Resources
Required readings
Week 1
- Your Media Business Will Not Be Saved — Josh Topolsky, The Verge
Week 2-4
Week 9
- Selections from On Writing Well by William Zinsser (provided in Canvas)
Essential tools
Free with your .edu email
- Canva Pro — Design tool for graphics, presentations, and more
- Google Workspace — Docs, Drive, Slides (2TB storage with MSU account)
- Spotify Premium — Student discount
- GitHub Student Developer Pack — Free developer tools
Browser extensions (all free)
- uBlock Origin — Ad blocker
- OneTab — Tab management
- LastPass or 1Password — Password manager
- Grammarly — Writing assistant
- Video Speed Controller — Control video playback speed
Mac-specific
Design resources
Color
- Coolors — Color palette generator
- Adobe Color — Color wheel and palette tools
- Contrast Checker — Accessibility contrast testing
Typography
- Google Fonts — Free web fonts
- Font Pair — Font pairing suggestions
- Type Scale — Typography hierarchy calculator
Stock images (free)
Icons
Research & AI tools
- NotebookLM — AI research assistant from Google
- Perplexity — AI-powered search
- Google Scholar — Academic research
- JSTOR — Academic databases (free with MSU login)
Reference materials
Writing
- AP Stylebook — Journalism style guide
- Hemingway Editor — Readability checker
- Grammarly — Grammar and style checker
Accessibility
- WebAIM — Web accessibility resources
- A11y Project — Accessibility checklist
- Alt Text Decision Tree — When and how to write alt text
Social media specs
- Social Media Image Sizes — Updated dimensions for all platforms
University resources
MSU services
Academic support
- Academic Calendar
- Canvas — Course management system
- Red Hawk Central
Industry resources
News & trends
- Nieman Lab — Journalism innovation
- Poynter — Journalism training and ethics
- The Verge — Tech and media coverage
Professional development
- Google News Initiative — Free training for journalists
- Knight Center — Free online journalism courses
- SPJ — Society of Professional Journalists