How to create your Google Doc journal for Philosophy 180


Creating your philosophy journal Google Doc


If you have a gmail account, then you already have access to Google Docs.  Just log in to your gmail account and click on the Documents link at the top of the page. 


If you do not have a gmail account, you can get one by going to mail.google.com.


If you prefer not to use gmail, you can still get a Google account by following the steps in this video.



Once you have established a Google account you  are ready to create the document that will be your philosophy journal.

 

This is how you do it.

 

BE SURE TO FOLLOW EVERY SINGLE STEP EXACTLY AS STATED!!!

  1. Sign in to your Google  account.
  2. Click on Documents (or Docs)
  3. Click on Create (or Create New) >>Document  
  4. Click on Untitled (upper left hand corner of webpage immediately to the right of the picture that says Google Docs) and title your essay exactly as follows: 
    1. Your first and last name, Philosophy 180 journal 
    2. For example:  Joanne Smythe, Philosophy 180 journal
  5. Click Share  >>Sharing Settings 
  6. In the 'add people' box type grandolphmayes@gmail.com.
  7. Leave the "Can edit" in place.  This allows me to make comments on your journal.
  8. UNclick the "notify people by e-mail".  This is very important.  Even though it is recommended by Google, I do not want to receive an e-mail from you when you share this journal with me.
  9. Click 'Share and save'
    1. Note: after this step you might be told that it didn't work because the number of allowable shared documents has been exceeded.  This happens sometimes when many people are creating a document to share with me at the same time.  Just try again, or try again later.  It will work eventually.
  10. Click 'Done.

You now have created a philosophy journal document which I can view and edit at any time. You will not need to perform the above process again. Your entire journal will be on this one document. This document exists online, like a Facebook page, not in your computer. Absolutely do NOT download this document, make journal entries, then upload it again.  This will delete the revision history, which I require for grading purposes.



How to format your philosophy journal


    

   1.    For every class period in What's Up, I will give you a list of study questions most of which will be designed to help you think about lecture and online material, as well as to prepare you for the upcoming clicker quiz.


    2.    Begin your journal entry with the date indicated, and copy and paste the questions into the top of your journal page. (This means that every new entry will be at the top of the page, not the bottom.)

    3.    Type every answer underneath the corresponding question.  

  
How I grade your journal

    1.      Although I will occasionally drop in and make comments on your entries, you will not receive a grade for your journal until the end of the semester.

    2.      In  order to receive maximum credit you need to make consistent entries by the intended date.  You can not get credit for simply writing a bunch of journal entries all at once. (When you do this, it is visible in the revision history, so don't do it.)

    3.     Your journal will not be graded so much for the correctness of the answers, but for how carefully done it is.  This means that you need to compose your answers carefully, in complete sentences, using college level English, and a minimum of grammatical and spelling errors.  Journals that are kept up consistently, but are carelessly done will not receive much credit. 


Some very important warnings

It is very important that you do your own work!   It is perfectly acceptable to discuss the questions among yourselves, but do not share your entries with anyone and do not copy other people's entries.  This is highly detectable in the Google Docs environment, and it will result in failing the entire class.  

Do not share your journal with anyone but me, because you are just as liable for people copying your work as you are for copying theirs. (Do not share your Google password with anyone.)  

Also, you are not doing your own work if you simply copy answers from the textbook or transcribe verbatim what you hear in videos and interviews.  Answer the questions using your own words.  Journals that are plagiarized in this way will receive no credit.


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