English 305 Course Calendar and Due Dates

In the table below, click on “Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week…”
or just scroll down the page.
Tip:
Print this calendar out for your reference during the semester,
and log the deadlines into your Scheduler Book.
Scan the schedule several weeks ahead so that you can plan your work.

The week between Weeks 9 and 10 is Spring Recess.

WEEK	SPRING 2006
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 1	Week 1 – Week of January 9 Send E-mail Confirmation to Dr. Miles Read the course homepage Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 2	Week 2 – Week of January 16 Read completely the course homepage, with especial attention to the material on course guidelines, course policies, and the Calendar. Read online Stunk and White’s “The Elements of Style” Exercise: Send Dr. Miles an e-mail confirmation that you have accessed the MIX Message Board. Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 3	Week 3 -- Week of January 23 Read about e-mail culture Exercise: Send your introductory note, via e-mail, to Dr. Miles Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 4	Week 4 -- Week of January 30 Exercises Read Assignment 1 and begin to work on it. Explore the Web sites listed. Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 5	Week 5 -- Week of February 6 Draft for Assignment 1 due Tuesday, 5 p.m. Dr. Miles is reading and editing your drafts Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 6	Week 6 -- Week of February 13 Exercise Dr. Miles is reading and editing your drafts Read Graphics and Page Layout Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 7	Week 7 -- Week of February 20 Drafts returned by Tuesday at 5 p.m. Work on Revising Your Draft Exercise Friday--Mid-Semester Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 8	Week 8 -- Week of February 27 Mail in Assignment 1. Read Assignment 2 and begin to work on it Exercise Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 9	Week 9 -- Week of March 6 E-mail 2 possible topics and two annotated sources for each, by Tuesday at 5 p.m. Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 10	Week 10 -- Week of March 20 Topics for Assignment #2 returned; Dr. Miles will have selected one of the topics, and included a Guide Question Exercise Friday--last day to drop a class Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 11	Week 11 -- Week of March 27 Exercise: Annotated sources for Assignment #2 due at 5 p.m. Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 12	Week 12 -- Week of April 3 Submit your draft of Assignment 2 Dr. Miles is reading and editing your drafts Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 13	Week 13 -- Week of April 10 Dr. Miles is reading and editing your drafts Exercise Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 14	Week 14 -- Week of April 17 Drafts returned by Tuesday at 5 p.m. Work on Revising Your Draft Check the MIX Message Board
Click here for the complete information on the work due for Week 15	Week 15 -- Week of April 24 Mail in Assignment 2. Check the MIX Message Board

Week 1

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Send me an e-mail message that includes your name and your e-mail address and a sentence saying that you'll be taking this course. My e-mail address is: professormiles@hotmail.com -- Dr. Miles . You must send me this message by Wednesday noon.

3. Do a self-tutorial or self-refresher on e-mail and a Web browser (Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer). You must be familiar with e-mail and the World Wide Web in order to begin the second week of the semester.

4. Read the Course Guidelines on our homepage:
Professional Writing at West Virginia University

5. Spend at least four hours this week familiarizing yourself with Resources for Research and Writing. This page, filled with links, will be the launching area for all your Web research. Familiarize yourself especially with the material on search engines and searching the Web. Be sure to click on all the areas during your play-exploration. Follow your curiosity. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the Web’s “best” search engine: Google.

6. Understand the critical course Guideline: You must hand your work in on time.

· If you miss an e-mail deadline for the draft of either of the two assignments, you won't be able to hand in the final assignment, and you'll lose 100% of the credit for it.

· If you hand in either of the two assignments late, one-half a grade will be deducted for each day it's late.

· If you hand in an exercise late, I won't accept it. Three points will automatically be deducted from your final grade for each exercise either not received or received late.

· It is essential – in a course given through e-mail – that you meet all the deadlines and keep up with the weekly schedule.

Week 2

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Be sure you have a web-based e-mail account. MIX, Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL are all good.

