No matter what the assignment, handing it in on time is essential. Whether these are due dates established by me or those determined within your group, please follow assignment due dates.

Participation is integral to completion of your zine, so it is not included as a separate grade percentage.   As an active participant in class, you will be expected to respond to group members' drafts, actively involve yourself in class discussions, and demonstrate your reading, thinking and writing skills on a regular basis through interaction and informal writings.   Remember, too, that college work is a certain percentage "smarts" and a certain percentage "being a student"; therefore, not only the quality of your work (written and oral) but also the manner in which you set and work within your group's deadlines is important!

WRITING NOTEBOOK
An important part of your work in this course is reading/viewing/listening to the required texts and thinking critically about them.   What I mean by this is that I want you to not just remember the events, characters, and ideas of these texts, but I also want you to think about how they connect to the world in which we live and analyze them.   You need to not only consume but more importantly consider these texts, looking critically at what they suggest about their creators' intentions, the way others read, etc.   Some of the informal writings you do will give you the opportunity to write critical responses to the content of certain works (written, visual, etc.), and may even serve as resources for your major writing assignments. Other informal writings will ask you to critique or analyze the style in which other writers approach their work. (Our book, Convergences , provides you with ideas and language to do both.

Your writing notebook is where you will record thoughtful, written responses to the texts the class and your group explore.   Convergences contains sets of questions following each selection (focusing on message, method, and medium), a number of which will be the basis of these writings.   You will also include other informal writings about additional class assignments.   These will be assigned as the quarter unfolds.   You are responsible for keeping up with these notebook assignments, including those assigned as we go.   If you miss a day of class, and I have assigned an entry, that's not an excuse for your not having written it. I may collect your notebook at any time, and you will be given credit only for current entries , so if you miss a day of class and that's the day on which I've collected notebooks, an unexcused absence won't save you (however, a documented excuse will).

Weekly Assessments (part of your Writing Notebook)
Each week (beginning Week 2) you will be required to e-mail to me by Thursday afternoon a brief assessment of the work you have performed for your zine project--individually and with your group.   This will provide both you and me an opportunity to keep tabs on your work.   Keep a copy of each of these e-mails--as back-up record and as reminders/resources for your individual assessment.

FINAL
Your final exam for the quarter will be a collaborative "sales presentation" in which you and others in your group will showcase your zine, explaining, amongst other things, what popular topic it focuses on, how it approaches that material, and to what readership (audience) it is directed.   I will consider your classmates' review of the presentation in grading it.   Think of it as a sort of "Apprentice" situation.

WRITING PROJECTS

Due Dates: It is incredibly important to follow due dates so the project does not get backed up and so your group members can depend on you. Even though I may not necessarily be collecting everyone's drafts at the same time, you will all need to respect each other's work deadlines.
As for assignments (primarily notebook assignments) that are due to me specifically, I will accept no work due on a day for which your absence is unexcused nor will you be allowed to make up work completed in class on that day.

Mission Statement and Contract
Mission Statement:
The mission statement for your zine is the first "formal" step you'll take as a group.   Some magazines actually include this statement in their publication or editor's opening "letter" to readers; in others, it's implied.   For our purposes, though, I'd like everyone in the group to work together to come up with a statement--approximately 250 words--that:
•  explains what topic your zine will focus on (& maybe its purpose, Convergences, pp. 16-17)
•  tells who your targeted audience is ( Convergences, pp. 13-15)
•  speaks in the "voice" of your zine (for example, uses the type of language and tone that you imagine your zine will use)

Here's a generic statement you might use to get started :
____________'s ( the name of your zine--this needn't be set in stone now) mission is to provide our readers (maybe give specific types of readers here or label the types of readers your zine will appeal to ) _______________________ ( what kind of information--your focus and/or even specific types of articles, etc .).

Contract:
Your contract, which you'll need to have drafted for final negotiation with me Thursday, January 19, needs to provide some firm overview of what your group plans to do, how you plan to do it, and when different parts of it will be completed.   The following are required elements to comment on.   You can add others if you think that will help firm up your group's plan.

