This document offers some tips and guidelines regarding how to go about handing in your work in this class. Most of the time, you'll be emailing your work directly to me, but whenever you submit an assignment to the class workshop, you'll send it to everyone using our group email list serve. Likewise when you respond to someone else's workshop manuscript, you'll direct your response to the group email list. Especially when submitting something that you want the entire class to read, you'll want to submit it in a form that's easy for everyone to access. Follow these steps:
1. Keep copies of all your assignments. I am not responsible for assignments lost in the mail, sent to the wrong address, or that vanish into cyberspace. You are responsible for making sure that I receive your work so that I can grade it. If you fail to get a graded assignment back, email me or phone to find out why. Sometimes you change addresses or the account stops working. Be prepared to resubmit any work that you want graded.
2. Generally, I prefer that you not mail your assignment as an attachment. An attachment is a file not created by email but sent alongwith it as a separate package. Attachments are problematic for several reasons. First, I may not be able to open your attached assignment because I do not have the word processor you used to create it. I'm using Microsoft Word 8, and it can open just about everything, but you can't assume the same of your classmates' computer set-ups. A second problem with attachment files is that they increase the likelihood that you may inadvertently send or receive a computer virus. Computer viruses can be sent through actual email messages, but they are usually created specifically to infect Word and other processed files. -This seems the right time and place to urge you to update your computer's virus program regularly, and by regularly I mean at least once a month. - A third problem with attachment files is that they create more documents of which you must keep track. If, however, you you have a sound reason for sending an attachment file, I have included some how-to tips at the end of this file. Assume for the moment that you are in fact sending your assignment as an email.
3. Since no formatting is included in email, as you compose your assignment, don't bother with double-spacing, centering, fonts, or even bold or underlined text.
4. Compose and spellcheck your assignment as a "text-only" document using Yahoo Mail or any word processor you wish. (Using some word processors, you may need to save as "text only with line breaks." Eudora and many other programs do this automatically. When using Microsoft Word, the "text only" option must be chosen when saving your file. You must use the "save as" feature and choose "text only." Be sure to save your file to your own disk, not to a classroom or lab hard disk.
5. When submitting fiction and creative nonfiction, please write in paragraphs that are not tabbed. Instead, touch "return" two times between paragraphs! If submitting poetry, touch "return" each time you wish to create a line break, and touch "return" twice to indicate a new stanza.
6. If you have used a word processor, you must select "copy," and pace the full text of your assignment into the body of your email. Learning to copy text from one application to another is easy. First open the file that contains your assignment. Select and copy it, using "text only." Now open an email message addressed to me. Paste into the body of the message window what you just copied from the other file. Do not make the mistake of pasting your assignment on to the "subject" line. The subject line is where you must type the title of the assignment, like this: Conflict Exercise: Burroway Chapter 2.
ATTACHMENT FILES:
WHEN AND HOW TO SUBMIT THEM
S there will be times when submitting your work as an attached file is desirable. For stylistic reasons, you may want to employ Italicized or boldfaced type, unusual space breaks, an unorthodox formatting. Doing so may, in some instances, enhance the quality of your poem, story, or creative nonfiction piece. In such a case, you will want to send an attached file in order that your format be preserved. Sometimes, too, extremely long documents will not fit comfortably into the body of an email, and must be sent as attachments. This would be true if you were sending a fifteen-page manuscript. When you send attachment files, be sure to follow the following two procedures:
1. When saving your file, choose the "rich text format" (RTF) option from your "save as" option list. Rich text format files can be opened almost universally, and they retain all of the formatting characteristics of your original document.
2. Be sure that your name appears in the attachment file as well as in your email message. Most people save attachment files in directories separate from their email. If your name doesn't appear on your attachment file, neither your classmates nor I will be able acknowledge or respond to your work.
Email: susan_s@pacbell.net • Language Arts • West Valley College