If you create an eMail account for this course, be sure to use a professional sounding name for your account name. To do this correctly, follow the advice for your new account name found in: Personal Business Diary: The E-Mail Résumé, Addressed for Success .

Remember two other things about using eMail: (1) use Options to create a Signature that is appended to every message. The Signature should include your name, your e-mail address, and your homepage address. It’s okay to “personalize” your Signature with a quotation or some other identifying mark; just remember that your Signature is a public statement. Signatures are usually not longer than 10 lines. (2) always use “Check Spelling” before sending your e-mail message.

3. Exercise: Send me an e-mail note confirming that you have successfully accessed the MIX Message Board. Send this note by Tuesday at 5 p.m.

4. Read completely the course homepage, with especial attention to the material on course guidelines, course policies, and the Calendar. Read with special care the section on grading. Pay attention to the fact that exercises are part of the total grading for this course: there are ten exercises, each worth 3 points.

1. Spend at least four hours this week familiarizing yourself with Resources for Research and Writing. This page, filled with links, will be the launching area for all your Web research. Familiarize yourself especially with the material on search engines and searching the Web. Be sure to click on all the areas during your play-exploration. Follow your curiosity.

2. Read one of the classic books on effective writing: William Strunk's "The Elements of Style." Its precision and simplicity make it a joy to read. Pay attention, especially, to #13: Omit Needless Words. We will be using the guidelines proposed in this book for grading your work this semester. The hyperlink enables you to read this book online, and then refer to it often. It should become your prose-Bible for this course.

3. Check out the HELP site at Online! Figure out how this Help site could "help" you as you take this course.

4. Understand how the Exercises work. EXPLANATION: There will be Web-based exercises throughout the semester. You'll find them in the assignments for each week. Each exercise can earn 3 points -- you earn 3 for acceptable, and 0 for unacceptable/late/not submitted at all. I will NOT "hound you" about getting these in, nor will he remind you if you haven't submitted them. It's YOUR responsibility to keep track. The goal of the exercises is to build up your competencies in doing Web research. The exercises will vary in difficulty. Most of the exercises will give you a foundation for working on the current assignment. You send in these exercises via e-mail, to me.

5. Understand how the course works. In addition to the exercises, you'll also have preparatory work to submit via e-mail for each of the two major assignments. I will respond to these submissions, thus setting up a dialogue with you. If you don't submit this work on time, I will not accept the assignment to which it's related. The exercises and preparatory work will form a sequence-of-concentration building toward the completion of each assignment. I encourage you to contact me as often as possible while you're working on each assignment.

Week 3

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Read Assignment 1 and explore the Web sites listed.

3. Complete the following exercise

Send an introductory note to me by Tuesday at 5 p.m. The note should include the following information:

· your name

· your major

· the kind of profession you hope to enter

· your job experience

· and any special skills you might have (for instance, you might have been trained in scuba diving)

· a Web link (a clickable URL) to a cool site in your field, a site that has impressive graphics

Compose your note as a word-processed file. Use the highlight-copy-paste method to upload this file into an e-mail message. Do not use the "attachment" feature to send the file. "Attachment" files cannot be read by all PCs. Use the highlight-copy-paste method for sending in all exercises and drafts.

Note on Format

When you send this e-mail, pay attention to how you format your message. In English 305, you will not be writing documents in any kind of “essay” form. Instead, you’ll be writing in a more technical style, in which you write shorter paragraphs and break up the sections of your document with headings (a few words announcing what’s to come). This paragraph, itself, begins with such a bold-face heading. These headings are a “road map” for the reader to know what to expect next, and they serve as a natural way to organize your material. So, for this first e-mail message, use, as headings, the six categories listed above and then follow the heading with the relevant material. Many formatting features, like bold face and bullets, will not come through in e-mail; don’t worry about this.

Understand some of the complexities of e-mail culture by reading the following two selections. Then follow the advice throughout this course.

