English 394 - Song to Cyberspace                                                                                                                        Spring 2007
William FitzGerald


Notes on Completing Your Final Project



This week (April 24, 26) we will hear the last of the presentations in class; these presentations offer a snapshot of larger written (multimediated) projects. This guide focuses on things to consider in completing that project successfully.

Key details: your final submission should be the equivalent of eight or more typed pages in the form of a paper, a power point presentation, a webpage, or some other product we have agreed upon appropriately  enhanced with images, with sounds and/or other modes. In some cases, the written portion may be in the form of background information or a rationale explaining what you have done in preparing a less text-based document, such as a video.

Due: April 24 (in hardcopy or electronically) -- a work-in-progress draft of your final submission, one that we can discuss together.

Due: Tuesday, May 1: as a posting to the course sakai site and a hardcopy of your written work. Black and white text and images will be fine.

All final projects will be judged on their clarity, organization, editing/proofreading appropriate to formal academic work. Projects should have a cover page in which a title and other identifying information is included as well as a name and page number on all subsequent pages. A bibliography or list of works cited and, as an option, an acknowledgements section, should be included. I strongly encourage that your print out your paper when you believe you are finished and read it out loud or ask others to do so, since no paper will receive a grade above a B that has several avoidable errors and no paper will receive a grade of C that is very poorly proofread.

Remember to exercise caution in order to avoid plagiarism, the mispresentation of others work as your own. Here are two resources on the use of sources: a statement on defining and avoiding plagiarism (http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml#original) and Rutger's policy on integrity (http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/Academic-Integrity-Policy.php). Key points: when using more three or more words in succession from another source, quotes must been employed. When you communicate the substance of a source in a manner that communicates that sources ideas, whether in your own words or not, it must be cited. Too close a paraphrase, even when a citation is provided, is never acceptable.