I have enjoyed seeing my journalism students engage this week with the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. I posted this in the #loweclass group on Facebook on Sept. 4:

Make no mistake, both classes – nearly 30 students total – asked great questions as I sat before them for about an hour Monday in Johnston Hall, home of the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University. Students entering colleges and universities as freshmen this year were in kindergarten in 2001. These ones firing questions at me as if it were a news conference were in elementary school. They all can either remember what they were doing that morning or how people around them acted. One was living in Manhattan.

Slattery's class all had digital recorders in front of me as I spoke. Their assignment afterward included creating a news report suitable for radio or the Web. She had me do the same exercise for her afternoon class. Thankfully, it asked some different questions, so that hour of time was equally enjoyable. It also helped that Marjorie Valbrun, another journalist spending the year at Marquette as an O'Brien Fellow, chimed in with her experiences as a journalist on 9/11.

My students returned to our classroom after the morning session, had a quick newsroom meeting about what had just transpired – and then had 25 minutes to write a blog post offering their immediate perspective (for online). They then had 48 hours to write a news profile about the guest speaker and his 9/11 experience (for the next day's paper).

Is it weird having your students write about you? Yes. But I learned a lot about each one of them via their blog posts. As I look forward to reading their profiles this weekend, I am happy to report that they also used my and their 9/11 experiences to create Storifys, thus learning how to curate social media. They did so within a day. No sense waiting until Monday to write about something that everyone is focusing on today, I told them. Eager to read those, too. Many thanks to my colleague for enabling me to share the most momentous day of my career with our students.

"It's so easy not to pay attention to grammar sometimes and we all do it, even if we like to think otherwise. After all, we are only human," Kia Garriques writes in a blog post, "How to Start the New Year: Get Serious About Grammar!"

With a new semester beginning this week at Marquette University, and me once again teaching Digital Journalism III (JOUR 2100) in the Diederich College of Communication, I want my 14 students to focus on grammar all the time. Hence my Facebook message last night:

The post earned three dozen Facebook "likes" and engendered boldness among my friends and family, not to mention well wishes and thoughts of cats from former students of #loweclass – which, by the way, is the Twitter hashtag to follow what my students are doing. A cousin asked why 25 minutes for 50 questions? One doesn't need more than two minutes per grammar question. Three people asked to take the quiz. How cute. I really don't think they are ready.

Several of the questions relate to what's in the Associated Press Stylebook, the "journalist's bible" in newsrooms across America. I insist that my students know AP Style because it helps to teach how to write with clarity, consistency, accuracy and authority. There will be more AP Style quizzes soon as well as the ever popular "AP Style Bowl" that's designed to make it fun to learn.

So, how did the class do with today's quiz? Regretfully, no one scored the requisite 80 for the 50 extra-credit points. Two students were two correct answers shy of the magic number, with both earning a 72. As in past semesters, I will give the quiz -- and another chance at the extra credit -- again near the term's end. Hopefully, then someone else will earn grammar glory.

"Sports Illustrated broke the biggest sports news of the summer July 11 when it posted a 950-word piece by LeBron James as told to Lee Jenkins, announcing James' decision to leave the Miami Heat and return to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers," Bob Wolfley begins a recent column, "Sports Illustrated Catches Flak for LeBron James Piece, for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Wolfley asks "four experts in the field of journalism if what Sports Illustrated did here with the James story was good journalism." Yours truly is among his sources, though no one should consider me an expert. Here's an excerpt from the column:

Check out this video profile of Kal Riebau, a student manager for the Marquette University men's basketball team.

Perhaps final projects show how well students have been taught as much they have learned each term. So I was quite worried about the projects the 18 students in my Digital Journalism III course would produce this semester. OK, I expected nothing short of a train wreck. But as is often the case, my students exceeded my expectations.

Each student had to do create a multimedia package focusing on anyone of their choosing within the Marquette community; it could be another student or an administrator, faculty member, employee, etc., on or near campus. The New York Times' "One in 8 Million" collection of audio slideshows served as inspiration and the projects were to each consist of two parts: a 650-word profile and a three-minute video created using Final Cut Pro X. The videos were uploaded to YouTube, then embedded above their text stories on a page on their individual Weebly websites.

