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Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: CAPSTONE PROJECT

Course Title: Department: Instructor: Prerequisites:

JC492 - Capstone Project Journalism and Communications Howard Storfer, BS, MBA, PhD. E-Mail - Vita Completed all courses in the Bachelor of Arts in Communications program

Course Objectives:

This course is a capstone course for the BA program in Communications. Please note that the course is meant to bring information learned by the student in the program together for the purpose of a project. The project details are not specific, but guidelines are. They will be given in this syllabus below. Also, please note that there are several different degree specialties in the BA in Communications program. This course is required of all of them and will be degree specific depending on the student and the program. Also note that this course begins on a set date within a week of registering for the course usually on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday. In other words, this is the course schedule. Weeks begin on Sunday and end on Saturday. The final day of class will be in week eight on a Saturday.


Required Textbook: - Online Bookstore

The student is not required to purchase any textbook per se for this course, but it is required that the student use APA formatting on all assignments. The APA guide, 5th edition is available at any college or online bookstore.


Other Requirements:

1. Please note that the course itself will utilize the following format. The student will complete a project that has been approved by the instructor. It will adhere to the following minimal guidelines.
1. The paper will be a minimal of 2500 to 5000 words double-spaced.
2. The paper will have a minimum of 20 sources of a variety of sources. These may be a combination of journals, magazines, books, and online sources. Online sources are fine, but they cannot be the only sources for this paper. If used, the sources must be cited properly and use one of the formats previously noted.
3. This paper is a project and should be treated as such. This project is at the bachelor’s level. This is an important frame of reference. If the student goes on to a master’s program, the papers will be much stricter. If the student continues to the doctorate, the paper will be even stricter. This paper will be graded with a graduating BA student in mind.
4. Any paper topic must be approved by the instructor. Any revisions of said topic must be approved by the instructor.
5. The guidelines for the paper week by week are given below and must be followed. This course will run for 8 weeks. The student must meet all guidelines or paper deductions probably will be taken.

1. In week one, the student must decide on a topic. This must be approved no later than the end of week one.
2. In week two, the student should begin researching their topic. The student should send a list of at least 10 prospective sources properly documented to the instructor in e-mail as an attachment to an e-mail.
3. In week three, the student should have a very rough outline of the paper. This should be sent to the instructor as noted in previous weeks.
4. In week four, the student should have a finalized outline and a good idea of the direction the paper is taking. The student should send the outline, a brief overview of the project and the direction it is taking, and the plan for finishing the project. At this point, the instructor will give the student the go ahead to continue on the project. If the instructor says everything is go, the student will be given a midterm score and the student will proceed to week five work. The grading scale will be given below.
5. In week five, the student will do a rough draft of the final paper making sure to include any pertinent information for the paper and the proper citations, etc.
6. In week six, the student should be finishing the final draft, but it is still rough. If the student wants the instructor to make final comments, they should send a final rough draft this week to the instructor.
7. In week seven, the student should plan on one of the following: submitting the paper completely done and ready to turn in(just in case major revisions need to be done by the end of week eight), or submit a last draft of the paper for the instructor as is and ready for grading. This paper needs to be labeled as such. If not labeled, the instructor will assume the project is completed and will be graded as such.
8. In week eight, the paper should be submitted no later than the last day of week eight. For week eight, the instructor will consider Sunday the last day of week eight. Papers submitted following these guidelines will be considered progressive in nature. Those that did not may lose points due to lateness, etc. If the student submits the paper in a methodical manner labeled here and the paper is found to be satisfactory, the instructor will give the paper a score from the list below. The RUBRIC for the paper is given next.

6. RUBRIC for paper — The paper will be considered an “A” paper if it does the following. The paper must have met all criteria noted in 1-8 above. The paper must have a clearly defined objective. It must have a very well thought out premise and research methodology. The paper must also flow and be directly related to the approved topic. The grammar and syntax must also be flawless. It is in the best interest of the student to have someone read over the paper who is totally objective to the paper and for the best interest of the student. The paper is considered a “B” if it meets all but one of these criteria. If a paper is missing minor components, it is up to the instructor whether the grade will be dropped. If the paper is missing several minor components, the paper will be considered a “B” paper as well. The paper will be considered a “C” if it is missing more than one major component noted above or if it is missing one major and several minor components. An example might be a paper that does not meet length requirements or requirements for citations. Another example might be a paper that does not meet length requirements and has several problems with grammar and syntax. If a paper appears to be worse than a “C,” the student must redo the paper and will have a maximum of three days to do so. Any re-dos at this point must be approved by the instructor and can be done for a totally new grade. If the student does not fix the errors or fixes the errors inappropriately, the final grade is the final grade. If the student makes lower than “C,” the paper is a failure.
7. The student will have to take the course again at this point. If a student is in this situation, it is a major problem on their part due to the laid out procedure noted above concerning this procedure. This is why the paper is laid out so well.
8. The student may complete the paper early, but must make sure every step is followed. No steps may be deleted even if the paper is done early. Missing steps will result in problems in the final grade. The student should plan on having the paper completed no later than day 7 of week 8 which is Sunday of day as noted above.
9. Extensions for this course may be granted for major illness or personal problems. These must be approved before the course starts and should be discussed with the instructor either in e-mail or by phone. A phone conversation must be set up ahead of time and the student must instigate it. My phone number if 917-639-4442. We will not have a phone conference unless I know ahead of time to expect it. If problems occur during the course, the instructor must be notified immediately for any variations in the schedule above.
10. Please note that I am working for your success. I do not want or even like failure. It does neither one of us any good. Questions are welcomed and expected from the student. The instructor will answer e-mail usually no later than 24 hours after it is sent. This might be different with weekends and holidays.
11. Finally, this is your project and should follow my guidelines, but your train of thought. It would not be a bad idea for the student to be compiling information as they go to prepare for this course. It is also a very good idea for the student to be familiar with the writing formats noted above for this course. Questions concerning this are welcomed.

Instructor Availability:

I am available periodically at the e-mail address above. Please e-mail any questions. That is the reason that I am here. I will try to do everything I can to help you as much as possible. Please do not wait until the end of class to get help. It will be too late. Anytime your grade falls below “C,” I will try to contact you about it. If I do not, or fail to get a hold of you, please contact me through e-mail.


Attendance Requirements and submission deadlines:

You must submit all assignments on time as listed above. Other interactions are encouraged, but not necessary. Late assignments will result in point deductions as noted above. This is not my only class. Questions need to be properly labeled and signed. The only requirements for attendance are the assignment deadlines given above.


Grades and distribution (points):

Total points available 100 total points for the class


Grading Scale:

A B C Below C

Excellent Above Average Average Failing

90 - 100 80 - 89 70 - 79 Lower than 70

Please note that anything below “C” is considered failing for this course!!!!!