their point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and they already know everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Course info.

• Prof. Natasha Schüll

Departments

• Science, Technology, and Society

As Taught In

• Neuroscience

Learning Resource Types

Neuroscience and society, assignments.

This page includes sample student papers from the Spring 2010 class as well as prior terms, presented with permission of the students.

General guidelines for paper assignments ( PDF )

Paper 1: Neuroscience in the News

Length: 6-8 pages

For this assignment, you will critically read a piece of neuroscience journalism alongside the scientific article it reports on, and analyze how experimental research is transformed into news. Start by finding a short (1-3 pp) story in an online or print newspaper or magazine (not a blog) about a neuroscientific experiment that uses fMRI to illuminate some aspect of human behavior or experience (emotions, violence, intelligence, irrationality, attention, etc). Then read the scientific research publication it references (focusing on its introductory and concluding sections).

The following questions should guide your analysis: What claims of significance and implication are made in the scientific publication, and how are these recast as they move into the public domain? What popular cultural assumptions and attitudes are embedded in the original presentation of scientific research, and which are added or amplified in its popular retelling? What hopes, fears, and speculations get voiced in the popularization of the research? What limitations of the experimental setup and qualifications on the results are deleted? How do images and their presentation enhance or distort the research presented in the scientific publication, and in the news story? Your analysis should draw on ideas and concepts presented in lectures and readings from the first three weeks of class (neuro-hype, historical contingency and continuity, localization, visualization, fetishization, iconoclasm, travelling facts, persuasion, etc.).

Note : If you feel that there is not enough material to analyze in the news item you have chosen, or if you want to focus on how one particular point in a study gets picked up and presented in the media, you may look at a set of popular articles based on one scientific article. Alternatively, you may choose to analyze one news story that reports on a small set of scientific articles. If you go this route, remember that the purpose of this assignment is to be as specific as possible in your reading and analysis, so don’t take on additional items at the expense of close and careful analysis.

Sample Student Papers

“Racing to Conclusions: Neuroscience in the News” by Evan Schneider ( PDF )

“Neuroscience on the Brain” by Anikia Tucker ( PDF )

“Neuroscience in the News” by anonymous MIT student ( PDF )

Paper 2: Implications of Social Neuroscience

Choose a topic of research in the new subfield of “Social Neuroscience.” We recommend that you choose one of the topics addressed in class, such as morality, empathy, trust, distrust, love, reciprocity, etc. (choosing a different topic is fine, but in that case you will need to do a modest amount of outside research). In your paper, describe how emerging brain research reinforces, unsettles, or changes traditional popular understandings and attitudes about the chosen topic, and reflect on the following questions: What controversies does/could the research stimulate? What social interests or political agendas does/could it support? How might its research questions and directions be influenced by such interests and agendas?

Guidelines for Paper 2 ( PDF )

“Neuroscience, Gender, and a Scientific Career” by Jacqueline Rogoff ( PDF )

“Wired Morality: Neuroscience’s Unsettling of Traditional Moral Thought” by Jeremy Steeger ( PDF )

“Mirror Neurons: How Neuroscience Is Challenging the Way People Understand Each Other” by anonymous MIT student ( PDF )

“Playing Cupid: On the Brain and Love” by Jason A. Scott ( PDF )

Paper 3: Rewrite

For the third assignment, rewrite one of the first two papers.

Guidelines for Paper 3 ( PDF )

Paper 4: Neuroscientific Solution to a Social Problem

Length: 8-10 pages

This paper asks you to develop an analysis of how neuroscience recasts a given social problem, and suggests new ways of addressing that problem.

Choose a social problem (e.g. violence, prejudice, overspending, addiction or another mental illness) for which neuroscience suggests a solution or intervention of some sort (e.g. a new understanding for policymakers, a pharmaceutical application, or a neurotechnology application).

In the course of your paper, (a) describe the problem and its social context; (b) explain how neuroscience came to join the conversation around this problem (i.e. what experiments or research studies or funding initiatives opened the problem to neuroscience?); (c) analyze how neuroscience reframes or changes the terms of the problem; (d) describe the possible interventions into or solutions to the problem that neuroscience suggests or seeks to develop; (e) evaluate the potential dilemmas of those interventions / solutions.

