On Friday, I'll be away from the computer between about 9:30 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. I'll try to respond to any questions before I leave the house, but will certainly get to them upon my return.

First, I'm sure some of you noticed the site was down/offline for an hour or so this morning. I apologize for that, but that's the way things go on the internet. If you were working online and lost some work, here's what you can do to avoid that: write in a word processing program then copy and paste your work into the blog. I have to admit I rarely do this, but when crafting your essays, this is the best way to go. In responding to other students, this may not be practical. It won't often happen, but if you compose in the blog while you are online, you will lose your work sooner or later, whether in this blog or blackboard or just crafting an email to your friends and family, so take the necessary precautions.

On to the first assignment. Please begin by reading the whole of the assignment. There are five documents in the assignment: the assignment itself, the goals of the assignment, a very good summarizing strategy (it's not my own), a sample essay (that is about a 'C' at this point, and the criteria I am going to use to evaluate the essay you submit for a grade. You also need to read chapters one and two of unSpun.

Step one, after doing all the reading, is to have a summary of chapters one and two posted in a blog by midnight Monday. I suggest that you read the unSpun one time straight through, and then read it to summarize. This summary requires only the major details, the big details, written out in complete sentences.

Step two is to read and respond to at least three summaries of the first two chapters. Only the first three responses receive credit, so if you see someone has three responses, find someone else to respond to. This should be done by midnight Wednesday, June 2. What you should do is read and let your respondent know that they did a good job, and not just by saying "good job." Instead, you write something along the lines of "I think you hit all the major points, x, y, and z and etc. I was tempted to leave out 'x' but now that I see you included it, I'm keeping it as a major, not minor detail. How did you decide it was a major detail rather than a minor or secondary detail?" If something is missing, you might write "Pretty good job overall, but I think that 'x' needs to be included as a major detail because of blah, blah, blah." If there is something you think not necessary, you might write "I agree with most of the details you included, but I'm not sure about 'z' because that struck me as more of a secondary detail, or a minor detail. What led you to include it as a major detail? I'll check back and see what you say to decide if I have to change my mind." Keep in mind that just because someone says a summary does or does not need 'y' that doesn't necessarily make it so. That's why you read several, to get a sense of what others are doing and to think about those and then decide for yourself.

Step three is to draft an essay that addresses the assignment criteria. I won't repeat those here. Rather than a "just the major details" summary which is step one, this summary will also include specific examples, and the appropriate page citation, to illustrate the major detail. Many of the major details have more than one example, so limit yourself to the one you think does the best job. Following your summary, respond to one or two, but certainly no more than three, concerns you encounter in your summarized chapter. Be sure to flesh it out with specific examples. This draft is due no later than July 7 at midnight.

Step four is to read and respond to three drafts, using the assigned criteria. Only the first three responses receive credit, so if you see someone has three responses, find someone else to respond to. The responses are first come, first served. Just meet the posted deadlines. For the first essay, I will be reading and responding to drafts at this point as well so you can see my expectations before you receive a grade. I will wait until a draft has three responses from students before I respond. If I get bogged down by people not meeting deadlines, there's a chance some won't receive a response from me, or the class, with enough time to get work done before the next deadline. You can submit and respond to work before the various deadlines. That makes it easier on everyone involved. These responses to drafts are due no later than midnight, July 9.

Finally, almost anyway, is to submit a revised draft to me for a response and grading. This is due by midnight, July 11. I'll have those back to you within a few days. Those who earn less than a 2.0/C are required to revise, and they have one week to do so. Those who receive a 2.0 or better have the option to revise, or not, with the same deadline. In the meantime, right after the July 9 deadline, assignment two will kick off.

There is probably something I've overlooked here and if you have questions, you can attach them to this message or drop me an email. If you think others might also benefit from your answer, post it here in a public forum, kinda like asking questions in class.