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Submitting
Assignments
Okay, we're getting closer to starting with workbook assignments.
Got those books yet?
You'll need access to e-mail to submit assignments for this class.
That is the main way we'll communicate. Stored information will be
available here on the web site, but you'll submit your completed assignments
to me by e-mail. I'll add comments to them and grade them and e-mail
them back to you. (A few assignments, particularly at the beginning
of the semester, will either need to be mailed in or faxed in because
I need to see them in traditional format.)
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- NOTE:
If you are experiencing e-mail problems contact me by phone right
away. You need to find a way to stay up with the class. Don't show
up a couple of weeks later and tell you've been offline with e-mail
problems.
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- You may want
to set up some kind of e-mail management system for yourself so that
you know which assignments you've turned in and which ones you've
gotten back. E-mail can disappear sometimes, so it is to your benefit
to keep backups.
I receive dozens of e-mails a day and will be receiving more and more
thanks to this class. So I've got to set some ground rules on submitting
of assignments. Please follow them to insure I handle your assignments
properly.
Please use a subject title something like this:
J101x:
W-4.5 -- Lee -- Board meeting
J101x:
= Indicates that it is a newswriting message for the online class.
W = Signifies it is a workbook assignment. Different designations
include:
- S = Spelling
assignment
- L = Lecture
assignment
- R = Reading
assignment from the textbook
- W = Homework
assignment from the workbook
- X = Major assignment
- Spelling
assignments
-- A list of commonly misspelled and misused words appears at the
beginning of each chapter of the workbook. Also there are some journalism
vocabulary words. You will be given an assignment for each of these
pages.
- Lectures
-- Lectures, of course, are delivered online on the course web site.
For each lecture you will be asked a short series of questions to
verify you have read and understood it.
- Reading
-- Reading assignments will be from your textbook and from key sites
on the world wide web. Again, you will be asked a short series of
questions associated with each reading assignment to verify that you
have read and understood the material.
- Homework
-- Most homework assignments will come from your workbook. Any non-spelling
workbook assignments should have the letter designation of W. Workbook
assignment numbers have decimals -- 4.5, for instance, indicates Chapter
Four of the workbook, assignment five.
Major Assignments -- Major assignments or special assignments
would include a simulation or other special assignment not out of
the workbook or textbook.
"Lee"
would be substituted by your last name. Please,
don't use first names, nicknames, or whole names here.
The last portion
is for an textual identification of the assignment.
The textual
identification is called the slug. This is one of
your first journalism vocabulary words. It is a one- or two-word
description of the story. It is NOT a headline. Don't try to write
a sentence. Try to keep it to one or two words. For instance: "robbery"
is adequate; "bank robbery" is okay, but longer than needed.
Some other important
rules:
- Submit only
ONE assignment per e-mail message.
- Type an extra
return between each paragraph and don't worry about indenting paragraphs.
When you follow the steps outlined below you'll lose a lot of formatting,
so the double spacing between paragraphs will be all that is left
to determine paragraphs.
- Assignments
must be converted to text and pasted into your e-mail messages.
DO NOT send them as attachments
to e-mail. While I can probably read a variety of formats it is
a lot of extra work for me. I won't read your assignment if it comes
in as an attachment.
You certainly can write your stories in a word processor, but then
copy the story and paste it into a simple text processor. If you
are using a Windows program you have a handy utility called Notepad.
Paste the story into there, copy it again and then paste it into
your e-mail message. This is important. It will strip away all the
invisible machine code or format code your word processor will add.
Simply saving your story as a text-only document will not be enough.
If using a Macintosh use SimpleText or some similar text editor
using the instructions above.
Some e-mail programs also have built-in utilities and there are
all kinds of shareware text editors available for both platforms.
Again, as a summary, if you write your assignments in a word processor
program:
- Select
and copy the story.
- Paste
it in to a text editor (formatting will be lost).
- Select
it again and copy it.
- Paste
it into your e-mail message.
Assignments will be e-mailed to you twice a week and you'll typically
have a three-day window in which to complete them. You'll have assignments
due Wednesday and Saturday of each week (no penalty for earlier submissions).
If your mail gets garbled or lost you can check the online newswriting
timeline page to find out what your assignments
are. Try not to work ahead.
Answer and e-mail the following questions to me.
- In your message
subject line you are to indicate the type of assignment. What are
the different designations and what do they stand for?
- What is the
first thing you should type in the subject line of all e-mails you
send to me about this class?
- What is the
rule regarding submission of assignments as attachments to e-mail?
Why do I have that rule?
rCameron@cerritos.edu
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