In your analysis, draw on insights and concepts from lectures and readings throughout the course, particularly weeks 8 through 12. Depending on the topic you choose, you may wish to consult outside sources.

Note : Make sure not to choose a problem that is too broad to adequately cover in 8-10 pages (e.g. “mental illness”), or too specific to sustain an 8-10 page analysis (e.g. “amphetamine addiction among teenage girls with autism”). Depending on your approach to the material, a paper on “addiction” could work; so could a paper on “smoking.”

Proposals : Students should bring a printed, paragraph-long paper proposal (outlining plans for the paper) to their recitations during week 12. The proposals will be collectively discussed. Consult with your TA if you wish to propose a different final paper topic.

“The Role of Neuroscience on Addiction and Society” by Juliann Lajoie ( PDF )

“The Medicalization of Normality and the Ethical Debate behind Brain Enhancement” by anonymous MIT student ( PDF )

“Decision and Preference in Neuromarketing” by anonymous MIT student ( PDF )

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Applied Ethics

• Ethical Issues
• Code of Ethics
• Article Critique
• Advanced Directives
• Additional Resources
• How do I access the online library?
• How do I choose reliable sources?
• How do I cite a source?
• How do I contact a librarian?
• How do I contact a tutor?

Ethical Issues in the News

• Suggested Sources

You may have an assignment that asks you to research an ethical issue in the news that occurred recently (or during the past 3, 6, or 12 months depending on your assignment).  Librarians have some recommended steps to take when beginning this assignment.

First, select an ethical issue -- just searching the databases for "ethical issue" won't yield useful results. Your instructor should be able to give you some examples, such as euthanasia, pandemic, law enforcement, etc.  Additional ideas can be located using the topics guide.

**Please check your professor's directions and note any topics that you should or should not use**

• Topics for Research by General LibGuide User Last Updated Oct 23, 2023 534 views this year

Once you have selected an ethical issue to research, use a suggested news source to locate articles. The SPC library offers students access to news databases, such as America's News and New York Times.

The layout of the America's News database may seem overwhelming. Click on "More Search Options" under the search box. A second search box should appear. In the first box, type an ethical issue and the word ethics. For example, to find articles about the ethics of euthanasia, enter "euthanasia ethics".  In the next box, enter a date range that corresponds with your assignment directions, such as 2021-2021.

To learn more about the America's News database, watch the video tutorial. 

• America's News Database Tutorial
• Google News In the search box near the top of the page, try keywords that include "ethics," such as "euthanasia ethics." The most recent articles will be listed first. On the left side of the page, limit to "U.S." or "World" news.

America's News Database Tutorial

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• UConn Library
• Maritime Studies Subject Guide
• Class Assignments: MAST 2101

Maritime Studies Subject Guide — Class Assignments: MAST 2101

• Searching Scholarly Databases
• Citation Styles
• Class Assignments: MAST/HIST 2210E

Assignments Fall 2024

• Ferries and Bridges

Background Information

• Connecticut History article, " Ferry Boats a Way of Life in Early Connecticut ," June 2022
• The Day [New London], 2009-present - check with Maria ( [email protected] ) at the Avery Point library to be logged in to the site
• The Day  [New London], 1881-2024 - will require an individual subscription to Newspapers.com to get full results
• Hartford Courant , 1887-present, three sources with overlapping dates (search within each source) 
• Providence Journal , 1994-present
• Chronicling America : historic American newspapers dating back to 1777, including local Connecticut papers

Local History collections (historical societies, public libraries, and museums)

• Chester Historical Society
• Connecticut Archives Online with links to collection descriptions
• Deep River Historical Society
• East Lyme Historical Society
• East Lyme Public Library , Local History collection
• Glastonbury Historical Society
• Ledyard Historical Society
• Lyme Public Hall Local History Archives located within the  Lyme Public Library
• Mystic River Historical Society
• Mystic Seaport collections : search both catalogs
• Rocky Hill Historical Society

