Student User’s Guide

Topics

Introduction....................................................................................................................... 2 Registration ....................................................................................................................... 2

Registration with 1Pass................................................................................................... 6 Start an Assignment.......................................................................................................... 7 Viewing your Grades ........................................................................................................ 8 Communication Tool ........................................................................................................ 9 The English 21 Tools....................................................................................................... 10

Interactive Writing Projects .......................................................................................... 11 Tutorials ........................................................................................................................ 15 Interactive Handbook.................................................................................................... 21 The Media Library and Explicator Tool ....................................................................... 24

Additional Resources ...................................................................................................... 33 System Requirements ..................................................................................................... 34 Technical Support........................................................................................................... 36

Introduction Welcome to English 21. This course specific online learning program will help you develop your analytical and paper writing skills through media-rich exercises, tutorials, and research tools. This User’s Guide will walk you through the registration process, and introduce you to the major areas of the program.

Registration With an Access Code Card and a valid email address, go to www.thomsonedu.com/login. Click on the “Create My Account” button. If you are returning, use the sign in fields to the right.

2

Registration continued. On the next Screen, select the “Student” button.

Then, enter your access code in the field. And click “Continue.”

3

Registration continued. Complete all of the fields in the Account Information screen. It is very important to write down your email address and password on your Access Code Card. This information will allow you to sign in on future sessions. Keep this card for future reference. Click on the “continue” button.

4

Registration continued. On the next screen, read the license agreement. If you agree, indicate that at the bottom of the screen and click “continue.”

On the My Dashboard page, click on the “English 21” Icon.

You are ready to start exploring English 21!

5

Registration with 1Pass If you have already registered for Thomson NOW through 1Pass for your book, then complete this screen with the code from your instructor.

6

Start an Assignment Within English 21, click on the “Assignments/Tests” tab. Find your assignment in the list, or narrow your search using the “Show me assignments for” drop down menu and clicking on the “Go” button. Click on the “Take” button on the appropriate line item to start the assignment.

7

Viewing your Grades Use the Grades Tab to track your progress in your class. When you complete an assignment, your score will appear to be the total number of possible points. This simply indicates that you have completed the assignment. Your instructor will update this number with your real grade.

8

Communication Tool Use the Communication Tab to start a message board, or respond to comments. Do other people understand the assignment? Want to run an idea across your classmates? Want to share a great research find? Communicate it!

9

The English 21 Tools

From the main page of English21 for your course, you will have access to the following areas: Interactive Writing Projects, Tutorials, Research, the Interactive Handbook, and the Media Library. Mouse over each area for a brief description of what it contains. To get started, click on the area you wish to visit. Click on the “E21 Home” Icon at any point to return to this page.

10

English 21 Tools continued.

Interactive Writing Projects In Interactive Writing Projects you are presented with a step-by-step process to guide you through tutorials and annotating media. These explorations help you develop the analytical and synthesis skills you will need to prepare writing assignments.

11

English 21 Tools: Interactive Writing Projects continued. After you have clicked on “Interactive Writing Projects,” you will see a complete list of the topic areas for which exercises are available.

Click on the arrow next to each topic to see a longer description of the exercise. You can also choose to see or hide all of the exercises at once using the “Expand All” and “Collapse All” buttons at the top of the topic list.

12

English 21 Tools: Interactive Writing Projects continued. Click on the title of the exercise you wish to complete. To move back and forth between steps, use the “Writing sequence” toolbar at the top of the page, and you can use the “Main Menu” button to see a list of all the steps in the exercise.

13

English 21 Tools: Interactive Writing Projects continued. In the second and subsequent steps, use the “Associated Terms & Highlighters” Explicator Tool located on the left-hand side of the page to create and organize comments about the media you analyze. Turn to the “Media Library and Explicator Tool” Section of this Guide for further instructions and more examples.

You can click on the “Save” and “Print” buttons to save or print your work. Use the “E21 Home” Icon to return to the homepage and continue exploring English 21.

