6. Assignments

The whole course is based on 500 points, simply because that number happened to make the various components work out to nice whole numbers.

All assignments are marked on a 4-point scale, just like your official university transcript. Every year, some students panic because they see their grade hovering in the 70s, and they worry they are going to get a C.  But with a four-point system, if a particular exercise is worth 40 points, and you get 30 on it, you got 75%, or a B.

• Exercises (240 pts)
  
• Ex 1: Personal Goals (250 words; informal personal essay, including a quote from Setonian editor-in-chief Stormy Knight) 40pts
  
• Ex 2: Field Trip Report (400 words; informal personal essay OR news feature) 50pts
  
• Ex 3: Spot News (600 words; news coverage of a local election-related event) 50pts
  
• Ex 4: Evergreen Draft (800 words; profile or other feature suitable for January or Summer publication) 50pts
  
• Ex 5: Evergreen Revision + Sidebar (200 more words) 50pts
  
• Portfolios (160 pts) -- Four collections of reflective writing, including
• A lab report (a 400-word news article, written in the third person, following all the principles of good journalism)
• A richly-linked blog entry (collecting your thoughts on the readings and other class activities)
  
• Other brief items as specified (I may ask you to respond to a discussion question, or react to a breaking news event, or provide an update on an ongoing project.)
• Due on the Monday after issues 2 through 5 are printed. Accordingly, the four portfolio due dates are scheduled for
  • Sep 29
    
  • Oct 20
    
  • Nov 10
    
  • Dec 02
    
• News Project Portfolio (100 pts) -- a portfolio that documents your planning for, contributions during, and reactions to the election-related class project. Exactly what this portfolio entails will depend on what the class project turns out to be. (My suggestion is that we organize a public event, such as a presentation on the First Amendment, or a debete between the College Republicans and the College Democrats.)  (Self-reflection essay, 25pts; oral presentation, 25pts; my assessment -- supported by your documentation -- of the ambitiousness and success of your project, 50pts)
  
  
• No Final Exam. This term, I've scheduled an election-themed project, so I'm hoping we can wrap up the project presentations by mid-November, so that we won't have to meet during the final exam slot. (The final draft of Ex 5 is due during the final exam slot, but class will not meet on that day.)