Missing 2 required events caps your final grade for the course at a C. Missing 4 required events caps your final grade for the course at a D. Missing 6 or more required events caps your final grade for the course at an F.
Each week, you will meet with me in my office for a 30–minute conference. We will use this time to discuss and plan for upcoming assignments, discuss graded assignments, and address any concerns you have for the course.
You are responsible for knowing when conferences are scheduled and attending as required. If in a particular week, you cannot meet with me at the time you have signed up for, you must contact me via email to arrange another meeting time.
English 313 is not required for graduation, so if you find yourself struggling to keep up with the required work, you should consider dropping the course.
The last day to drop courses for this semester is June 23rd.
If you forget to drop the course in time, that's your problem.
For writing exercises, I base grades strictly on evidence of effort. A writing exercise which demonstrates that you've read the material and made an honest attempt to think about what you've read will earn full credit.
For major assignments, I base grades on 15 criteria in three categories. Each criterion is worth from 0 to 4 points. The five criteria which rank lowest are counted three times, once in their respective categories and twice again in an additional category called Weak Links.
For a full discussion of this grading scheme, please see the Evaluation Criteria page.
You should maintain both electronic and paper copies of the documents you write for this class. With regard to electronic copies, remember that you can never be too paranoid about creating backup copies.
Don't be like Lester O. Chimps! Save early and save often!
The final for this course consists of listening to the last group presentation and eating my wife's yummy ginger snaps. Plan on attending. The ginger snaps are the best in this and all other possible universes.
You must follow the following general formatting guidelines for all paper documents you submit for grading:
The base font for the document must be Times New Roman 12 point. This is the default font in MS Word.
You must use standard memo format with To, From, Date, and Subject fields at the top of the first page.
Paragraphs must be single–spaced within and double–spaced between.
The first line of each paragraph must be flush left.
Headings must be in Arial Bold 14 point. You must have more whitespace before than after the heading. Headings must not be underlined.
Italics should be used instead of underlining (such as for a book title).
Each page after the first must include a header which has your last name (or group name), a shortened title, and the page number.
You must use appropriate APA documentation style for each source you use.
Some assignments may have specific guidelines which override these general guidelines. You are responsible for knowing and following the specific instructions for each assignment.
To make certain you understand these requirements, please review the sample memo. If you have difficulty viewing the MS Word version of the memo, you may have better luck with the Rich Text Format version of the memo.
Websites, of course, should follow good design principles, but there are no restrictions on format.
You will work together in a small group for several assignments, including the major web design project. I will assign you to a group at the beginning of the semester based on your skills and interests.
For the major assignments: If you cannot complete an assignment on time for any reason, please contact me and let me know when you'll be able to turn it in. As a general rule, I prefer to have at least 24 hours to complete grading before your scheduled conference for handing back the assignment. I will, however, grade on the fly if need be, so I will accept an assignment handed to me during that conference.
However, you should expect that in such cases, your grade will likely be lower simply because of time constraints.
For weekly exercises: Exercises are due the week they are assigned. However, I will not count them as late until the Monday of the following week.
Late exercises will one point per week until the value reaches 0. Example:
WE1, WE2, WE3, and WE4 are due Friday, May 23rd. I will not count them as late until after May 26th. After that, they lose one point per week: They are worth four points until June 2nd, three points until June 9th, two points until June 16th, and one point until June 23rd. After June 23rd, they have no former point value (but there may still be intangible benefits).
You may ask for an extension of a day or so if you fall a bit behind. At most, I will grant an extension of one week.
You should have pens, pencils, floppy disks and/or other storage media, paper, and all the normal stuff you'd expect to have for a class. I won't provide such items.
I do, however, provide folders for handing in your assignments.
You will also need an HTML editor and copies of Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, Mozilla 1.3, Netscape 7.0, and Lynx. See the Web Design Resources page for more information about obtaining these items.
In order to develop your familiarity with XHTML, CSS, and Javascript, you must design your websites following these rules:
Only Arachnophilia, BBEdit, HTML–Kit, WordPad, SimpleText, Emacs, or Pico may be used when creating websites. Use of WYSIWYG editors is strictly prohibited.
All websites must pass W3C XHTML 1.1 and CSS Validation.
All websites must pass Bobby tests for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
All websites must work using Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows, Netscape 7.0 for Windows, Internet Explorer 5.1 for MacIntosh, Mozilla 1.3 for MacIntosh, and Lynx for UNIX.
No website which fails to meet these requirements and/or restrictions will be accepted for grading.
If you have trouble complying any of these rules, you must arrange to meet with me outside class for additional help.
You should start your assignments with ample time to get feedback from me and your classmates so you can make revisions before you submit a final copy. Once an assignment is graded, that's the end. No revisions, no second chances.
Don't be like Mr. Bunny! Start early and revise often!
I have included links to each book's page at Amazon for informational purposes only. If you decide you'd like to buy one of these books, you should use whatever vendor you prefer.
During the semester, you will complete four website assessments, one individual website, two group reports, one group website, and twenty weekly exercises. In addition, you will read all of Principles of Web Design.
English 313
You should maintain both electronic and paper copies of the documents you write for this class. With regard to electronic copies, remember that you can never be too paranoid about creating backup copies.
