When an educator stands in front of a roomful of blank faces at the beginning of a semester, perhaps the most daunting question time and again is, "Where to begin?" In an introductory course, whether it’s for undergraduate or graduate students, often it’s tough to know with any amount of certainty what the best starting point is, and, then, as we face the challenge of starting on an entirely new topic afresh, where do we go once we’ve begun?

This issue’s review section features books primarily designed for and/ or used as introductory texts. Whether for Mass Comm. 101, the intro. course to a journalism master’s program, or a beginning copy editing class, the right book can be extremely helpful to the beginning teacher or seasoned veteran.

Many journalism programs have started professional master’s tracks, which often attract students with no background in the field. We begin with an essay by Lynn Clark from Colorado, who has been given the task of orienting professional and research master’s students simultaneously to the field. She reviews a handful of the books she uses. Her insightful essay is followed by good pieces dealing with introductory texts for mass communications courses; books designed for the communications law course; texts for teaching research and theory to public relations students; and, finally, some new volumes designed for students in a writing or copy editing class. Welcome to Review Essays 101.

DON HEIDER, EDITOR
DONHEIDER@MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU
University of Texas at Austin