Guidelines
for Sending Emails and Submitting Essays
Please
note that some of the following guidelines apply only to students in my English
composition (English 1301 and 1302 classes).
If you are enrolled in one of my literature classes, please ignore those.
- Please send all emails to me at accprofclark@earthlink.net. The huge volume of spam I receive on my
other email accounts slows down my response time, and I want to answer all
your messages and grade your essays just as quickly as possible. Please do not deposit anything in the
drop box for ACConline. I do
not use it for any of my classes.
- Please do not use email shorthand such as
“R” for “are” and “U” for “you” when communicating with me or any other
teacher. This is fine when you
email your friends, but it is a bit jarring to an English teacher to get a
message that reads something like this: “hey, U, when R U going to post
the grades for UR class?”
I realize that we English teachers are a little bit old-fashioned,
but please humor us by writing out words that are not standard
abbreviations and capitalizing the first word of every sentence.
- (English
composition classes only) When you email me an essay, type the essay
number on the subject line of your email. If your email name is not the same as
your real name and your real name does not automatically appear on your
emails, type your real name before the essay number; for example: Jane Doe - Essay 3. If you are emailing an essay that I have
asked you to revise and resubmit, please include "revision"
after the essay number on the subject line of your email; for
example: Jane Doe - Essay 3
Revision.
- Type your name, the course number, and the essay
number at the top of each essay. This will come before the title of the
essay. Do not put quotation marks
around the title of your own essay.
(Use quotation marks only around the names of other authors'
works.) The following are examples
of how your headings should look for English 1302 and 2327:
Jane Doe
English 1302
Essay 1
Jill Doe
English 2327
Mid-Term Essays
- Please do not type your essay directly
into the body of your email, and do not send me papers as
attachments in English 1301 or 1302.
(Students in English 2327 are allowed to use attachments.) Please type your essay on a word
processing program such as Microsoft Word; then cut and paste it to your
email.
- Please try to use only one email address
throughout the entire semester. If
an emergency arises and you must email from a different address, you must
do two things:
(1)
Type your own name on the subject line of the email. Example: Jane Doe - Essay 3.
(2)
Address a copy of this message to yourself at your regular email address; just
add yourself
to
the list of recipients or type your email address on the CC: line. This not only gives you a copy for your
records; it also enables me to send my reply to your regular email address by
clicking on "reply to all recipients." This will save time and enable me to respond
to your messages more quickly.
- Please do not routinely mark all the
messages you send me as “high priority.”
Please reserve this designation for those rare instances in which
it is imperative that you receive an immediate response. All my students’ messages are high
priority for me, and my goal is to answer all of them and to grade all
your assignments just as quickly as possible. However, if you designate all
messages as high priority, I will not be able to tell when an emergency
situation exists.
- Please do not send the same email more than once
unless you are fairly certain I did not receive it the first time. In any event, do not send me the same
email more than twice unless your address has changed or I tell you that I
did not receive it. If you are not
certain I received an email, just call me (223-2018) to ask. One former student emailed me his first
paper thirteen times. Talk about
getting off to a bad start with the professor. .
. .
- If you must change your email address during the
semester, send me an email from your new email address notifying me
of the change as soon as you know about it. Example: Email
Address Change for Jane Doe. If
your email address changes after you have already sent me an assignment
for which you have not yet received an acceptance notice, please email the
assignment again from your new email address. In this case, it's better than I receive
it twice than not at all.
- (English
composition classes only) You may submit only one essay at a time
unless I specifically tell you to do otherwise. Before emailing the next essay, the
previous one must be accepted. Any
essay returned for revising or rewriting must be resubmitted and accepted
before you email me the next essay.
However, just as soon finish one essay, you should begin writing
the next; you just cannot email it until I accept the previous one.
- (English
composition classes only) When I have graded an essay, you will receive an
email reply from me telling you whether your essay was accepted, or
not. (You do not receive grades on
your essays; they are either accepted or not accepted. In order to earn an “A” or a “B” in the
course, you write one extra paper.)
If the latter is the case, I will tell you what you need to change
in order for it to be accepted.
Please allow up to seven days (3-5 days in an eight-week class) to
receive this notice, although you will most likely receive it sooner. I like to give each essay my most
thoughtful consideration and to provide helpful feedback in my reply. This takes time. Please be patient.
- (English
composition classes only) You are never allowed to make more than one
revision of an essay. (Please see
the course requirements section of your syllabus for detailed information
on revisions allowed under different grade plans.) If your essay is not accepted after one
revision, you must withdraw from the course in order to avoid receiving a
failing grade. Please make certain
all your essays are the required minimum length. before you submit
them. If I have to return an essay
because it is too short, you have only one more chance to submit an
acceptable paper of the required minimum length. The “A” and “B” Essays cannot be revised;
if they are not accepted, you will receive a “C” as your final course
grade.
- If you are concerned about whether I have
received an essay or not, please telephone rather than emailing me. If I did not receive your essay, I might
not receive the follow-up email either if there is a problem with your
email
service.
- (English
composition classes only) In a dire emergency, you may fax a paper
to me at 223-2046. If this happens,
please put my name and voice phone number (223-2018) on a cover sheet for
the fax. Also, please call to let
me know to expect it. Our faxes do
not come directly to our offices here.
They come to the main office, and they can easily get misplaced
before we receive them. If you do
have to fax a paper to me, email it also just as soon as you are able so
that I will have a record of it on my computer files.
- I normally do not allow students to submit
essays ahead of schedule and finish the course early unless they have
extenuating circumstances. If you
believe that you do, please contact me, and we will discuss this. You might be able to complete the
assignments more quickly, but I will not always be able to grade them more
quickly. I have paced the course in
such a way as to make my grading load manageable.
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