Everyone is assigned individual topics and due dates. To find yours: (1) visit our grades table; (2) find your Secret ID for the course in the alphabetized first column; (3) see your essay topic and deadline in the second and third columns of the table to the right of your Secret ID. Remember, assignments are due BEFORE midnight on the date listed.

When your final draft is ready to submit, use the red "Submit" button on our Essay Instructions page under the WPP Essays menu. The online form will require you to enter your ID, and will then require you to copy and paste your essay paragraphs and references separately. Make sure to read and follow all instructions on the form carefully!

It's not an instantaenous process. After the deadline, I will spend time debugging the essays to make sure they display properly in our WPP Interactive Map. All essays should be posted by noon on the day after the deadline (make sure you refresh your browser window). If your essay still isn't displayed at that time, email Britton.Shepardson nau.edu, and we'll resolve the issue.

This is when you practice conducting your own independent library/online research:

• Use Cline Library


• Use Wikipedia, ESPECIALLY the references listed at the bottom of the page when you search a particular topic


• Use Google. Be creative with your search terms and phrasing to really scour the internet


• Whatever you do, double- and triple-check your information. No single site or system should be considered reliable. Quality research is about consulting multiple sources and trying to make sense of any discrepancies. If you find severely conflicting information between sites, that's ok. Consider the reputation of each site, and you might need to consider the possibility that not even the "experts" have all the answers. It's not always your job to resolve these conflicts. Your job is merely to relay to the class what the experts have published.

As stated on our Essay Instructions page under the WPP Essays menu, essays must not exceed 300 words. Your word count, however, will not include your references. The online form will require you to enter your ID, and will then require you to copy and paste your essay paragraphs and references separately. Make sure to read and follow all instructions on the form carefully!

As stated on our Essay Instructions page under the WPP Essays menu, yes... but only as one of your minimal three references. Many professors don't consider Wikipedia to be a reliable source. I on the other hand, believe that no single source should be considered reliable or infallibly true. There's actually a Wikipedia page on the Reliability of Wikipedia if you want to know more about that (Wikipedia performs remarkably well when compared to other sources of information, in tests conducted by third parties). The point is... any source might be good, and it might be bad. This is why you need to learn to think critically and compare your sources of information logically.

As stated on our Essay Instructions page under the WPP Essays menu, ABSOLUTELY NOT. This essay is so short that there simply isn't any space for anyone's words but your own. Make sure that you read, digest, and then relay the information in your own words.

Essay grades are assigned based on Content and Style. Your final essay grade is based on peer evaluations (50%), professor evaluation (50%), and whether or not you successfully completed the requirements for your "First Five" bonus.

See our References Guide linked to our Essay Instructions page under the WPP Essays menu.

See our First Five link under the Extra Credit menu.