MSM 601: NUTS AND BOLTS

How to Contact Me:

I have set up a special account for this class: msm601@hotmail.com.  You may also reach me at 303-628-7364 (w) or 303-922-6042 (h). My fax number at work is 303-534-2771.  I am in the Rocky Mountain time zone.  My mailing address is Nancy McLeod Carter, 2930 S. Utica St., Denver CO 80236-2107.

Email Policies:

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have, especially if they pertain more to you individually than to the class as a whole.  My customary response time is within 24 hours of your posting. I will let you know of any exceptions to this time frame. If I have to travel, I will notify you as to when I will return. If, while away, I have email access, I’ll be in touch with little or no interruption.

Office Hours:

I’ll make a special effort to be available for email or phone discussions at home from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. MST, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Virus Protection: This is important to the health of your computer and to our mutual mental well-being.

To ensure that you have current ant-virus protection software, please email me the following information ASAP as an attachment: your full name, email address, and the name and version of your current protective software.

Launching Assignments:

The assignments for each week (Monday morning to Sunday night, although I won’t check for them until first thing on Monday morning) will be posted no later than the Friday before.  They may even be up before then, so check each week’s assignments in the Forum and also refer to the schedule of major assignments I’ve also attached as part of these preliminary postings.   

Expected Level of Work and Formatting:

Please send your papers to me double-spaced, free of spelling errors and written according to APA guidelines.  I realize that the vagaries of APA can be difficult to master, and I am not grading you on them, but do the best you can.  I also recommend five practices of good writing: 

Be clear.  Use titles, headings and subheadings if they will help guide the reader through your narrative.  Citations and reference lists are a must if you’re drawing on sources other than your own opinions.  Ask yourself if someone unfamiliar with the subject matter could quickly grasp what you’re getting at.

Be concise.  Resist the urge to pontificate, and use a fifty-cent word only when a nickel one won’t do.  (Two of my personal pet peeves are “numerous” for “many” and “utilize” for “use”.)  Try to imagine that Messrs. Strunk and White are peering over your shoulder.  If you don’t own a copy of their timeless work, The Elements of Style, I encourage you to borrow or buy one.  Hodges’ Harbrace Handbook, 14^th edition, is another good basic resource.

Be cogent.  Give the reader strong evidence that you have given thought to your subject, synthesized the material you’ve read and attempted to present your findings in a coherent, sound manner.  Make no assumption that, just because it makes sense to you, it makes sense to your reader.

Be compelling.  All the facts in the world cannot overcome a lack of conviction.  Writing from the heart involves risk but doing so will add a richness of spirit that draws your reader in.    

Be complete.  Before hitting that “Send” button, check your work to ensure that you have completed the assignment within the maximum number of pages allowed, and that you have included all necessary attachments.  Using “spellcheck” is no guarantee against errors.  It’s always a good idea to ask someone else to proofread your paper.    Grovel if you must.

I have Microsoft Word on both my home and work computers.  If you are not using Word, please save your assignments as .rtf documents before attaching them to an email transmission. 

Naming Protocol:

When you send in your assignments, please name them as follows:

1. Save as a file using the first eight letters of your last name and first initial.  Example: cartern_
2. Include your course and section.  Example: 601xp40_
3. Include the week of the assignment.  Example: wk1_
4. Include an assignment description.  Example: transitions.doc    

For example, Nancy Carter is in MSM601 XP40 and is submitting the Week 1 assignment on transitions. The file would be called cartern_601xp40_wk1_transitions.doc. if she were using Word or .rtf if she were using another software and had to save it as a Rich Text File.

Turnaround Time:

My commitment to you is to turn around your papers as quickly as possible.  As a rule, I’ll return your graded assignment to you before you submit the next assignment. 

Deadlines:

Please have all assignments turned in by the day listed.  There is no specific time given, for the practical reason that we may well be in different time zones. If, however, the due date is a Monday, I expect to find your submitted assignment waiting for me bright and early (8:00 a.m. MST) on Monday morning when I check my email. If you cannot make a due date, please notify me beforehand to avoid a penalty and to discuss a reasonable expectation for the submission of your assignment.

Holistic Scoring Guide:

To better understand how your written assignments are graded, please click on the "Study Guide" section of

your course web site, then on "Tips & Guidelines", then on "Writing Guidelines".  Please read this before

submitting your first paper in Week One. 

Grades:

Also attached among these preliminary postings is the Grading Criteria and Point Breakdown for this course.  Please review it and email me if you have questions or concerns.  If you would like a mid-point grade emailed to me, you must submit a request to me via email no later than the end of the third week. 