First Selection: Style Guidelines for E-Mail Messages

When sending me e-mail, be sure to follow these guidelines:

Personal Account -- Have your own e-mail account. Don’t share an account with another person or group. With joint accounts, messages get lost.

Same Address for “Send” and “Reply” -- Send your e-mail messages from the same account where you expect to receive the Reply. That is, don’t ask for a “Reply” to another account, since doing so requires the typing in of another address in the “To:” line, which is inconvenient and annoying.

The “Subject” Line -- Include a descriptive statement in the “Subject:” line so that the receiver can know the topic of the message before reading it.

Sign Your E-mail Message -- Type your first and last name at the end of your message. Your identity can not always be inferred from your e-mail address.

Screen Appearance and Text Format -- Use a plain, white screen background (the default), not a fancy or multi-colored background. Many backgrounds, especially red and green, make the text hard to read. Use Arial or Times New Roman as a font and traditional 12- or 14-point type size.

Spell Check -- Spell Check your message and proofread it.

Web Links -- If you’re sending a Web link in your message, send the message to yourself first in order to check that the link clicks through to its intended site. It’s frustrating to click on an inactive Web link.

Web E-mail -- If you’re away from your computer often and need to access your e-mail, get a free Web-based e-mail account at http://www.yahoo.com or a similar service.

Second Selection: E-Mail Etiquette

December 6, 1999

The New York Times

E-Etiquette

By LETITIA BALDRIDGE

WASHINGTON -- When it comes to communication, the difference between today and 10 years ago is like the difference between the first century and the 18th century. A laptop or a gadget that sits in the palm of the hand makes our investments, orders our groceries, pays our bills and hooks us up with a merchant in Hong Kong or an Alpine guide on Mont Blanc. Forget the gentle manners that were taught before the advent of the cyberage. Gone. Finito.

But even if the traditional forms of civility have evaporated, we still need to greet one another, comfort one another and entertain and learn from one another. In the next century, innovations could allow us to embrace via computer (I wonder what a computerized hug feels like? A robot's kiss?). But in the meantime, let's draw up a set of rules that make the electronic age function more efficiently, predictably, considerately and kindly.

1. Please don't send e-mails that make angry demands on me. How off-putting when you scream: "I must have an answer by 2 p.m. tomorrow. Repeat, by 2 p.m. tomorrow." You don't know what's happening in my life, and if you did, you might just change your threatening language.

2. Please don't waste my time with the latest "jokes du jour," sent to hundreds of e-mail addresses, including mine. I don't have time for the jokes, and I am not going to be impressed that you know 200 people to send them to. I start to regard the other names with suspicion. Do they have so little work to do that they can read jokes all day, or am I the only one working under inhuman pressure?

3. Please don't order me to visit your Web page. Ask me nicely, and maybe I will. Most important, don't ask me what I think of your Web page. I don't have time to write a thoughtful response, and besides, you might not want to hear what I think.

4. When I e-mail you a thoughtful note, please don't treat it as if it never existed. At some point, you should send me a short acknowledgment: "Thanks for the important info about the oil company merger. Needed to know that. Best wishes, John." It's frustrating not to know whether or not you received my communication.

5. In my e-mails, I will be careful with my grammar, spelling, sentence structure and punctuation. I realize that if I send a carelessly written missive, I am only diminishing myself in the eyes of everyone who reads it.

6. I will keep my e-mails, those of my staff and those of my children free of foul language.

7. I will not send messages with insulting comments about others. Nor will I spread rumors on line. I realize that what I write in cyberspace, intended for only one other pair of eyes, can be spread to millions of pairs of eyes in a split second.

8. I will send messages of congratulation to those who achieve, messages of consolation to those who are having bad luck and messages of encouragement to those who need jump starts in their lives. In addition, I may write a long, beautiful letter on good stationery.

9. In my e-letters, I will use a salutation and a closing, and state the purpose of the communication up front. I will also add a personal touch: "It was great seeing you at the Convention Hall yesterday" or, "I hope your husband has recovered from his flu by now."

