Tech+Tips

We will be incorporating technology throughout the school year. Here are tips and suggestions for you as the year progresses.

**A. Gmail Accounts-** 1. Each student needs a gmail account for many reasons. One, it gives you access to blogspotter, an individual blog you will need. Two, it gives you access to google docs which can be EXTREMELY helpful as you are working on papers at school and at home. Google docs allows you to save your paper and access it from anywhere you have internet. This is very helpful if you forget your flash drive one day and want to be able to work at home on the paper you started at school. The third reason you need a gmail account is that you need an e-mail address in order to participate in turnitin.com this year and in succeeding years. Fourth, we have access to gmail at school; most other e-mails are blocked such as hotmail. Understand that you need a professional e-mail account for your academic career (applying for scholarships and college admission for example). This means that you need to use your first and last name (sometimes you may have to use a middle initial). It is NOT professional to use a nickname such as "hot stuff@gmail.com" for your academic career. That definitely gives a wrong impression to perspective college admissions officers and scholarship committees. That being said, the purpose of your gmail account is for academic and professional reasons, NOT for social purposes.

2. To set up a gmail account, go to http://www.google.com and click on gmail up at top of screen. Once the gmail page comes up, click on create a new account. Use your first and last name and check for availability. You may have to use your middle initial or put a dot between first and last name. You'll have to create a password at least 8 characters long. I recommend you use a combination of your NC Wise number (you use this for library and lunch) and school password so that you can remember. Whatever you choose, WRITE DOWN YOUR gmail address and password. If you want to give it to me to keep on file in case you forget it, do so. I cannot help you nor can anyone else at school if you forget it this year. (One note: some students have experienced being kicked out of google accounts as they've been trying to set them up from school. I think this is because google limits the number of new accounts created from the same isp address in a 24 hour period. If this happens to you from a school computer, try using a different one or try waiting 24 hours and then try to create an account again. If you have access to computer and internet at home, I recommend you create your gmail account from home.)

**B. Google Docs** - To utilize google docs, open your gmail account and then click on Google Docs at top of screen on left hand side. The first time you do this, click on the next screen button that says to go to google docs. If you have a file at school, click the Upload button in the toolbar. Then hit browse to go to your file. Click on your file and then hit open. You will need to name your file and then hit upload. It should upload the file as a new file in your google docs. If for some reason it is not uploading, you can always copy and paste the file into your google docs and then be sure to SAVE it. 

**C. Turnitin.com Account** - You will need to join my class in turnitin.com to run your papers through it this year. You only have to create an account with turnitin.com one time in your entire academic career. After that, you can join the various classes (in high school and in college) you are taking. Turnitin.com is an instructional tool we use as CCHS to help you better understand how to avoid plagiarism in your papers. It highlights the lines of your paper where you need to do a better job paraphrasing and or including the proper citations. The standard for CCHS and a lot of colleges is to not have a paper that is more than 10% quotes and cited material. Research papers are ultimately a place for you to put YOUR thoughts down about what the research says. You join the dialogue of the experts on that particular topic. Afterall, if the majority of your paper is someone else's words, well, what does that say about your thoughts?

First-time users, go to http://www.turnitin.com and log on as a new user. Then, create an account where you put in your e-mail address (I recommend you use your g-mail account; you can always change the e-mail address later on if you don't have a g-mail account yet) and create a password for yourself. You will then join my class using the class password AND the class ID number. See below:

The class password for all of Miss Person's classes is **knight **

Fall 2008, English II First Bell is **2399557**

2008-2009 Honors English II Second Bell is **2399559**

2008-2009 Honors English II Fourth Bell is **2399561**

Spring 2008, Honors English II Third Bell is **2425381**

2008-2009 Project Graduation Experience Block is **2399564**

**D. Saving and Formatting Files -** 1. When you work on a file at home, saving it on a flash drive and then come to school, sometimes there are formatting issues. This is because you may be using a different word processing program at home. At school, we currently have Word 2007. When you save a file at home, click on the SAVE AS box at the bottom of the screen and save it in Word 2007 format. This will enable you to open your file at school even though you may have a newer version of Word at home. If you have a Mac, you will also need to do this in order to open your file at school. Of course, using Google DOCS avoids this whole issue.

It is recommended that save your drafts often. Nothing is more discouraging than spending time on a draft only to lose it because the power went out or something else happens and you had not saved it yet.

2. Unless the teacher/assignment gives you other directions, **you should always use this format** for all papers this school year: > > >
 * 12 point font New Times Roman
 * double-spaced
 * 1" margins on all four sides
 * Create a header that has your last name and page number; do this by clicking on "view" at top of your screen and then click on headers and footers; type your last name, skip a space and then click on the number sign on the pop-up menu; then close
 * Use MLA format which means no separate title page
 * You put your title on the first page of the document, centered, right before your first paragraph.
 * On first page of paper, in left-hand corner include

 **John Doe (your name)

V. Person (teacher's name)

Honors English II Bell 2 (course name)

January 7, 2007 (date the paper is due)**

Note: Using MLA format means there is NO separate title page for your paper.

For a model formatted paper, click on this document:

