Links for submitting your current events (and their due dates) can be found HERE.
The requirements for current events are as follows:
- Approximately ELEVEN (11) FULL LINES of content in a Word document or TWELVE (12) lines using the Google Docs word processor. It may be more or less depending on the words you use and any adjustments to fonts, but it MUST be fifteen solid lines when you paste it into the submission box, or you will lose seven points per line missing.
- The summary must be in a single-paragraph format. While your summaries can be a non-entertainment topic, the focus of the article should be something involving technology/multimedia. Examples of topics off limits include:
- Reviews of an upcoming movie (an article on technology involved in making the movie would be okay, though)
- Discussion/preview/review of a new video game, comic book, etc.
- A summary of a festival/convention, etc
- Better ideas for articles would include scientific breakthroughs, previews of new technology, global events in the technological/scientific realm, etc.
- The date the article was published must be no more than 3 weeks before the current event's due date, unless you are submitting your second current event for the six weeks during the grading period for the first.
- An early submission bonus of 10 points will be added for any current events submitted one week before their due date. If you turn in the second current event for the six weeks early, but are still inside the late window for the first, that submission will count toward the first current event. There's no working the system by using a different link.
- You must summarize the ENTIRE article; don't just stop when you reach the appropriate length. Be sure to look at the bottom right-hand corner of the article text to see if there are additional page numbers.
- LATE POLICY: Current events may be turned in up to one week after the due date for a thirty-point deduction (start grading at a 70). After that, plain and simply, it's a zero. This is a relatively short assignment ( <30 minutes for some, < 1 hour for almost all) that you have three weeks to turn in (four weeks, if you include the late period).
While summaries may include short, direct quotations copied from the text (they should TOTAL no more than 3 of the 15 lines in the submission box, which would mean roughly no more than 2 of the 11 lines in Word Document), your current event is about summarizing the article.
Remember, the current events must come from one of the two following websites, though just because it is on those sites does not mean it is an acceptable topic (see bulleted list above):
http://www.wired.com
http://www.arstechnica.com
Lastly, be sure that you copy and paste the article's address in the space provided!