•  include attendance: how will you account for people's attendance for special projects and meeting times?   what can you do to be sure everyone in your group participates when expected, both in formal class meetings and during special group-only meetings?

•  project input guidelines: to what extent will individual group members participate in different levels of the zine? who will do the cover, additional advertisements, additional pieces for the "variety pack"? who will evaluate those pieces once they're done and stamp them "ready for publication"?

•  due dates for drafts: several dates are already on the syllabus (Wks 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10), but your group needs to determine which of the assignments will be due on those dates and what additional dates you need to set.
* drafts of required pieces
*  time frame for cover, layout, graphics, visuals, "variety pack"
* editing and proofreading (two different things that happen at different points)

•  write-up of editorial practices: draft responding, editing, proofreading.   Everyone must respond to someone's writing .   No one gets away without reviewing and editing group members' writing! Your Success Challenge tutors will be reading and responding to drafts Weeks 5 and 9. Consider this as you plan. Also, indicate when you will expect me to read and respond to your work.
*  Consider how to deal with editing (language and structure of works), and proofreading (looking for errors in almost final drafts). THINK AUDIENCE!!

•  and, though it's not part of the zine grade, it is a separate part of the group project to create and present a Sales Presentation at the end of the quarter.   How do you imagine this will work?   How will you work together to create and present it?

Individual Assessment of Work                                                         
At the end of the quarter, you will write a formal assessment of your work as an individual--working in class, with your group, and on your own.   To keep tabs on what you've actually done and prepare or "draft" info for your personal assessment at the end of the quarter, you will write a WEEKLY informal assessment/description of your work as an individual and group member. (These individual assessments are graded as part of your Writing Notebook.) This may take the form of venting or may be merely a detailed jot list of data.   At the end of the quarter, you'll need to do more than just paste all these into one document.   You'll need to reflect on your work, and these weekly entries will give you a record of events and reactions to start with.   Here are some questions to consider:
•  What have you done (written, researched, etc.)?   How well did it work?
•  Did you meet your deadlines for the week?   Did others?
•  What did your group accomplish/discuss? How did it go?
•  What were your your triumphs?  
•  What were your frustrations?  
•  What can you do in coming weeks to make your own individual projects and/or group projects work well?

I will respond to these on a weekly basis, maybe offering advice or input, maybe simply letting you know that I see what you're up to. This assessment must be emailed to me by 4:30 Thursday, of each week, 2-9. (Finals Week is when your formal written assessment will be due.)  FYI, e-mail will only allow you to turn this in electronically; it doesn't allow a time/day extension as I will count e-mails based on their send date/time.

Individual Assessment (the formal assessment)
due: Mon., March 13, when you hand in your zine and folder containing Writing Notebook & drafts
Please hand this in Monday (not Thursday) since you should reflect on all of your work for the quarter and that includes your final responses to completion of the project and your presentation.

Your assessment can take the form of a letter to me, 'the teacher,' or it can be structured as an essay.   Whichever style is more comfortable for you and will allow you to write the most accurate and thorough analysis of your work throughout the quarter is the style you should choose.   Remember, though, that even if you are writing a letter to me, you need to clearly identify the writing assignments, readings and class discussions as you write about them.   Don't just say, "those pictures of the little kids were weird."   Try something like, "Our discussion of Sally Mann's photos of her children made me think differently about family and...."

Make sure that your assessment is clear, well organized, and that your opinions about your work and the work of your group are supported with specific examples .   You need to show readers the specific evidence you see or read in order to effectively prove a point. Write about what you feel you have done well, what you have learned about your writing and the work of writing in general, and how successful you have been with the work of the course.   This is the assignment that gives you an opportunity to present the strengths of your work, as you believe I should recognize them (with evidence, of course!)  