State Ferries

• Chester-Hadlyme Ferry
• Rocky Hill-Glastonbury Ferry

Resources available through UConn databases:

• Early American Newspapers (1690-1922)  
• Historical Newspapers from ProQuest

Large collections of scanned stuff:

• Connecticut Digital Archive  (CTDA)
• Digital Public Library of America
• Wikimedia Commons
• Library of Congress Digital Collections : photos, illustrations, manuscripts, books, audio, film, and more

Searching databases: 

• use terms and synonyms that were useful when searching for books and their subjects, and narrow down your terms to make them more specific
• click on Download PDF or Full Text Available to read the full article
• request items as needed from  Interlibrary Services
• when exporting citation, opt for the  Chicago style , and always scrutinize for potential errors 

Suggested databases:

• JSTOR Essential scholarly journals in many academic fields, especially arts, literature, and the humanities. more... less... Available at the title level in Primo
• Databases: Academic Search Premier
• Project MUSE Full text access to journals and ebooks in classics, education, history, literature, math, philosophy, politics, religion, and visual and performing arts.

Help from a Librarian

Maria Bernier, Avery Point Campus [email protected] 860-405-9148 Book an appointment

Ask a Librarian

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Watch CBS News

On President Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday, his Secret Service detail reflects on the assignment of a lifetime

By Nicole Sganga , Andres Triay , Julia Kimani-Burnham

Updated on: October 1, 2024 / 1:03 PM EDT / CBS News

Plains, Georgia  —   When former  President Jimmy Carter  exited the White House in 1981, few expected his no-frills hometown of Plains, Georgia — population 557 — to become his launch pad to the world — including his U.S. Secret Service detail. 

"We'd fly from the middle of nowhere Africa all the way back to nearby Americus, Georgia," recalled Alex Parker, longtime Special Agent in Charge of Carter's detail, who traveled to over 140 countries with the 39th president. 

Carter, a peanut farmer turned Navy submariner turned governor turned president turned humanitarian, earned yet another title as  he turned 100 years old  on Oct. 1. The longest protective mission of the U.S. Secret Service.

A dangerous assignment 

Special Agent in Charge Bill Bush became one of the first Americans to cross into North Korea after the Korean War ended when he accompanied Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter to the DMZ. 

"We were told by the State Department and a lot of other agencies that, 'hey, you can't carry weapons into North Korea – you can't do this, you can't do that,'" said Bush as he recounted slicing through bureaucratic red tape. "My question always to them, 'tell me how many times you've been to North Korea and what it's like?' And of course nobody had ever been."

Bush chuckled as he explained the U.S. Secret Service's surprisingly pleasant coordination with North Korean security forces. "We never had been treated any nicer anywhere, in any country," Bush, who has been to 127 countries with the Carters, added. 

The lead secret service agent also secured Carter's dangerous 1994 mission to Haiti, commissioned by President Bill Clinton and aimed at averting a full-scale U.S. invasion. 

"President Carter called me at home and said, 'you need to pack a bag, we're going to Haiti tomorrow morning,'" Bush said. Moments before taking off from Andrews Air Force Base, he discovered he would also be charged with protecting two other high profile envoys: chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell and Sen. Sam Nunn. 

Peace in the Middle East 

In his mission as peacemaker-in-chief, Carter routinely flouted warnings by intelligence officials, instead driving his protective bubble into war zones and humanitarian crises. 

"Sometimes when we had some bad intelligence, I would take it down to him and let him read it," Parker said. "He'd sit there and read it, then ultimately put his initials on it — to sign off on it."

In 2008, Carter mapped out an ambitious tour of the Middle East that included sitting down with leaders of Hamas in Gaza. The U.S. Secret Service had been warned to nix the trip after threatening intelligence surfaced in the region. 

"He handed [the intelligence] to me and said, 'Alex, we're still going.'" 

On the flight home from Egypt, Parker said the former president's words stuck with him. "'Alex,' he said, 'I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to bring peace to Israel and trying to bring peace to the Palestinians.'"

A prized detail

The dangerous assignment of circumnavigating the globe with Carter was not without its perks. 

On the night Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, he called Parker — his lead agent at the time — with an odd request. 