14

Tutorials The Tutorials section of English21 takes you through a range of rhetorical and literary concepts that will help you draft your English papers. (Many tutorials appearing here can also be accessed through the Interactive Writing Projects.) Tutorials cover over 150 topics using a variety of resources including brief instruction, animated examples, media annotations, and interactive activities.

15

English 21 Tools: Tutorials continued. Once you have clicked on “Tutorials,” you will see a complete list of the topic areas. Clicking on the arrow next to each topic reveals the list of exercises associated with that topic. You can also choose to see or hide all of the exercises at once using the “Expand All” and “Collapse All” buttons at the top of the topic list.

Click on the title of the tutorial to begin. To move back and forth between steps, use the “Writing sequence” toolbar at the top of the page, and you can use the “Main Menu” button to see a list of all the steps in the exercise.

16

English 21 Tools: Tutorials continued. Starting with the second step, the tutorial may include the “Associated Terms & Highlighters” Explicator Tool that will allow you to create and organize comments about various media. Turn to the “Media Library and Explicator Tool” Section of this Guide for further instructions and more examples. You can click on the “Save” and “Print” buttons to save or print your work. Use the “E21 Home” Icon to return to the homepage and continue exploring English 21.

17

The Guide to Research is your resource for conducting research and learning to properly document your sources. The Guide to Research includes animations, interactive exercises, and student paper workshops—as well as access to InfoTrac College Edition, an online database that contains with links to over 200 million articles, 6000 journals, and over 20 years of content.

18

English 21 Tools: Research continued. Once you have clicked on “Research,” you will see a complete list of the topic areas for which materials are available. Clicking on the arrow next to each topic reveals the list of resources associated with that topic. You can also choose to see or hide all of the resources at once using the “Expand All” and “Collapse All” buttons at the top of the topic list.

19

English 21 Tools: Research continued. Reference the icon to the right of each item to determine whether a resource is an Animation, Beyond the Rules, Interactive Exercise, Interactive Plus Exercise, or Student Paper Workshop.

20

• Animated Examples provide explanations of terms or concepts dynamically. Follow the instructions for clicking through the animation. A “reset” button at the bottom of the screen allows you to replay the animation from the beginning.

• Beyond the Rules show you various examples of how and where to do research, and include links to relevant Websites. Use the scrollbar to read through the text, and click on links highlighted in blue to explore the topic further on the Internet.

• Interactive and Interactive Plus Exercises test your knowledge of research-related topics with multiple-choice questions, drag-and-drop exercises, short answer questions, or longer writing assignments. Click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page to submit your work.

• Student Paper Workshops ask you to write papers and then critique your and your peers’ work. Critiquing your own or others’ papers can help you to recognize areas of strength, as well as areas needing improvement.

Use the “E21 Home” Icon to return to the homepage and continue exploring English 21.

Interactive Handbook The Interactive Handbook contains animations, interactive exercises, and student-paper workshops related to grammar and writing, to assist you in revising and editing your papers correctly.

Once you have clicked on “Interactive Handbook,” you will see a complete list of the topic areas for which materials are available.

21

English 21 Tools: Interactive Handbook continued. Clicking on the arrow next to each topic reveals the list of resources associated with that topic.

You can also choose to see or hide all of the resources at once using the “Expand All” and “Collapse All” buttons at the top of the topic list.

22

English 21 Tools: Interactive Handbook continued. Use the “Icon Key” button at the top of the page to identify whether a resource is an Animation, Beyond the Rules, Interactive Exercise, Interactive Plus Exercise, or Student Paper Workshop. (See descriptions of each of these resource types under Guide to Research.)

If you need additional assistance with your writing, click on ThomsonNOW™ for Writing on the right-hand side of the page. Click on the “E21 Home” Icon to return to the English 21 Homepage.

23

The Media Library and Explicator Tool The Media Library contains all of English21’s extensive media tools, including audio and video clips, stories, poems, plays, essays, photographs, fine art, cartoons, and advertisements. When used with the Explicator Tool, the items found in the Media Library can be annotated to generate evidence for your papers.