To me, the great promise of cyberspace is speed. Along with the grinding efficiency of it all, just a few thoughtful words can change the entire nature of the communication. Good manners mean a quiet touch of warmth in the cold new techno world.

Letitia Baldridge is the author of "The New Complete Guide to Executive Manners."

END

_________________________________________________________

Week 4

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board.

2. Read Assignment 1 and explore the Web sites listed.

3. Complete the following two exercises (due at different times)

(1) If you commit plagiarism, you can be expelled from the university. Plagiarism means that you steal material from someone else and represent it as your own work. It's SIMPLE to plagiarize from the Web. Just use the highlight-copy-paste feature to copy something from a Web site and paste it into a document you're writing in word-processing mode. We want to be sure that you know that we know that you know how to do this. So we want you to find a short section on a Web page and use the highlight-copy-paste feature to copy it into an e-mail message and send it to us. Be sure to put the material in quotation marks, as is traditional. Include the URL for the site, so we can check it out if we want to. Of course, if you were to do this and NOT cite the source, it WOULD be plagiarism. But, by doing this exercise, you now know how to take material from a Web site, put it in your document, and cite it properly. That is, you can use material from a Web site right in your own work, as long as you give it the credit it's due. Due Tuesday at 5 p.m.

(2) Search a topic in your professional area using the major search engines listed under "Note..." on the page for Searching the Web. For instance, if you're majoring in geography, you might search for "global warming." Search through 10 search engines. Describe the 4 best Web sites you find. Cite the URLs for these sites. For citing the URL correctly, see Online! at Online! . 200 words max. Due Thursday at 5 p.m.

Week 5

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Send, via e-mail, a draft of pages 1-2 of Assignment #1 to me by Tuesday at 5 p.m.

3. Begin work on the exercise due in Week 6.

________________________________________________________________

Week 6

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Read Graphics and Page Layout. Apply the material here to your revision of Assignment #1.

3. Complete this exercise.

Create Your Own Web Page
Create a homepage. You can use web space on a server you may have access to or you can open an e-mail account at Yahoo and use their Geocities site http://geocities.yahoo.com (http:/us.geocities.com). At Yahoo, use Page Wizard and the “Techie” template, which is the most readable.

You only need to create the simplest of homepages for now – all you need to include on your homepage is (1) your name and (2) an active Web link to a Web site that you like. Give your homepage a professional look! Don’t trivialize your homepage by using generic clip art icons, balloons, mindless banners, or other “cutsy” stuff. Think of your homepage as a place where a prospective employer will review your job application and other materials.

All of the material you read on the Web is on Web pages formatted in a language called HTML. HTML means "HyperText Markup Language." "Hypertext" refers to the ability to click on a highlighted item and go directly to that Web site through a link. Any material you want to put on the Web must be launched in HTML format. Newer word-processing software, like WordPerfect 8.0 and Word 2000, has an Internet Publisher feature so that you can type text in word-processing mode and the software automatically converts it to HTML format fit for the Web. It's pretty cool.

You can see any Web page in its HTML format by selecting View-Source or View-Document Source. Try this right now as you're reading this page. You'll see that every formatting feature is programmed in with a special code embedded between these signs: < > . The " < " begins a code; text follows; then a " > " sign ends that piece of code. Each code gives some kind of instruction as to how the text should appear on the page. Scan at least 3 of the sites in HTML and Web Page Design.

People all over the world are creating their own Web homepage. They use it to display their special interests and to offer an electronic "meeting place for friends of like mind." You can do this too !!

Send me an eMail message that includes an active link to your homepage. Due Thursday at 5 p.m.

**************************************

Note on Mid-Semester Grades: The end of next week, Week 7, is Mid-Semester. WVU asks us to give only D’s and F’s at mid-semester, as a warning about unacceptable performance up to that point in the semester. Because this course is based on a sequence of exercises and a sequence of revising drafts, we will base your mid-semester grade on the promptness and quality of your exercises so far, and on the quality of your draft of Assignment #1. We don’t expect anyone to earn less than a “C” in this course, but we will give warning grades of “D” and “F” at mid-semester if you’re not keeping up to the course standards. Thanks for understanding this policy. Please e-mail me – Dr. Miles – if you have any questions about this.

