last week

That's right...you've somehow hung in there (me too!). And you only have a week to go. So here is the update:

1. I've graded all homework to-date (not tonight's 6/23 deadline). Check your shared gradebook, if I've missed something, email me.
2. I'll grade wp#2s tomorrow morning (need to spend some time w/my literature class).
3. I'll be trying to grade wp#3s as they roll in, starting tomorrow.
4. I'll grade homework again on Monday.
   

Technically, the course ends this next Thursday (6/28). I will accept work from you all until Saturday (6/30); however, technology glitches do not count. If you submit something on Saturday, and it gets lost in cyberspace...not my problem! Therefore, I would shoot for having work done on Friday at the latest and make sure I got it.

Email me w/any questions, concerns, etc. I'm home and online a bunch between now and the end of the course.

some notes on APA

I want to spend a little time “chatting” about APA full bibliographic citations. First, some common mistakes people make:

1. Author’s first names are not included, just first initials.
2. If you can not find an author for your resource, consider the following:
   
1. Really search for the author. On websites the author’s name may be listed on a different page. Take some time and really search.
2. Please realize that government agencies, organizations, and corporations can be authors. Check out: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s2.html#3
3. And if you really can’t find an author, do not start your citation with the date. Check out: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s2.html#4
3. The titles of the works do not have every word capitalized. Basically you should only be capitalizing the first word, proper nouns, and if there is a colon/subtitle, the first word of the subtitle.
4. Titles of major works (books, films, television shows, not episodes, etc.) and periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and journals) are italicized. Specific articles, chapters, television episodes titles are not italicized.
5. Do not include periods at the end of a full bibliographic citation with a URL.
6. If your source is from a website, provide the full URL (website address). If it is from a database, only give the database name. If it is from a very large website with a good search engine, like a newspaper website, provide the general URL. See the detailed examples below.

Tawnee is a college student in New York City. She is taking a biology class that has gotten her to think a lot about sustainability. On December 10, 2006, while sitting at the local coffee shop, she picked up The New York Times and read an article about eco-tourism and being carbon neutral. If she were to write a full bibliographic citation about that article, based on the one she read in the physical newspaper, it would look like:

Higgins, M. (2006, December 10). Carbon neutral: Raising the ante on eco-tourism. The New York Times, section 5, p. 12.

Once Tawnee started the spring semester, she email a couple of her friends about the article. She just gave them the name of the article, the name of the author, and that it was in a December issue of The New York Times.

Sarah, one of Tawnee’s friends looked for it at The New York Times website. Sarah’s full bibliographic citations would look like:

Higgins, M. (2006, December 10). Carbon neutral: Raising the ante on eco-tourism. The New York Times. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from http://www.nytimes.com/

Notice that Tawnee does not have the section and page number; this is because that information is not provided on the website. However, if the section and page number had been provided, she should include it in the citation as well. (See: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s2.html#E).

Teresa, another of Tawnee’s friends, looked in one of her library’s databases for the article. Her citation would look like:

Higgins, M. (2006, December 10). Carbon neutral: Raising the ante on eco-tourism. The New York Times, section 5, p. 12. Retrieved February 13, 2006, from LexisNexis.

Notice, Teresa did include the original print page numbers because that information was included with the electronic copy in LexisNexis. If LexisNexis tracked every individual source in its database with a code, Teresa would have needed to include that code as well (see: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s2.html#20).

Folks, any citation style is complex. Basically, you need to leave yourself enough time to double, and triple check. Always feel free to ask your instructor for help.

PLEASE NOTE...THE CITATIONS ABOVE ARE NOT INDENTED AS THEY SHOULD BE (IT CAN BE VERY DIFFICULT TO DO IN A WEB ENVIRONMENT). IN APA, ALL BUT THE FIRST LINE SHOULD BE INDENTED.

I'm back

So...I wasn't as "productive" over the weekend as I desired. Ahh well, I'm married. I'm getting over a summer cold (ugh in our heat)...and I've emailed back graded wp#1s. If you did not receive a graded wp#1 back from me...I did not get it from you. Remember, to submit final projects you share them with me (just me) as a collaborator. You also need to label them appropriately, name, title, assignment (wp#1 final version), etc. Some of you have shared documents with me; however, I have no idea what assignment, if it is a draft, etc.

Over the next two days I will be:
1. grading wp#1s as they come in
2. grading wp#2s (should be back to you sometime tomorrow 6/21)
3. grading homework

Actually...I won't grade wp#2s until tomorrow for two reasons:
1. look at my comments from wp#1 and see if you want to revise, and
2. look at the next posting (above) and see if you want to revise.

Shelley

going into the weekend---->

I'm caught up with all the grading you all have submitted, except for final submissions of wp#1 (the ones I have thus far). I'm hitting a plane tonight and hope to get most of them done. They will all be back to you by sometime tomorrow at the latest. Otherwise...I'm off to get married this weekend (obviously why my life has been as crazy as you all report to me!). I'll return graded wp#1s tomorrow. I'll check email briefly on Saturday and Sunday. I will then do a massive grading session again on Tuesday.