"'Alex, let's have a little meeting so we can take a picture,'" Parker said, recalling the former president's request. Carter wanted him to summon all of his Secret Service agents. 

"We took a picture of all of us holding it, surrounding him and Ms. Carter on the steps ... He said to me — he said, 'You guys are part of this, too. I want you to share [the prize] with us, so let's take a picture."

Protecting Rosalynn Carter 

Another reward for agents assigned to the Carter detail was protecting the former first lady, Rosalynn Carter. 

"She was just such a gentle person – there was nothing about her that did not make you feel comfortable or welcomed," said Nick Steen, who led Carter's detail from 2017 to 2019. 

And while the former president's obsession with punctuality meant he rarely waited on his detail, current and former agents described Rosalynn Carter as patient and understanding. 

While agents recounted the occasional bickering, the more lasting impression was of the couple's persistent affection. Agents might catch them holding hands in the backseat. 

Even in their late 90s, the Carters participated in the occasional joy ride. During their final appearance at Plains' Annual Peanut Festival Parade, the two took a whirl in a 1946 red convertible. Special Agent in Charge Don Witham drove the four-wheeled gift from country singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, which marked the year the Carters were married, while the Carters beamed in the backseat. 

"It was a light in his eyes that reminded me of days that we'd take him for peanut butter ice cream," Witham said. 

A president's pastimes 

Fly fishing was not the only hobby supervised by Carter's detail. When Carter — then in his late 50s — took up skiing, members of the Secret Service were dispatched to a ski school in Colorado. 

"The president had never been snow skiing before," Bill Bush explained. "And so he and Ms. Carter took lessons out in Colorado. I selected a group of agents and went to school in Colorado. It was a tough school ... but we became pretty good skiers." 

Alex Parker ran alongside the former president for 21 years, often crisscrossing the back roads of the farmlands framing Carter's native Plains, Georgia or jogging in foreign cities. 

"He was competitive and used to try and tire me out," Parker said. "I was much younger, but he kept up." 

The special agent occasionally ran backwards so he could speak with the president face to face, mid-workout. "And it would make President Carter angry," he chuckled. 

After a particularly grueling nine-mile run in Hawaii, Parker was warned not to push the president, a message relayed by the first lady. 

An efficient traveler, Carter grew a reputation for power napping in the car as agents whisked him away from Point A to Point B.

"He had a special pillow for our drives, and you better have had that pillow," joked Nick Steen, former Special Agent in Charge from 2017 to 2019. 

"It's 10 miles from Plains to Americus," Parker said of the commute to the nearest airport. "He'd be snoring by the time we got there."

"One day, I said, 'Mr. President, why, how can you go to sleep so fast?'" Parker continued. "He looked at me and he said, 'Alex, my conscience is clear.'" 

An aging mission

As the Carters aged, so too did the mission, with agents consistently planning for worse-case scenarios: medical evacuations. "'We always had a doctor with us," said Steen, "which for a former president, isn't always the case." 

EMT teams would travel with the former president's detail to remote places. Even in his 90s, Steen recalled Carter's very active life. "I took him on two Habitat for Humanity builds. We went fishing in Mexico. That was strenuous on me, so I imagine he was worn out by it as well, but he still did it."

Don Witham recalled that even at 98, Carter often requested to drive a car, although former presidents are not allowed to operate vehicles on an open road.

"He definitely knew what he wanted and he would make it clear to you," Witham said. "I tried to go about it in a sensical way to explain he doesn't have a driver's license. And he said, 'Where's the closest driver's license agency?'" 

This past Fourth of July, agents whisked the former president away, briefly, to nearby Americus so he could watch the fireworks. The former navy veteran, who has been in  hospice care since February 2023 , sat for 45 minutes at a hidden location, savoring the display alongside a few agents. 

"At 99 and nine months, he wanted to go see the fireworks. That's how patriotic he is," Witham said. 

Sunday school and life lessons 

Codenamed "Deacon" by his agents for his penchant for scripture and devotion to his faith, Carter rarely missed an opportunity to teach Sunday school at his local church. The former president made near-weekly appearances at Maranatha Baptist Church – a modest, single storied place of worship filled with wooden pews and encased by mint green walls and olive carpeting. 