24

Next, choose from four general categories of media: Text, Image, Video, and Audio.

25

Media Library and Explicator Tool continued. At any time, you may click on the “Begin” button at the top right of the page, to use the Explicator Tool and explicate any piece of text, image, video, or audio clip in the Media Library. (If you do not see a “begin” button, try clicking on “Main Menu” in the upper left area.)

26

Using the Text Explicator To explicate any type of text, choose the text from the Media Library, and then select a Term Highlighter from the Explicator Tool on the left. Each color represents a different type of analysis. Click on your selected highlighter term, then click on the beginning and end of the passage you want. An annotation box will appear. Enter your notation for the highlighted passage in this box, and click “Save” at the bottom of the box. To make a second highlight and annotation, choose a highlighter and set the cursor at new start and end points. You can review and edit each annotation by clicking on its highlighted region.

Be sure to click on the “Save” button on the right before you move on, or periodically as you work. Use the “main menu” link to move back to the Media Library.

27

Using the Image Explicator

The visual explicator also provides you with colored themes for highlighting. Each color represents a specific theme and description.

• First, select your term from the “Associated Terms & Highlighters” Explicator Tool.

• Second, select your tool: arrow, line or box.

28

Using the Image Explicator continued. • Third, mark the image by clicking and dragging the area you want to highlight.

An annotation box will appear. • Fourth, enter text in the box. Click on the “save” button to close the box (or

“delete” to remove the box and mark). Remember to save on the main screen as well.

• Continue to add Explication Notes in the annotation boxes. They will be

available for you to review later.

29

Using the Video Explicator

To highlight a section of video, select a theme from the “Associated Terms & Highlighters” Explicator Tool. Then, move the slider on the control bar to the point you want to start your explication.

Click on the “Insert Start” button. When the slider is at the end of the section you want to

highlight, and click on the “End highlight” button.

In the annotation box, enter your comments on this section of video. Click the “Save” button to save your annotation. Highlight as many segments as you like by repeating the procedure. Highlights may overlap one another. The annotation for each segment can be viewed and edited by clicking on the corresponding highlighted region on the control bar.

30

Using the Audio Explicator

To explicate audio, select and add an audio clip from the Media Library. To highlight a section of audio, select a theme from the left menu bar. Move the slider on the control bar to the point you want to start your explication. The annotation for each segment can be viewed and edited by clicking on the corresponding highlighted region on the control bar.

Click on the “Insert Start” button. When the slider is at the end of the section you want to

highlight, and click on the “End highlight” button.

In the annotation box, enter your comments on this section of audio. Click the “Save” button to save your annotation. Highlight as many segments as you like by repeating the procedure. Highlights may overlap one another. The annotation for each segment can be viewed and edited by clicking on the corresponding highlighted region on the control bar.

31

32

Printing from the Explicator Once explicated, all media and their corresponding annotations can be printed for your review. You can print just one piece that you have explicated, or all that you have saved in the series. When you are satisfied with your notes, click the “Save & Finish” button located at the top of your media item. Then click the “Print” button. A box will appear asking if you wish to print just this one piece or all pieces you have explicated (one series may contain text, images, video, and audio in any order or number). The printout will show the different media pieces you have explicated, and notes associated with highlights will appear as footnotes.

Additional Resources A menu of additional resources appears along the top of the page, no matter where you are in English21.

• English21 Home: To return to the English21 main

page at any time, click on the “English21 Home” button.

• InfoTrac is a robust and reliable research database that contains over 200 million articles, 6000 journals, and over 20 years of content. Sources include top academic journals, newsletters, and up-to-the-minute periodicals including Time, Newsweek, and USA Today. You can use InfoTrac to conduct research, searching by subject, keyword, index, or limiting your search by date, journal, or keyword.

• ThomsonNOW™ for Writing is a media product that helps you improve your writing. You first take a pretest to determine the areas where you need the most help. From the results of the pretest, ThomsonNOW™ for Writing builds you a Personalized Study plan with practice exercises, audio, and animations tailored to accommodate your needs.

