Bring a USB compact flash drive, firewire drive or burnable CD to every class to save your work. You will be expected to produce a semester-end work portfolio with IMPROVED versions of the work you have done throughout the semester, so ALL work must be saved as you go along. You are also expected to do BOTH an online showcase of your portfolio and a hard-copy print-out version of the work.

Deadlines are definite. No profession tolerates tardiness less than the field of communications. Deadline pressure is part of the work. Work that is not turned in on time will be given a zero score. "On time" means by the beginning of our class session on the date the assignment is due. Illness or injury do not excuse you from meeting deadlines - e-mail the work or have a friend bring it to me before the deadline if you have a problem. Professional conduct is expected; keep your editor in the loop, informing her immediately if you are encountering difficulties.

All hard-copy assignments must be typed, double-spaced, copy-edited and turned in before deadline. All WordPress-posted assignments should include linking and tagging and photos or graphic elements, and subheds should be included to move readers through the longer pieces. Don't forget to DOUBLE-SPACE the hard-copy assignments!

Accuracy is vital. Since this is non-fiction writing, you will be expected to get the spellings of names and places and other details in your work completely correct. IF you spell a person's name incorrectly or you get an important fact wrong, you will automatically earn a D or an F on the assignment. Also, in these professional writing courses one-fourth of a letter grade will be deducted for every occurence of an AP Style error and for each spelling or grammatical error. The deduction will be taken from the overall score that was based on writing quality.

Attitude is key. Give respect and get respect. You're investing a lot of time and money in this course. Make the most of it. Read the texts carefully and soak up the information provided. Complete your assignments ahead of schedule, so you have time to rewrite and edit. Participation and attitude will be considered a VITAL part of your grade. I will try to give you at least seven days notice if you are to be asked to take part in any special activity outside of class. We will have several such assignments.

Absence and tardiness are unacceptable. A great deal of graded work will be completed and turned in at our class sessions. Those who come late will not know what we are doing. Those who miss the class will get a zero score on the in-class assignment they missed. Medical excuses are accepted only if you contact me BEFORE the class. If you have an excused absence, it is YOUR responsibility to meet with me to determine how you will make up the work you have missed. Those who have more than three unexcused absences will see their grade go down by a third of a grade level with each ensuing absence. School of Communications policy does not allow students to miss these important classes.

Please exhibit personal and professional-level ethics at their finest. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Unless you are asked by me to write fiction, the manufacturing of false or misleading content is forbidden. Cheating in any way will result in a zero score for an assignment, and the possibility of an F for the course. No recycled papers. This course adheres to the Elon Honor Code. Those students who break any rule of the code will be reported to the Provost's Office.

Read at least one daily newspaper and keep up with current events. Quizzes will include questions about news of the day. The expectation is that you will be aware of what is going on in the world around us, and the best way to gain such knowledge is by reading a newspaper. In addition to the fact that you can now read The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today and many other fine daily newspapers online, the School of Communications has copies of the New York Times, USA Today, the Greensboro News & Record and the Burlington Times News in the main entrance, and you are expected to read them. Belk Library receives a daily shipment of newspapers as well; you will find them on the second floor, in the periodicals area.

Grading

Scores are delineated in the following manner:

93-100 = A; 85-92 = B; 77-84 = C; 70-76 = D; below 70 is an F.

Schedule

If we are using this site this semester, the schedule for your course is posted on a link here. Your instructor will tell you if you will be working in the online course components offered by Elon's Blackboard system.