APA In A Nutshell:

If you have not purchased an APA Publication Manual, 5^th edition, please do so at once.  All papers will be

written according to these guidelines, although you will not be graded on them. Pay particular attention to the following sections and//or pages:

1.06: Title Page

1.07: Abstract - read this carefully.  An abstract is NOT an introduction.  It's a summary of the paper itself

without definitions of topics, opinions or conclusions. Forget the other stuff in this section - it pertains to

experiments and studies - and go directly to:

1.13: References

3.30-3.31: Headings - these will come into play in the longer papers for this course. The only ones we're going

to worry about in 601 are for a one-, two- or three-level heading paper. Just remember that for a

one-level heading paper, use Level One; for two levels of headings, use Levels One and Three; for a three-level

heading paper, use Levels One, Three and Four.  Don't ask me why; it's just the way the APA gods want it. Appease them.

3.34: Quotations

3.39: Citations

4.01 Reference List

Chapter 5, Sections 5.02-5.13, 5.15-5.19 and Figure 5.1

on pp. 306-320.

Remember that an APA paper includes a title page, an abstract page, however many pages of text are assigned

(2, 3-5, 4-6, etc) and a reference page.

One final tip: When inserting your page headers, use the insert function in your word processing software.  DO

NOT INSERT THEM MANUALLY AT THE TOP OF EACH PAGE. Trust me on this.

Weekly Assignments:  IGNORE THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL

Before starting on each week's assignments, always check my posting under that week's section in the Forum.  I

have made several changes to the course module, so before you waste time on assignments I have modified or deleted, check in first.  It will save both of us much hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth.  

Forum:

As I mentioned in my introduction, my role as the course facilitator is less that of a “sage on the stage” than a “guide on the side”, particularly in forum discussions.  Your role is to communicate with me and with each other, but dialogue should flow mostly between students.  I’ll contribute where helpful or necessary and usually check the discussion every night during the week. Our common goal is to create a mutual sense of commitment to, and ownership of, the learning process.  To better accomplish this, I propose the following guidelines:

1. After posting your initial introduction, please avoid “composing” any new messages unless I request you to do so.  Focus instead on “replying” to what others have said so that the forum is a true give-and-take, not a series of monologues.  In fact, forget that the “Compose” button even exists. 
2. I like to keep the “Facilitator Notes” section of the Forum reserved solely for my postings or important messages from Regis.  Please avoid posting there.
3. Please follow the following guidelines for online postings and responses to the postings of others:
   • Please post only to the “Introductions” (first week) and Week 1-8 Forum areas
   • There is usually a word limit for initial postings and responses; these should be submitted under the headings I have provided. Verbosity is rarely rewarded. If you have academic references, cite them according to APA guidelines.  Links to helpful Internet web sites are fine but don’t count as part of the 150-200 words.  If you feel you must include an article, please send it as an attachment.  Initial postings are to be submitted between Monday and Wednesday of each week.
   • When indicated,  you are expected to respond to the postings of at least 1other student (this will, however, vary from week to week). These responses should be 25-50 words in length.  That means no “Good job, Bill.” or “I know what you mean, Jane.”  Responses to the postings of others are to be submitted from Thursday to Sunday each week.
   • Postings are permanent.  A record is kept of all discussion items.  Think about this before you dash off something that you might regret later.  It’s there for keeps.

4. Once introductions are completed in Week 1, and we delve into the actual course material, postings should pertain to the subject matter and be relevant to the topic.   If you would like to discuss something else, such as a mutual hobby or interest that came up in the introductions, please correspond directly with your fellow student(s) by email.  There is a heading entitled “Student Address Book” in the “Introductions” section of the Forum for student contact information.

5. The forum is designed to be somewhat informal but not chatty.  Worry less about fastidiously correct grammar, spelling and typing than about making your meaning clear and providing thoughtful contributions to the discussion.  There is no Spellcheck on WebCT, so if you want to guard against bloopers and avoid accidentally deleting your postings, write your postings in Word, then cut and paste them into the dialogue box. 

6. Carefully watch the use of humor and avoid sarcasm.  Without visual cues, it’s much harder to anticipate a response or construe intent or tone.  That doesn’t mean we must be deadly serious, just cautious and sensitive to possible cultural differences.

A Final Note:

I have tried to include everything you will need to know to be successful in this course.  If I have omitted anything, please feel free to write me a note or give me a call.  I look forward to meeting each of you and to a satisfying learning experience for us all.  As you begin the MSM journey, I wish you the best and leave you with this thought:

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself.”                                    Alan Alda