The purpose of the course is to improve students' professional and creative writing abilities through the monthly publication of an online journal. Our website is: taidajournal.tumblr.com. Students will work together as a team to publish each issue, not only writing stories but editing the stories of other students in the class. We accept news stories as well as those that lean more toward creative writing. The class meets three hours a week for eighteen weeks, and it includes group discussions, workshops, peer editing conferences, and in-class presentations. Attendance is required and students must come to class with all materials prepared.

Students usually spend the first week of the month presenting their ideas to the entire class. Students are expected not only to present their own topics, but also to critique and to add to their classmates’ ideas. In the following weeks, students will be split into groups of three to five persons in order to examine their ideas more closely. For each class, students are expected to have reached a certain point in the completion of their piece. All stories are published at the end of the month.

Grading: attendance is required as well as full preparation before each class.

Final grades for this course will be based on the following:

Attendance: 10%
Participation: 10%
Peer Editing: 30%
Final Stories: 50%