The class focused considerably on writing profiles this spring, but spent just a couple periods on using video. One day we looked at examples from TheMorganList.com, a collection of videos about people at Morgan State University and produced by students taught there by my friend, Jerry Bembry; another day we reviewed "Al's 10 Video Commandments," a presentation on the do's and don'ts that Al Tompkins shared atthe inaugural Teachapalooza in 2011.) The class also had the "Video Storytelling for the Web" and "Reporting, Writing for TV and the Web: Aim for the Heart" modules as part of a certificate program offered by the Poynter Institute's News University.

Making me even more nervous: The students insisted on using the higher-end cameras they could sign out from the Diederich College of Communication's technology center instead of their smartphones. Good for them! Unlike in past semesters, though, we spent no class time learning how to use the equipment. Anyway, after turning in three full-fledged story ideas each – just in case a preferred one fell through – the students went about doing their projects.

After three weeks of working on them, the class helped me critique each effort. To my relief, they all were credible, if not more so. Several focused on Marquette peers. They included the state governor's son; one focused on serving others; a theater set designer; an international student; a Muslim; a hip-hop dancer; one hundreds of miles from his family still reeling from superstorm Sandy; one with cerebral palsy and one needing a guide dog because of blindness. The other projects featured the owner of a popular eatery; a diversity counselor and social justice instructor; a music curator and three faculty members who teach law, political science and German, respectively.

Two of the projects particularly stood out and deserve a look from anyone reading this post. Benjamin Greene profiled Kal Riebau, a student manager for the men's basketball team despite having only one arm. Given that his video was done after basketball season – that's why there's no footage of Riebau doing his manager duties or engaging with the team – Greene's classmates and I agree that any criticism from this instructor would be nitpicking.

Then there's Christopher Chavez, who is always trouble. "I know we're not supposed to use music," he said to me the week before the projects were due, "but I made it work." After watching his piece on Tyler Leverington, a track team member who is also a first-year law student, I agreed: Chavez made it work. The music level could be reduced some more, but just like with Greene's effort on Riebau, the editing quality in the Leverington piece is outstanding. 

And, never one to miss an opportunity, Chavez has taken his coursework international. "Had a little too much fun with my One @Marquette project that I extended it to eight minutes and released it as a feature on Flotrack," he wrote in a status update in the #loweclass Facebook group last week. As of Saturday, that version had 4,465 page views from www.flotrack.org, a website dedicated to news about track and field. Once again, that's making it work.

I have read enough cover letters from students to know that most struggle writing them. Not all of my students seek careers in newsrooms. But almost all of them will soon need to apply for an internship, scholarship or their first job after graduation. That's why I spend time on cover letters in my Digital Journalism I class each semester. Besides, it's a great way to see how well they have learned AP style and to check their grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Here's a synopsis of what I shared with my JOUR 1100 class on Wednesday, with instructions for the 14 students to each write by next week a one-page, five-paragraph cover letter for the position they want this summer:

First, the essentials, starting with 1-inch margins all around. Except in two places, the font will be Times New Roman and 12 point. Next, the letterhead – be sure to have one. Three lines, centered, with your name, in bold, on the first line. (Here's the first of the two exceptions: raise the name's point size to 14, 16 or 18.) The second line should be where you can be found on earth, that is, your street address and telephone number. The third line is for where you are in the digital universe (website or blog address, LinkedIn, Twitter, Cuttings.me, etc.).

From here, it's all block style, that is, aligned left with spaces between paragraphs. Skip a line and place the date. Skip another line and declare to whom and where you're writing. This should be five lines: name, position, company and address (city, state and zip code goes on the fifth line). Skip another line and apply the greeting, with a prefix, last name and colon. Don't use To Whom It May Concern. If the application instructions say to send to human resources or to a generic email address, show that you can do a little research. It should be easy to find out who at the company most likely will decide who gets picked for the job or internship. Address your letter to that person.