"No matter where we were or what we were doing, he was gonna be home by Saturday night so he could get his lesson prepared for Sunday morning," said Nick Steen. 

Even after he was no longer fit to teach, Carter regularly attended services, his wheelchair positioned next to the front pew as his lead agent sat behind him in a folding chair. 

"One Sunday in particular, the sermon was talking about making the world a better place," Don Witham recalled. "And [the former president] very quietly, put down his head and said, 'I've tried,' to himself. And I reached forward with both my hands and put them on his shoulders, and I said, 'And sir, you've succeeded.'"

"That moment was special for me, because as a 98-year-old man, he's still questioning whether he's done enough," Witham continued. "Even though he's been to Africa and eradicated diseases. He's built homes for people that didn't have them. He's fed those that are in need of food. He did all of this — yet he's still questioning at 98 years old, whether he's done enough."

"He was so convicted," Steen said. "In his faith and in his desire to make the world a better place." 

Together, Bush, Parker, Steen and Witham represent 46 years of service to former President Jimmy Carter, but just a fraction of the hours spent protecting the 39th president, around the clock since 1976.

"He'll be remembered as a humanitarian that tried to help the world," Bush said with a smile. 

"I've got to say," Parker added of his former boss, "mission accomplished." 

• United States Secret Service
• Jimmy Carter

Nicole Sganga is a CBS News reporter covering homeland security and justice.

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Mizzou Defense Needs to Follow Assignments and Trust Defensive Unit

Michael stamps | oct 8, 2024.

• Missouri Tigers

The No. 21 Missouri Tigers struggled mightily on defense in their 41-10 defeat to Texas A&M. Some of the only positives to come from the result came afterward, with the chance to reflect and look back on the performance.

Tiger linebacker Corey Flagg Jr. was vigilant in the middle of the field and saw what went wrong for the Tiger defensive unit.

"I think it was just a lot of guys trying to make a play instead of, including myself, doing our assignment or our job as a defense," Flagg said.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Tigers had 7 missed tackles against the Aggies last Saturday, the second most of any game this season. Flagg didn't miss any himself, but two of the seven were missed by linebackers.

Staying disiplined, on any side of the ball, can be a challenge when you're getting routed like the Tigers were. Even when down that much, the Tiger defense has to continue to trust eachother and work together.

"It's a lot of runs, and that's good splitting out, but you got to understand, you still have to continue to do the job, and that's the point of being mature, and point of and trusting the defense," Flagg said. "That's what we have to get back to, the general trust in each other."

Against the Aggies specifically, the Tigers weren't able to generate any pressure on the quarterback or in the backfield in general. Part of that could be attributed to the play of the Aggie offensive line, but the Tiger defense was not in sync, not following exactly what their coaches wanted from them.

"I feel like the timing of the blitzes, we just weren't doing exactly what we were close to do based on calls that we were getting," Flagg said. "Guys supposed to shoot the gap, stuff like that. Credit to them, those guys are very good."

The lack of pressure on Aggie quarterback Conner Weigman, according to head coach Eli Drinkwitz, can also be attributed to the coaching staffs planning and schemes.

"On Saturday, it [pass rush] was obviously a lot lacking," Drinkwitz said. "I think it's a combination of getting better pass rush and creating better pass rush through schematics."

Defensive end Zion Young was the only player for Missouri to record a sack in the game and one of four to hurry the quarterback.

With a quarterback as accurate as Weigman, leaving him time to throw the ball, especially as much as he had, is not a recipe to preventing points from adding up. Switching up the pass rush attack, as well as other defensive schemes, might be a key to unlocking the true potential of the Tiger defense.

"There's a lot of different things that we can do and challenge ourselves to do in order to be better and that's what we'll do this week," Drinkwitz said.

The Tiger defensive unit will hit the field next at 11 a.m. on October 12 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium against the UMass Minutemen. The Minutemen sit at 1-5 so far this season.

