Tips for Success

If you’re new to online courses, or if you just need a quick refresher, be sure to take a look at these video tutorials!

Course Learning Outcomes

The five most important things you will be able to do when you are finished with this course are:

  1. Organize your thoughts effectively to be able to synthesize information to produce a news article

  2. Classify news in all its variety and be able to stylistically write all the different kinds of articles

  3. Create your own dummy newspaper with all the trimmings

  4. Interpret news articles for yourself and the public

  5. Discuss areas of journalism that are constantly in debate today, such as censorship and where the media is headed

Course Materials

All of the materials required for this class is included in the course already. You do not have to buy any additional textbooks.

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Assignments

You will complete these assignments during the course.

There are many Self Check quizzes in this course. They are computer-graded and do not count toward your grade.

Each unit of the course ends with a computer graded unit quiz. These assignments do count toward your grade and will prepare you for the final exam.

Throughout the unit you will complete various portfolio assignments. You will need to save each of these in a safe place as you complete them. They will be submitted in two different groups called portfolios. Be sure you have completed and attached every assignment associated with a portfolio before you submit it.

Exams

You will complete one final exam for this course. See the Exam Preparation page for details.

The final exam consists of about 54 questions, including multiple-choice, true/false, and matching items.

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Grading

Your grade in this course will be based on these assignments and exams.

Assignment or Exam Grading Percent of Total Grade
6 Unit Quizzes Computer 30%
2 Portfolio Submissions Instructor 50%
1 Final Exam* Computer 20%

* You must pass the final exam with at least a 60% to earn credit for the course.

Grade Scale

Your letter grade is calculated according to these percentages.

A 93% - 100%
A- 90% - 92%
B+ 87% – 89%
B 83% - 86%
B- 80% - 82%
C+ 77% - 79%
C 73% - 76%
C- 70% - 72%
D+ 67% - 69%
D 63% - 66%
D- 60% - 62%
F (fail) 0% - 59%

Getting Help

Please use the help menu in this course to contact Academy of America or your instructor. You can find information about tutoring available to Academy of America students on the Tutoring website.

The Resources page offers a wide variety of services to support you:

  • Academic success skills coaching such as time management, study skills, test preparation, motivation, and more.

  • Course-specific support that includes live tutoring and on-demand resources.

Come find out how we can help you achieve your goals.

Course Policies

For information about how long you have to complete the course, resubmitting assignments, retaking exams, and other questions, please see Course Policies.

Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is defined as the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work. This may also include when a student copies and pastes directly from another source and passes it off as his or her own, copies computer-generated text from a translation tool and uses it as his or her own, or fails to cite a source after loosely summarizing its content in his or her own words.

As determined by your instructor or the BYU Independent Study administration, if evidence of academic misconduct on assignments or exams is established, one of the two following consequences will apply to each incidence:

First Offense of Plagiarism

  • You will fail the lesson and be allowed the opportunity to resubmit the lesson (or)

  • You will fail the lesson and be denied the opportunity to resubmit the lesson

Second Offense of Plagiarism

  • You will fail the lesson and fail the class (or)

  • You will fail the lesson, fail the class, and may be ineligible to enroll in a specific course or any of our courses without going through an appeals process

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