English 532 Final Project Assignment Due dates:
Project Brainstorming: March 2
Project Proposal: March 16
WebBoard Progress Reports: March 30 and April 13
Class critique and project work sessions: April 6 and 13
Class Presentations: April 20, 27, and May 4
Final webbed version with 5 page final report: May 4
Overview
As we have discussed in class already, the final outcome of this course will be a web site of your own design and execution. By now you should have identified a client or topic for which you will create the site, and have done some brainstorming about the number and types of pages you will need, along with some of the external links you might include. As we read through the next three books in our required reading, I ask that you make notes of organizational features and guiding principles that you can use to design your site. Later in the semester, we will take time to look at your pages and make suggestions for improvement, based on our reading and experiences.
Requirements for final web site project (20% of final grade)
Each site should contain:
A minimum of 5 discrete pages (but the content and users' needs should dictate exactly how many) At least three paragraphs of explanatory text A navigation bar, borders, e-mail link, and address (signature) on every page
- A minimum of 10 links to outside resources (but may contain many many more)
- At least one table, one list, and two graphics (but many contain many more)
Each site should demonstrate knowledge of at least two of the following:
- Designing pages using Cascading Style Sheets
- Incorporating Java or Perl scripts (you need not know HOW to script, though)
- Incorporating Flash or DHTML animations, and/or other multimedia extensions
Project Proposal, due March 16 (10% of final grade)
On the WebBoard Project Proposal conference, write me a one page memo and include the following:
- A header with your name, the subject, and the date
- A short introduction describing the client, purpose, audience, and subject of the web site
- Identify in as much detail as you can what the focus and objectives of your web site will be
- Identify a plan of action for completing this project
- Rough out a time line for accomplishing the tasks you have identified at this point
WebBoard
Progress Reports, due March 30 and April 13 (5% of final grade)
- A header with your name, the subject, and the date
- A short introduction describing the client, purpose, audience, and subject of the web site, including
- A brief (a few sentences) overview of your project
- The sources which you checked in the library or on the Internet, and/ or information from interviews and questionnaires.
- The first section of the body of your progress report, "Work Completed," will indicate the actual amount of work done through the date of your report. Be very specific here; include:
- Names of databases checked people interviewed or surveyed
- Number of articles looked up
- Amount of webbing completed.
- The next section, "Work Remaining," will indicate all tasks still left to be done--both big and small.
- List the tasks in the order you intend to complete them
- Indicate the deadlines that the you will use to keep the remainder of the project on schedule
- The final section, "Assessment of Progress" should be your candid evaluation of the progress to date:
- Are you expecting to find more sources, or have you already decided on a definitive set of sources?
- What difficulties have you experienced during the research and webbing?
- What remedies have you taken to overcome those difficulties?
Oral Report, April 20, 27 or May 4 (5% of final grade)
Make a 15 minute presentation of your final project to the class. Include:
- An overview of the resources, including people, texts, web pages, etc. that you consulted to create the project
- A rationale for the design and organizational decisions you made in creating the project
- A demonstration or "tour" of the special features of the site, tied to discussion of the users' needs
Final Report, due May 4 (10% of final grade)
On paper, write a 5 page report on your final project for the class. Include:
- A brief introduction describing the project, the client, the potential users, and the scope of the project
- A rationale for the design and organizational decisions you made in creating the project
- An explanation of the special features of the site, tied to discussion of the users' needs
Feel free to come talk with me about your project. I will consider all reasonable requests for changes to these guidelines for your individual projects.