English 209 -- Assignments

Homepage / Class Website (15%):

During the first week of class, you will create a homepage on the George Mason server and a link to a separate course page for your 209 assignments. If you already have a homepage, you need to create a page for your 209 assignments and link to it. The grade for this assignment will be for the overall design of the site. Consider your potential (and actual) audiences: What will they be looking for on your site? How will they navigate the site? Will the pages be readable and useable for them?

Tutorial on web page design.

Web page critiques (20%):

This assignment's purpose is to heighten your awareness of good and bad web sites. It is also designed to help you begin saving your preliminary web research. You may already have an idea of what your final Web project topic will be; search the web for three good sites and three bad sites related to your topic. When you've chosen your sites, write a paragraph or two for each one. Include an account of why you chose it as a good or bad example, including whether your choice was based on design, content, or both. Make sure you refer to the evaluative criteria discussed in class.

Image Capture (15%):

Find three electronic images related to your final project topic. Place the images into a new html page, and record the following information:

Several excellent sources for photos are available from the Creative Commons "Get Content" site: Open Photo, Free Media, PD Photo, and Common Content. Most of the images available from these sites require attribution; some would like an email notification; others are in the Public Domain. Be sure to read the license before you use the images on your site.

Tutorial on image capture.

Hypertext Annotation (15%):

Construct a short hypertext (3 screens, with about 10 links) annotating a short text (500 words -- about a page) from The Online Books Page at The University of Pennsylvania. You should be able to work directly in Composer®. Don't use the convert to HTML function in Word®—it makes unwieldy html.

An annotation consists of links to definitions, examples, personal reflections, and external sites. Do not simply link to Dictionary.com or an online encyclopedia; the definitions and examples should be your own. The Annotation project should consist of at least two html files: one of the original content, and at least one page of definitions, examples and the like, linked using anchors.

Tutorial on hypertext annotation.

Final Project (25%):

The 209 final project should be an original hypertext which uses the technology (linking, multiple paths, images, targets etc) in ways which enhance your ideas. The project should be a text which relies upon (not merely uses) digital media. If I can print out your final project and not lose anything important, you're not using the technology in an important way.

In this assignment, you should consider the differences between print texts and digital or electronic texts. Do you read them differently? Do you write them differently? Consider the differences between works composed for print and those composed for the computer screen. What about works written for print but converted to digital texts?

The final project may be an extended critique of a web site or an online work, an expansion of your hypertext annotation, or an offshoot of a text-based project in your major. You cannot, however, use an online project from another course for credit in this class.

The final project should contain at least 10 links (including targets), three images, and 3-5 screens of text. The text should be at least 750 words.

Participation and Demonstration (10%):

Part of your grade will depend upon class participation, including showing the draft of your assignments to the class, giving and responding to constructive criticism and suggestions, and of course participating in class discussions.

Peer review questions