Week 7

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Work on revising your draft of Assignment #1. Your draft will be returned by Tuesday at 5 p.m.

3. Complete the following exercise.

EXERCISE: Suppose you wrote the following sentence and received it back from your professor with a note indicating that you needed to correct the error having to do with the verbal ("Looking") and the subject ("they"):

"Looking at several search engines, they seem to be complicated to use."

Find a site on the Web that would clarify the comment and explain to you what the error is. Send us: the name of the site and the URL, a description of the error, and a revision of the sentence. This exercise will help you learn how to access sites on the Web having to do punctuation, grammar, and usage. You might want to start from the relevant section on the course-homepage -- HINT: Go to Resources, and then look for a link on punctuation/grammar. Due Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Mid-Semester

____________________________________________________________

Week 8

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board.

2. Mail Assignment #1 so that it reaches me in the Tuesday mail.

Mail your assignment to me by regular United States Post Office first-class mail. To mail your assignment, use a 9 x 12 mailer so that your paper is flat (not folded up). Include (1) your paper and (2) a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) so that I can mail your graded work back to you. The self-addressed stamped envelope should also be a 9 x 12 white mailer, and it must be the kind with tape that pulls off so you can seal it – for health reasons, I don’t want to have to lick the envelope to seal it. This SASE should, of course, be addressed to you, with two, first-class stamps already affixed for postage. For both envelopes, use a plain white mailer; do not use a mailer that has air pockets (often called bubble-wrap) because they’re too bulky. When your assignment is graded, I will mail it back to you. Your assignment will not be read unless the SASE is included.

Do NOT send your envelope under any configuration that requires a signature for it to be left at my home.

My mailing address is:

Thomas Miles

RR 6 Box 248 VF 159

Fairmont, WV 26554-9120

Note: This is NOT a post-office box. It’s a rural mail box.

3. Complete the following exercise.

Exercise: There are full-text databases now available at the Wise Library Reference Room. These are databases that allow you to read the entire text of an article so that you don't have to try to find the journal in the library. Once you find an article, you can save it to disk, print it out, or e-mail it to yourself. It's awesome, and it's the wave of the future in online retrieval of information. The best full-text database available at Wise is EBSCOhost. Use the link to the WVU Libraries on our homepage, under “Libraries.”

Find two articles in your general field in this database and e-mail me the citation for each (use your personal e-mail, not the EBSCOhost automatic email). Once you learn to use this database, you'll probably never go back to "searching" for journals in the stacks. Due Friday at 5 p.m.

You can use this exercise to reduce your work for next week on the Web sources that have to do with your tentative topics.

4. Begin to brainstorm for Assignment #2. Read Assignment #2 and brainstorm 2 topics.

Week 9

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Send in two possible topics for Assignment #2:

Read Assignment #2.

E-mail me two possible topics for Assignment #2 by Tuesday at 5 p.m. For EACH topic, give the following:

-- the situation that has been upgraded or improved (50 words)

-- your best guess about how this innovation or upgrade has worked out (50 words)

-- two Web sources, plus a 50-word description of each, concerning your topic

I want you to give a great deal of thought to these topics. Specifically, I want to be sure that each one can actually be researched effectively and that you have a clear idea of some of the complexities involved in each.

Sending in these two topics is a requirement for being able to continue with Assignment #2.

Week 10

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Complete the following exercise.

Exercise: Use the "Federal" search engines listed on the page for searching the Web to find two new technological initiatives currently being undertaken by one of our Federal agencies. For instance, you might want to find out about "fuel cells" and their promise for the delivery of clean energy. Or check out the new program within the Center for Disease Control to eradicate the presence of cyclopean on raspberries shipped from Guatemala -- this being one of the interesting ironies of the move toward a global food-economy. (Et cetera.) Describe the two initiatives you've found, and give the Web sites. 200 words max. Due Wednesday at 5 p.m.

