New Mexico Magazine Project (15% of grade)

  Ways in which the New Mexico Magazine Project grade will be calculated

To obtain credit for up to the full 15 percent of the project's grade, a student must maintain a portfolio that contains the following:

• Printouts of all e-mail query letters sent to with her reply. The first query must be e-mailed to Ashley Biggers by Sept. 10 with a copy by e-mail to the instructor. If that is rejected, a second query letter must be e-mailed to her by Oct. 1, also with a copy to the instructor.
• An acceptance of a story proposal from Ashley Biggers, or a minimum of two printed rejections.
  • The article accepted by Ashley Biggers must be printed with copies of accompanying photos and submitted to the instructor by Oct. 29.
  • If none of at least two queries is accepted by Ashley Biggers, one of those queries or a new one is to be sent to the instructor by Nov. 20, followed by a story that meets New Mexico Magazine's criteria, which will be written and submitted no later than Dec. 3. The story to the instructor must include printouts of one or more photos taken by the student for the story. (Photos and photos cannot be e-mailed to the instructor.) Each story must include the category for which it is written and a word count. Stories significantly above or below the established word count for that category will be penalized.
• Printed drafts of all versions of the eventual magazine story written by the student — with the initial version going first to the instructor for approval before being sent to New Mexico Magazine. (Submission of the first draft of any story accepted by Ashley Biggers must be submitted to the instructor for review no later than Nov. 20.)
• A copy of every e-mail or other correspondence between the student and Ashley Biggers, including a copy of the photo(s) if submitted to Ashley Biggers. (If the student's story is written for the instructor, printouts of the photo(s) must be submitted with the instructor's copy of the article on Dec. 3.)
• A xerographic or Internet printed copy of the story if it is published in the magazine or on the magazine's Web site before the end of the semester.
• The magazine portfolio is due on Dec. 8.

Failure to meet any of the above deadlines, or submission of an incomplete portfolio, will result in a lowered grade. Early completion of the portfolio and project requirements will receive a grading bonus.