The field placement is normally completed before students enter their fourth and final year, although some students may complete their placement while concurrently taking fourth-year classes.

A full-time placement is normally completed over a 6 to 8 week period (Spring or Summer) while a part-time placement is normally completed over a 12 to 14 week period (Fall or Winter).

Students can demonstrate the following skills:

• Reporting and news writing skills including hard news and feature treatments for beats such as crime, courts, and education

• Interviewing and research skills for a variety of story treatments

• Photojournalism skills

• News editorial skills, including story selection, copy-editing and proofreading skills, and photo selection

• Newspaper layout skills

• Online news production skills, including news writing for the web, online story construction, online layout /design, multimedia (familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite)

• Creative thinking skills

• Story pitching skills

• Practical and persuasive compositional skills

• Detailed and accurate editing

• Extensive knowledge of grammar

• Targeted research skills

• Problem-solving and critical thinking abilities

• Logical and effective organizational skills

• Proficiency in both PC and Mac platforms

• Understanding of contemporary Canadian law and communication technologies within a communication global context

• Understanding of ethics, fairness, interpersonal, and professional conduct in the workplace

By the end of the third year individual students may also possess:

• Arts & Culture reporting

• Political reporting

• Periodical writing

• Writing for radio

• Writing for television

• Literary journalism

• Experience covering sports