Submitting Your Papers

Insofar as is possible in a course like this, grading of your written assignments will be anonymous.  (The performance part of your grade of course will not be anonymous.)  The goal is to preclude me from knowing, until the course is complete, who submitted any particular paper and who is doing well or poorly in the writing assignments generally.  I will break anonymity only after all the papers have been submitted and graded, when I do the numerical calculations to merge the writing and performance grades and assign final grades in the course.

1.  Anonymity System.  When you submit your papers by e-mail, the header of course will identify you.  Before I grade each paper, an assistant will "detach" your paper from the e-mail, assign a unique ID number to it, and name the file by the number alone.  I will grade the anonymously numbered files and return them to the assistant, who will "decode" the ID numbers and return the papers to you.

2.  Spell-check, check number of words, and finalize.  Before submitting each paper, you should spell-check it, check the number of words, and make any necessary changes.  (Each assignment will have a word limit, which always will be strictly enforced.  Overlimit material will be ignored.  You can use your word processor to count words by clicking on File : Properties : [Information or General]).  Some word processors, such as my 2004 Word for Mac, keep running track of the words used at the bottom of each document.

3.  Save a data file for your paper with a title but without identification.  Be sure that your word-processing file has no identifying information and no title other than "Assignment #n", where n is the assignment number.  Then save the file on your hard drive.

4.  Convert your file to Rich Text Format (RTF).  Save the data file again in Rich Text Format.  (Use the "Save As" feature of your Word Processor; then click on the down arrow to the right of the "File Type" field in the "Save As" dialogue box and select the "Rich Text Format (RTF)" option.  Be sure to verify that this option appears in the "File Type" field before you click the "Save" button.  Then check to see that a file with the extension ".rtf" and a plain logo appears in your file folder.  You may have to click on "View" : "Details" to see the .rtf file extension.)

Using RTF format is important for anonymity because that format omits the authorship information that some word processors (such as Microsoft Word) automatically include in each document.  While I will try not to look at that information even if it is included, sometimes it appears by accident, for example, upon hitting an unintended macro or combination of keys.

5.  Attach your RTF file to an e-mail message.  Send the RTF file for your paper as an e-mail attachment to your message, not as part of the message itself.  The "Subject" line for your e-mail message should be "Licensing Assignment #n," where n is the assignment number.  Please do not include any message.

6.  Send your RTF file to the IP Secretary.  Be sure to send your e-mail message, with RTF file attached, to the IP Secretary, Shannon Aupperle, at the following e-mail address: