• Buy required books and works of hyperliterature at UCSB Bookstore
• Buy required reader at Alternative Copy Shop
• Order Riven through online vendor or purchase from store or other source
• Students may obtain access stickers for the computer labs at Instructional Computing in Phelps Hall. Stickers will be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 5th-6th in the Phelps courtyard. Bring proof of class enrollment (e.g., the syllabus or a Registrar's schedule confirmation)

As indicated on the schedule of readings, most classes in the course require that students "write 300 words in your journal" in response either to one work in particular or to any of the works assigned for that class (consult the schedule to see if you need to respond to a particular work). A "journal" consists of these features, though optional additional reflections and meditations are also welcome.

Important features of a journal:

• The journal can be kept in any form—e.g., a notebook, a sketchpad, a word-processor file, a Web page, an audio or video recording, etc.
• Students must bring their journal, or their journal entry for that day, with them to class (though journals are collected for review by the instructor only twice during the course).
• The main purpose of the journal is to get students to think about the readings in a way that facilitates class discussion. In some classes, the instructor will ask selected students to read their responses to start the discussion.
• It does not matter how well written or polished the journal entries are. Insight, substance, honesty, subtlety, ability to make connections, etc., are what counts.
• Journals will be collected by the instructor to be reviewed at two times during the course: in Class 9 (when the first paper is also due) and in Class 17 (when the second paper is due).

Write a 5-page critical essay on an issue or work covered in the course so far. The essay must closely examine at least one work in the syllabus. "Critical essay" means that the essay cannot be only a summary, description, paraphrase, or survey of topics and works. Instead, think about the work so as to build an analytical, interpretive argument about it.

Some of the best critical arguments are those that study some tension, contradiction, or puzzle. That is, they do not start off with a single, inflexible thesis and then proceed to flatten everything in their path to demonstrate that thesis. Rather, they note that an issue or work seems to turn upon an important inner tension (e.g., "hypertext, like information, 'wants to be free,' " but "hypertext can also be very controlling and structured") and then try to think through the implications or premises of that tension. Or again, they note how putting a work into a different context reveals something different about it (e.g., "hypertext looks very experimental when compared to traditional narrative, but how does it look when compared to lyric poetry?").

The essay should have a useful title (not just "Paper One"), endnotes or footnotes, and a bibliography. For the notes and bibliography, you are free to follow any standard reference style recognized by the humanities, social sciences, or sciences (so long as you are consistent). If you have no reason for choosing one style over another, then by default please follow the documentation style set out in the MLA Handbook (the dominant style guide for publications in the field of English literary studies; available at the bookstore). For other styles, consult the Chicago Manual of Style. For online citation guides, see Karla's Guide to Citation Style Guides (which includes the MLA guide to citing works on the Web). When citing works in the Course Reader, please consult the full citations included in the reader (the Reader's table of contents with citations are available online).

For resources on critical writing and writing style, see: Transcriptions Guide to Online Resources for Writing and Speaking and Resources for Writers and Writing Instructors (Jack Lynch, Rutgers U.)

Important: except by previous arrangement with the instructor, papers must be handed in during the class in which they are due (papers turned in after missing class or otherwise late will be marked down).

Write a 5-page critical essay on an issue or work covered in the course from Class 10 on. See under Paper 1 above for description of assignment.

Important: except by previous arrangement with the instructor, papers must be handed in during the class in which they are due (papers turned in after missing class or otherwise late will be marked down).

Early in the quarter, students will break into teams of two to four students each. Teams are required to create and put on the Web a small but interesting hypertext construct. The construct can be scholarly, critical, fictional, poetic, artistic, documentary (or any combination). It is not expected that students can within a few weeks master the medium and the tools needed to create extensive, highly intricate, or gorgeous works to match some of those studied in the course. Rather, the idea is for students to try out the medium to see what it can do that is intellectually or aesthetically interesting. Something small but intriguing is better in this regard than, say, a large essay ported to the Web with rudimentary hypertext. (See the Course Technology page for technical resources and assistance for the project.)

Distribution of Responsibilities:

• A project team is free to distribute the work as it sees fit among its individual members to take account of varying interests and skills. See Team Concept.
• However, teams must carve out specific and defined areas of responsibility for each team member. That way, everyone will be responsible for something in particular—often a more productive situation than if everyone is responsible for anything and everything. At least one member of a team must have the role of exercising editorial control over the work (editing for consistency, quality, typos, etc.).
• Note: Teams must turn in to the instructor a "business plan" for tasks to be accomplished that includes the distribution of responsibilities (see project schedule below).

Schedule of Project Tasks:

Apr. 19 (Class 6) Project Workshop 1. Students should come to this class prepared to break into project teams. This class will also introduce the process of hypertext authoring and Web-page creation.

(TBA) Supplementary Technical Workshop. There will be an optional, hands-on instructional workshop on HTML and the Dreamweaver Web-authoring program for interested students. The workshop will be held in the English Department's Transcriptions studio, South Hall 2509.

May 3 (Class 9) Project Workshop 2. Project teams should come to this class prepared with an idea for the hypertext work they want to create. They must also prepare a "business plan" for how they will proceed and who will do what task. This plan, which must be turned in to the instructor, will serve as a contract of individual team members' responsibilities. A typical plan might consist of a schedule of team meetings, target dates for particular tasks, project "milestone" dates (e.g., deadline for starting the Web site), and individual team-member assignments.
      UWeb Account. Students should also visit the university's UWeb site by this date to familiarize themselves with the Web space available to them and how to use it. A team project can be created in a single student's Web space or distributed over several students' spaces. (Also see the note about UWeb on the Course Technology page.)
      Note: A paper and student journals must also be turned in on this day.

(TBA) Drop-in computing studio and help hours. During the quarter, a graduate-student research assistant in the English Department's Transcriptions project will hold regular help hours in the Transcriptions studio. Teams are also free to use the studio to do their work independently as long as a research assistant or faculty member is present (depending on the availability of machines). In addition, students can use the computing labs run by Instructional Computing in Phelps Hall (for details, see the Course Technology page).

May 22 (Class 14) Project Workshop 3. Project teams should come to this class prepared to show what they have done so far as well as to report on what tasks each team member has accomplished. Important: some tangible work must be on the Web at this point.

May 31 (Class17) Project teams must on this date give the instructor the URL and title of their hypertext work (even if the work isn't finished yet. This is so the class can preview the projects in advance of the project performances.
      Note: A paper and student journals must also be turned in on this day.

June 5-7 (Classes 18-19) Project Performances. Presentation of student projects. Teams will have about 10 minutes to give a tight, cohesive overview and demo of their project, followed by questions-and-answers. Important: each member of a team must turn in to the instructor on the day of their project performance a self-report indicating what work he or she actually contributed to the project.

Attendance will be taken in each class, and more than three absences will result in a diminishment in the final grade.

Frequency and quality of participation in class discussion will also count in the following important way: good or poor participation will be decisive when a student's final grade (as is often the case) ends up hovering "between" grades. For example, a student hovering between "B+" and "A-" will receive an "A-" if participation has been good. A student in similar circumstances with poorparticipation will receive the lower grade.