Read More Missouri Tigers News

Drinkwitz Confident in Mizzou After Response to Texas A&M Loss CB Nic Deloach Gained Valuable Experience Against Texas A&M - The Extra Point Mizzou's Season Will Be Determined by Response to Blowout Loss

Michael Stamps is a freshman at the University of Missouri pursuing a degree in journalism. He's covered recruiting for MizzouCentral since 2023.  Michael is from Papillion, Nebraska. 

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Post Level :

Duration of initial contract :.

One Year (extendable based on the availability of fund)

Time left :

15d 11h 56m

Languages Required :

English  

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. 

UN Women in Bangladesh supports the government in implementing commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2022-2026, launched in 2021, and the corresponding UN Women Bangladesh Strategic Note (SN) 2022-2026, defines UN Women’s strategic engagement in Bangladesh. The country strategy focuses on strengthening the national structures and mechanisms for gender mainstreaming in policies, plans, and budgets; supporting efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women; promoting women’s access to decent and safe work; promoting policies and government investment in women’s empowerment and resilience building in the context of climate change, humanitarian crisis as well as other threats to peace and security. UN Women works with a range of stakeholders in Bangladesh, including the government, civil society, women’s organisations, youth, UN agencies, and donors, to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

Reporting to the Representative of UN Women BCO, the Communications Analyst will be responsible for assisting in the planning and implementation of the BCO and project related communications and advocacy strategies to increase the standing and awareness of UN Women with partners, the media and the public.  The Communications Analyst will work in close collaboration with the Programme, Operations and technical teams in BCO, HQ/Regional communications teams, staff of other UN Agencies, Government officials, media, multilateral and bilateral donors and civil society.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide substantive support to the planning and design of external communication and outreach/advocacy strategies and plans:

• Provide analysis for elaboration of communication strategies; ensure gender perspective;
• Integrate communication, advocacy and outreach strategies into proposals for project/programmes and other initiatives, as necessary;
• Monitor and analyze print and social media and provide analysis to RO/HQ; 
• Provide inputs and support to the launch of in-country UN Women/ UN system corporate and project  campaigns and special events.

2. Coordinate and contribute substantively to the development and dissemination of advocacy materials in the BCO and other projects:

• Draft briefing materials, and press releases and coordinate its dissemination through effective channels;
• Identify storylines for publication and articles; 
• Promote and disseminate corporate advocacy materials for launching flagship initiatives, publications, and campaigns;
• Coordinate the translation/adaption/rewriting of information received, printing and dissemination of publications and audio-visual materials;
• Follow guidelines from HQ and RO.

3. Coordinate media relations for BCO:

• Coordinate the establishment of relevant relationships;
• Maintain list of relevant media in country; 
• Respond to inquiries for public and UN system information materials;
• Organize roundtable discussions, press conferences and briefing session for press, as required; 
• Draft talking points.

4. Build and maintain partnerships and maintain relations with donors:

• Maintain relationships with partners and alliances to enhance visibility; 
• Liaise with advocacy partners and undertake outreach to civil society organizations, governments, and other groups to ensure that newsworthy information reaches the public and donors, as delegated.

5. Coordinate the BCO web/ online presence :

• Coordinate BCO’s websites’ content and maintenance based on corporate requirements;
• Coordinate BCO’s social media accounts in line with corporate social media policy;
• Upload information to knowledge management system on a regular basis, including news, updates, resources.

6. Facilitate knowledge building and sharing:

• Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned directly linked to programme goals and activities;
• Organize and conduct training and workshops on communication and advocacy, as appropriate.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies;
• Knowledge of web-based management systems;
• Knowledge of production, graphic design and photography standards;
• Knowledge of social media platforms and experience in social media outreach;
• Knowledge of local country media landscape;
• Communication, networking and advocacy skills;
• Ability to be strategic and analytical;
• Knowledge of gender and human rights issues desirable.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in communications, public relations, journalism or relevant field is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 1 year of professional work experience at national or international level in public relations, communications or advocacy is required;
• Experience in the use of social media is required;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required;
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Fluency in Bangla is required;
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

UN Women Statement on Diversity and Inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.  

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.  

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.  All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from  http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment ;

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.