• Live Tutor is an online tutoring service that offers you a live tutor for one-on-one tutoring. In Live Tutor, you interact with a tutor who is an expert in the subject and with other students in an online classroom environment.

• Help: If you have questions or difficulties as you use English21, click on the “Help” button for explanations of English21 resources and information about how to use them. You can also watch animations that walk you through the steps for using the Explicator tool, as well as find complete definitions of the Patterns of Inquiry used in the Explicator tool.

33

34

System Requirements Windows Get all of the ThomsonNOW browser and plug-in software for Windows at http://west.ilrn.com/activity/downloads.html.

• Microsoft® Windows 2000 or Windows XP (recommended) • Intel® or AMD® CPU at 266MHz or better • 128 MB RAM • Web Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0; Mozilla Firefox® 1.0–1.5; Mozilla 1.2.1–

1.7.12 o Get Firefox from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/.

• Java JRE 1.4.1_02– 1.5/5.0 o Get Java from http://java.com/en/

• Macromedia Flash Player o Get the Flash Player from http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

• To print tests, Adobe® Reader® 4.05b–7.0 o Get Reader from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. o Screen resolution of 800 x 600 or higher, and color quality of 16-bit or higher (see

Control Panel > Display settings on your desktop) • Internet connection speed of 56k or higher • Popup blocking software configured to allow http:// *.ilrn.com to display popup windows • Sound card for products with audio features (for example, The Learning Equation)

Other requirements:

• Apple® QuickTime® player • RealPlayer®

Macintosh Get all of the ThomsonNOW browser and plug-in software for Mac OS X at http://ilrn-support.com/upgrade-mac.html

• Mac OS® X 10.3–10.4 • Power Mac® G3–G5 • 128 MB of RAM • Web browser: Safari™ 1.3–2.0 • Macromedia Flash Player

o Get the Flash Player from http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ • To print tests, Adobe Reader 4.05b–7.0

o Get the latest version of Reader from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

• Screen resolution of 800 x 600 or higher, and color quality of 16 bits or higher • Internet connection speed of 56k or higher • Popup blocking software configured to allow http:// *.ilrn.com to display popup windows • Sound card for products with audio features (for example, The Learning Equation)

Other requirements: • Apple® QuickTime® player • RealPlayer®

Linux Get all of the ThomsonNOW browser and plug-in software for Linux at http://ilrn-support.com/upgrade-linux.html.

• Current Linux distribution (Fedora™, SuSE®, etc.) • Intel or AMD CPU at 266MHz or better • 128MB RAM • Web browser: Mozilla Firefox 1.0–1.5, or Mozilla 1.2.1–1.7.12

o Get Firefox from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ • Java JRE 1.4.1_02– 1.5/5.0

o Get Java from http://java.com/en/ • Macromedia Flash Player

o Get the Flash Player from http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ • To print tests, Adobe Reader 4.05b–7.0

o Get Reader from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html • Screen resolution of 800 x 600 or higher, and color quality of 16 bits or higher • Internet connection speed of 56k or higher • Popup blocking software configured to allow http:// *.ilrn.com to display popup windows • Sound card for products with audio features (for example, The Learning Equation)

Other requirements:

• Apple® QuickTime® player • RealPlayer®

35

36

Technical Support

FlashPaper eBook Support ThomsonNOW has added support for FlashPaper-based eBooks. Course materials created with FlashPaper allow students and instructors with the recommended Macromedia® Flash® Player to load and view the online versions of their textbooks in ThomsonNOW much quicker. Like ThomsonNOW’s existing .PDF eBooks, FlashPaper eBooks offer intuitive search, zoom, and print features for easy reading online.

General Support General Technical Support is available at 1-888-281-2290 Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m., Friday from 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m., and Sunday from 2:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. For live chat or e-mail support, go to http://www.thomsonedu.com/support/tech_support_form.html. When contacting technical support, please provide the following information:

• First and last name • School, including campus • Operating System • Browser • Content Access Code or textbook ISBN