Requirements and deadlines:  You will have a discussion question each week.  You should post an answer to the question by Friday at midnight.  At least two additional posts (responses to other students' posts) are due by Sunday at midnight.  Ten points will be deducted from the week's discussion grade if posted late.

Answer the question entirely, not just one thought.  Don't just paraphrase something I said - do some thinking, reading on your own.  It doesn't have to be a long answer, but it should not consist of a single point.  It should also not be a simple yes or no answer, even if you put the word "definitely" in front of it.

In responding to others' answers, feel free to ask them for clarification or for further information to justify their answers.  "I agree" is not a discussion.  Neither is a paraphrase of their post.  Your response should add something to the original post, ask, or answer a question.  Ask questions like "I wonder why . . .," "Why is it that . . . ," "Do you think . . . ," to encourage others to delve deeper into the subject.  Remember that chit chat responses ("I saw you at the movies last night," etc.) will not be counted toward the response post requirement.  As a matter of fact, those belong in the Water cooler!

Please write in complete sentences and use correct punctuation, capitalization, etc.  We do become accustomed to shorthand in e-mails and text messages, but you should be able to do it the other way also, and this is a good forum in which to practice.  You will be graded on this as a writing assignment, both on content and form.

Please begin your response posts with the person's name to whom you are responding.  Some of the threads go back and forth between people and when read in compiled format, become very confusing.

These submissions are time and date stamped, so don't miss the deadlines.   I read all of your posts in context, in the discussion forum.  However, when I grade them in WebCT, I am looking at only your posts, so keep that in mind when you judge your own participation.

Submit assignments as  Word documents unless specified otherwise. 

Save the document as Week1_Assignment1.1_YourName.doc (substituting the correct week and correct assignment number and using your own name :-)

Always use a heading at the top of the page which includes your name and the assignment number.

Upload the Word document in the assignment section as an attachment.  Do NOT send your assignment to me via e-mail.  If you can't submit it, contact me and I will reset the submission.

If you have Word 2007, save your file with a .doc extension, and not a .docx extension.

Occasionally your assignments may be returned to you for a redo.  Make your corrections and resubmit through the Assignment section as before.

Note:

 It is very important that you name your file according to the instructions above.  Otherwise, I have to rename each file.  So please take a moment to rename the file before submission if you do not name it as above originally.