The first paragraph should be two sentences. The first states who you are and where you're from – I am a junior majoring in journalism at the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University in Milwaukee. The second states what you want and where – I am applying for a metro desk internship this summer with (company name) in (location). This paragraph should be no longer than three lines. The second, third and fourth graphs are the most important. Save room for them. Oh yes, my students know that I don't tolerate widows and orphans.

The second paragraph is for your campus experience. For journalism students, this means student media and or exceptional course achievements. The third paragraph is for what you have done away from school, as in previous internships or other co- or extracurricular activities. Your fourth paragraph is where you really distinguish yourself. Let's assume that everyone else applying for the job you want has been busy with student media and had at least one internship. This is where you show that who you are and what you have done are truly remarkable. Did I say show? Remember, don't tell me! Show me! That goes for the second, third and fourth paragraphs.

The fifth paragraph is key, too. It's also two sentences. The first is easy – Thank you for considering my application. The second keeps the ball in your court (excuse the cliche) – I will contact you soon to confirm receipt. They should fit on one line; that leaves more room for the three preceding paragraphs. Also, this is better than telling the reader to feel free to contact you. Remember who wants the job. Be sure your letter reaches its destination.

Finally, let's close the letter in style. Skip a line and write Sincerely, then type your name on the next line, and then your name again on the line underneath it. Now it's time for the second font exception mentioned above: Select your name on the line beneath the salutation, change it from Times New Roman to Lucida Handwriting, and raise the point size to 14 or 16. This will give the impression of an electronic signature. That's it. You're done.

Oops! No, you're not. Proofread your letter, not once, not twice, but three times. Put it down. Have someone else you trust read it for you. Then read it again. Make sure it abides by AP style and correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. You have worked too hard on this and all your efforts so far to lose out because of stupid mistakes.

Well, that's all I have for now. I make no guarantees that following my advice will automatically secure the job or internship or scholarship you want. This is about style and formatting. What really matters is what you have for the second, third and fourth graphs. That's up to you. No cover letter can cover up for lack of substance. 

I hope to soon offer tips for crafting resumes. For now, review these links from recruiting guru Joe Grimm: Tips for Avoiding Four Common Punctuation Errors on Resumes and The Top Six AP Style Errors on Resumes. Oh yes, as I tell my students, whether it's a cover letter or resume, the most important thing – show me you can write!

I had the pleasure yesterday of joining wartime journalists James Foley and Meg Jones as panelists on "Diederich Ideas: Reporting From the Front Line," the latest public-affairs program produced by broadcast journalism students at the Diederich College of Communication. Foley, a GlobalPost correspondent and fellow Marquette University graduate, was also on campus to speak about his being held captive for six weeks in Libya by Moammar Gadhafi loyalists earlier this year. Jones covers veterans and the military for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

A studio audience of 20 students listened intently behind us in the jPad lounge in Johnston Hall as Jordan Abudayyeh, a senior in the college, expertly moderated the hourlong program. It focused on complex issues facing journalists since the terrorists attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, including: Reporting on stories from the Middle East. Balancing national security concerns against the public’s right to know. Which stories are told and which ones are ignored? The challenges faced by embedded journalists. Has the public become desensitized to their reports?

The production also featured video "cut-ins" from broadcast journalists with considerable international experience: Catherine Herridge of Fox News, Lara Logan of CBS News, Martha Raddatz of ABC News and Mara Schiavocampo of NBC News. Their personal stories served as case studies for us to discuss on the program.

I very much enjoyed hearing Foley and Jones talk about their experiences overseas and appreciate their courage and passion for reporting from the front lines. Never wanting to be a foreign correspondent, I had my fill of conflict journalism as a Newsday staff writer reporting in Lower Manhattan that fateful day on 9/11. I want no parts of being near constant gunfire in another country, much less being held captive for 45 days like Foley.

Meanwhile, I also enjoyed witnessing so many Marquette students practicing their journalism during the taping. They did all the pre-production research, interviews, set design and graphics, and all the camera work, audio and editing during the program, said Julie Rosene, the college's event coordinator and a key adviser to their efforts. Post-production should be finished soon, after which it will be available for viewing on the college's website and, hopefully, on a local cable station in Milwaukee. There are plans for a new "Diederich Ideas" each semester.

I look forward to each and every one – and hope to have the chance to participate again.