The following are "individual student" areas that you should discuss:
•  Reading discussions
•  Preparation
•  Listening skills
•  Contributing to the discussion
•  Understanding of the texts
•  Group discussion leading
•  Writing
•  Informal writing & computer work (Writing Notebook entries, computer work)
•  Individual texts for your zine
•  Feedback for group members

The following are group project/collaboration areas you should discuss:
•  Planning
•  Follow-through
•  Editing
•  Writing
•  Technology (ads, PowerPoint, audacity, layout and execution of the zine in its final form)
•  Your participation and group cooperation in the zine project

If there is other work you would like to mention specifically, please include that, too.

The evaluation of your group project is one important way to give yourself a voice in your grade for the zine project.

(Also, remember that you and your group must make a decision about grade percentages for your zine.   You may want to explain why the group chose certain percentages as you write about your collaborative work on the zine itself.)

The Zine
Minimum required pieces for each Zine:

One opinion essay by each author (at least 500 words): an essay which presents your viewpoint on an issue important to your zine audience and/or specific to your general zine topic. This could be a political, cultural or social issue that your audience will be interested in (for example, the rising cost of “extras” attached to a college education for a campus-oriented zine), or it could be your perspective on a subject related to your topic (for example, an opinion piece about the impact of rap music on its listeners for a music zine or about whether steroid use is acceptable in athletic competitions for a sports zine). It could also be a review of a text (movie, TV Show, book, etc.) of interest to your audience. (see Convergences, p 21)
An audio version of each author’s opinion essay will accompany the zine, produced by zine members with “audacity.”

One “big and fancy” advertisement by each author (preferably a full-page or two-page spread ad): may be an existing product but must be original alphabetic text and layout, directed to your audience. Using a photo of the product (for an existing product) from an outside resource is fine if you cite your source. I encourage you to develop a product yourself, geared to your audience.

One interview by each author (at least 500 words): with someone who is outside your generation, OR an outsider to American culture, OR a key participant in the particular “scene” of your zine’s focus, OR, in general, someone who provides a perspective different from that held by your “editorial board.” Each interview must have a framework provided by the author, including text created by the author that indicates to zine readers what this person has to say to them and why it is important. Yes, some zines include standard Q&A interviews, but as working writers, each of you needs to include insight, analysis and/or information to contextualize (Convergences, pp 17-19) the interview…maybe even drawing conclusions.

One feature (or informative) essay by each author (at least 500 words): an essay focusing on a subject of interest to your zine’s reading audience. This could be about something you know about because of your experience and interests, or it could be something you have to do a little research on to effectively inform your readers. Think about information that will be new, fresh and of real interest to your readers, not just something they are likely to have known about previously. Also, consider how the way you explain it, by including personal experience and/or “real” language, can make it more interesting and informative. (see Convergences, pp 20-21)

An editorial statement, at least 250 words (collaborative), that introduces your readers to the topic and tone of your zine—maybe even a particular focus if this is a type of “special issue” publication

“Variety Pack” of pieces to be determined by group:
These could be short stories or non-fiction essays (a personal essay), based on and/or related to the zine’s focus; elements typical of a particular type of magazine or magazines in general (quizzes, crossword puzzles, “before and after,” etc.); additional advertisements for products of interest to your readers; additional “mini-reviews” of products, entertainment, etc., of interest to your readers. This is an open-ended category so that your zine “editorial board” can include additional pieces directed to and defining (for ‘outside’ readers) your audience (Convergences, pp 13-15). In addition to including the core, required pieces for the zine, your zine’s success depends on how carefully and clearly its hypothetical audience is targeted. The context—provided by your “variety pack”—for these required pieces needs to obviously appeal to your audience as well. (Don't forget the cover, layout and illustrations that make a magazine complete.)

As you work on these, keep in mind the rhetorical methods addressed in the introduction of Convergences and even more importantly, the concepts of audience, purpose, composition, and context. I can’t say enough about the importance of specific language in addressing particular audiences. Language, language, language.

Also, though this isn’t a part of the zine itself (and the grade, too, is separate), remember that your collaborative zine “Sales Presentation” is based on the contents and concept of your zine.

**Any outside sources, whether images you use or articles or other published data you refer to, will need to be cited (MLA style) on a page that you hand in to me, separately. Any citations in articles themselves should be handled as explained in Convergences brief mention in the "informative essay" definition.**