How the MassComm Website Works
This site is designed to help you do well in Mass Comm. This page explains how it works. Since some students have little or no background on the web, my explanations are really basic.
You can go to the main or "index" page by clicking on the words "Mass Comm" in the graphic above or simply typing the site address listed on the syllabus (http://www.pitt.edu/~jsterne/comm320/index.html). When you go to the index page, you get the latest headlines and news from the course. Here, you'll find announcements, latest handouts or assignments, and other important information. If I ever cancel office hours or class, I'll announce it here. The announcements go from newest to oldest, so if there are old announcements you want to see, you can simply scroll down the page to get to them. The page also has a "blog" (short for "weblog") that will document stuff I or the TAs come across that's interesting or just about anything we want to rant about (that's relevant to the course, of course!). I've kept it separate from the news so that you can easily find information by date. If you see something out there in the world that you think relates to the course, send me an email and I might add it to the blog!
You should bookmark the index page in your browser, and then you can get to it more easily.
Whenever you see colored text on a page -- like this -- it is a link (this link takes you back to this page). Click on links to go to other pages.
The graphic at the top of this page (and most other pages) allows you to easily navigate the site. You just click on the word designating the section of the site you want to visit. So to see overheads for upcoming lectures, click "lectures" above; to see questions for upcoming assigned readings, click "schedule & readings"; and so on.
The lectures page has links to web versions of almost all the overheads used in lectures. I provide them on the page so that you can print them out and take notes during class. About half our quiz questions are based on lectures. Lecture overheads will be available by the morning before the lecture, though they will often be up much sooner..
On the schedule and readings page, you'll find links to reading questions for most assigned readings before they aredue. These are meant to help guide your reading, but also be sure that you understand the main point of each article. Quiz questions about readings are based upon these reading questions -- or ask you to provide the main point of the article. The reading questions are meant as a study aid, but you must comprehend the whole essay to do well. About half our quiz questions are based on the readings.
The documents page features web versions of our assignment handouts, some tips for writing papers, an electronic version of the syllabus. At the end of the semester, you'll also find a link to final exam info.
The contact page has our contact information, and handy links you can click to email us.
The links page has links to places discussed in lecture, or other places online that you might find interesting.