Grading at this point

I've graded everyone's homework thus far (except last night's deadline). Be sure to check your shared gradesheet. I will grade wp#1s on Wed/Thur. Hint for the next round of peer reviews, be sure to use the questions in the peer review prompt so you do a meaty peer review. If you don't sincerely engage your classmate's draft, you won't get full credit! I'm in a meeting all day today; hopefully I'll have internet access!?!

sharing final versions of wp

I need you all to make sure that you re-share your final submissions of your writing projects to me as a separate document, shared only with me (as a collaborator, so that I can comment on it). First, I need you to leave the drafts with your peer comments in it so that I can grade your peer comments. Second, you don't want your classmates to see me comments and final grade on your paper (or legally, I can't!).
Thanks!
Shelley

delicious?

Folks...I had you get delicious accounts for a reason. It appears some of you don't think that I'm checking to see if you are bookmarking your resources. If you expect full credit on your annotated bibliographies, you better be bookmarking everything outside of a database article!

Life happening...

Sorry folks, I had a life happening over the weekend. I'll be all caught up with grading, email responses, etc before going to bed. (Except maybe papers!).
Shelley

chapters 4, 5 & 7

Chapter 5 was too big for Google Docs...so chapter 4, 5, & 7 are available as PDFs here:

• Chapter 4: http://www.box.net/shared/mx269tjtdg
• Chapter 5: http://www.box.net/shared/x6qkc3v888
  
• Chapter 7: http://www.box.net/shared/vehu2n9ibq
  

Peer Reviewing

I'm a dork! Peer reviewing is not going to be done via assigned groups, instead, for each draft make sure you "share" with everyone in the class (including me!). Then, when you get around to doing the peer reviews, select two drafts that do not yet have comments!

Just be sure to tell me in your peer review reflection who you reviewed...I have to grade peer reviews and track them down! On that note, peer reviews are "weighed" more than regular homework. Be sure to follow the assignment prompt; sincerely engage the peer review questions.

open lab--only until 4:30 pm

I have to get somewhere by 5, so I'll be leaving MCC's campus at 4:30 tomorrow!
Shelley

Monday-open "office" or "lab"

Ok, I've decided I'll hang out on campus Monday. I'll be there 7:30am until 5pm. You should be able to find me in either my office (LA16) or the computer lab classroom (LA2N).

The "SS" on the calendar

Thanks Emily for asking what the "SS#1" meant on the calendar (on the right hand side of this course blog). It's my code for "Summer Session #1." I'll be teaching the same course for summer session #2. I hope that helps clarify any confusion.
Shelley

sharing drafts for peer review

I've just shared a spreadsheet with you all that includes names and emails as wells as blog and delicious urls. Please make sure to check that your information is correct. If not, email me, asap with the correct info. You will need this info to share drafts with one another as well as responding to one another's blogs. For WP#1, why don't you plan on sharing your draft with everyone, as "collaborator" not just "viewer." You can cut and paste everyone's email into the sharing list, add commas, and then invite! Sometime tomorrow, Sunday, I will assign peer review groups.

Some general announcements

It appears that most of you are off to a good start. So, a list of announcements:

1. I expect everyone to be struggling a little. Heck, I was struggling with my own last minute thing the past two days. I generally expect everyone to be caught up by Monday's deadline. That doesn't mean wait until Sunday night. Instead, that means struggling through, working out kinks, emailing or calling me with questions, etc. throughout the weekend.
   
2. Please note that D#2 HW#2 is actually commenting on D#1 HW#8, sorry, missed that update when I rearranged the syllabus.
3. Please note that with Blogger you can start numerous blogs. You only want one blog for this class. However, each new homework assignment requires a new "post."
   
   Notice in this image that I have two blogs. You can "view blog" for each one. "View blog" is what you need to do to get me the URL. However, when you are ready to post a homework, click on "New Post." Finally, if you need to edit a previous posting, click on "Posts" and it will take you to a listing of all your posts.
   
4. Use firefox (firefox.com). Don't use IE, its not secure!
5. Once you are committed to using Firefox, get the firefox "better gmail" addon (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4866). This will make sure you always log into gmail (and therefore Google docs) in the "https" secure mode. You really want to do this so I can continue to share your gradesheets with you in a secure environment.
6. Speaking of gradesheets...you should all see a shared gradesheet in Google Docs. If you don't, email me. This is the way that you'll be able to see what I've graded. And if things don't add up, especially after I've posted an "I'm up to date with grading" blog post, I've missed something (or something is wonky somewhere). At this point, I'm not up to date with grading. However, you do need to check that you have a gradesheet and that the information I've pasted into the upper left hand corner is correct.
7. I'm considering holding another "open lab" on Monday or Tuesday. If you would really benefit from this. Feel free to email me with a "I need an open lab and I would be able to make it to MCC's Southern & Dobson campus at these times: XXX and XXX."

Hang in there...I know this first weekend is when a bunch of you really have the time and energy to "figure things out." I'll be checking email all weekend long! :-)
Shelley