3. Receive your Guide Question. Topics for Assignment #2 will be returned by Tuesday at 5 p.m. I will have selected the one that seems to be the best one to develop. A Guide Question will also be included – this is the MAIN QUESTION that you need to follow up on during your research and writing. That is, answering it will give your assignment a fresh and innovative approach. This guide question could involve learning more about such things as: a technical aspect of the subject at hand; a historical perspective on the topic; a review of solutions proposed in the past; a consideration of unexpected consequences; an effort to look at the socio-economic aspects of the topic; etc. The possibilities are open-ended. You must re-adjust your topic in order to deal with this Guide Question.

Week 11

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Complete the following exercise.

Exercise: send in a complete list of the sources you expect to use in writing Assignment #2. For each, list the source in correct bibliographic form and, if it’s a Web site, include an active Web link. Use either the APA or MLA style guide for formatting your sources. Then, after each citation, include a 50-word description about the usefulness of the source (this is called an “annotation). Due Tuesday at 5 p.m.

3. I will mail your graded Assignment #1 back to you. It will be put in the mail by Tuesday noon.

Week 12

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. E-mail a partial draft for Assignment #2. Send in: 200 words describing the problem and 200 words describing your tentative solution. Due by Tuesday at 5 p.m.

________________________________________________

Week 13

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Complete the following exercise.

Exercise: Read For Exercise in Week 13. Then write a statement of about 200 words describing two unexpected consequences, for you, of using the Web in this course. How have things turned out differently than you had supposed when you started the course? Due Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Week 14

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Receive your draft. Draft of Assignment #2 returned by Tuesday at 5 p.m.

3. Review Graphics and Page Layout. Apply the material here to your revision of Assignment #2.

4. Stay in contact. Feel free to stay in contact with me by e-mail during your revision process.

Week 15

Action Items

1. Check the MIX Message Board

2. Mail in Assignment #2 so that it reaches me in the Wednesday mail of Week #15.

Do NOT send your envelope under any configuration that requires a signature for it to be left at my home.

My mailing address is:

Thomas Miles

RR 6 Box 248 VF 159

Fairmont, WV 26554-9120

Note: This is NOT a post-office box. It’s a rural mail box.

3. Personal Experience Essay –

One of the hallmarks of “being human” is being curious about how the world works. Begin this assignment by reading several of the entries at Marshall Brain’s great web site: HowStuffWorks. Get a feel for how he structures each entry by using sections delineated by bold face headers and by including, occasionally, some short and compact step-by-step instructions. For background, also read: Fidgeting to Know How Stuff Works. Then, from your own personal experience and without relying on any outside sources (including the Web), write a short document in which you show how something works. The “something” you describe should be relevant to your major as it plays out in a scientific, technical, or professional environment. For instance, if you’re majoring in computer science, you might describe what “information” is (that is, “information” is a group of 32 numbers made up entirely of 0’s and 1’s, and a sequence of such groups can represent all possible kinds of data). Pick a topic where you can reveal information that most people might not know, information that you have learned from your own personal, hands-on experience. Do not choose a topic that Brain’s web site already covers. The length should be two, double-spaced typed pages of text, 500 words max. Mail this so that it reaches me no later than the mail delivered the Tuesday of Final Exam Week.

Do NOT send your envelope under any configuration that requires a signature for it to be left at my home.

My mailing address is:

Thomas Miles

RR 6 Box 248 VF 159

Fairmont, WV 26554-9120

Note: This is NOT a post-office box. It’s a rural mail box.

CONGRATULATIONS !

You've finished all the required work for this course.

There's no final exam.

I hope you enjoyed this distance-learning experience!

-- Dr. Miles

SPRING 2006

Note on Format

First Selection: Style Guidelines for E-Mail Messages