LEARNING OBJECTIVES: ENGL209 is a skills course but its purpose is not to teach specific software. Instead, we will focus on the design and rhetoric of electronic documents. You will learn to write in an electronic environment and create basic hypertext documents incorporating links, targets, images and other types of media. Where appropriate, we will also use hypertext and multimedia as tools for teaching close reading through textual annotation. We will explore the similarities as well as the differences between print and electronic documents, analyze the rhetoric of the web, and consider the relationship between verbal, visual and associative structures in electronic documents.

FINAL PROJECT: You will complete a final project in which you digitally enhance something you have written in another course. This project will demonstrate your understanding of the rhetoric of hypertext and mastery of basic web authoring tools. The writing you enhance must be from a course you are taking concurrently with ENGL 209. If you are taking another English department course, the writing you start with must come from that class. But if you are not currently taking one of our courses, you can take writing you have done in another class and digitally enhance it.

SKILLS: During the semester, you will learn how to: 1) set up your server space, or public_html; 2) create directories and set permissions using telnet; 3) use WS_FTP to upload files and manage your site; 4) create HTML pages using Netscape Composer (or another editing tool of your choice); 5) find appropriate content using search engines and library databases; 6) add links and targets using web authoring tools; 7) save and insert images using web authoring tools; 8) use tables to arrange content on individual pages; 9) use links to create a sequence of pages on your site; 10) learn about site design including hierarchical and sequential ordering of pages and placement of appropriate navigational aids; 11) work on design issues, including color, aesthetics, and readability.

REQUIREMENTS: This class meets for only four weeks. Although the syllabus and assignments are on-line, ENGL 209 is not a distance-learning class. You must come to class prepared, and do all of the assigned reading, in-class projects and homework assignments. Your work must be turned in on time. If you do not hand in an assignment, you cannot pass the course.

GRADING: Your final grade will be determined from the following:
Homework Assignments -- 40%
Final Project -- 40%
Participation -- 20%

PLAGIARISM: see the GMU Honor Code