Your final projects

Last night I finished editing your final projects and returned them to you. As you'll see, they're not graded, but you'll find extensive comments as well as suggestions on organization and further reporting you should do.

The deadline for e-mailing your rewrite to me is Monday, April 21, at 10 a.m. Monday is a holiday, and I will not be on campus that day. But I will be working. If you need to reach me that day, you can do so by e-mail or by calling my cell phone.

Every project I read is either already a good story or can become one with some extra work. Here are a few things you need to keep in mind as you work on your rewrites:

• What I've done so far consists of structural editing and a little bit of copy editing. I have not checked the spelling of proper names. Please — triple-check every name via Google, Facebook or whatever. Each botched name will cost you a letter grade. Make sure you get full credit for your hard work.
• Your story should be around 2,500 words long; include interviews with at least eight people; links to at least 10 sources of outside information; and three embedded pieces of art, whether they are photos, videos or illustrations.
• Your rewrite should include a memo of, say, 300 to 500 words on additional ways that you could make your story a more fully realized piece of Web journalism. Is there, for instance, some way that you could incorporate a Google map? Is there an online presentation you could put together that would allow readers to add their own content? What Web features could you include that would help you develop follow-up stories? Please do not send me your memo as a separate document; rather, include it at the bottom of your story.
  

Let's aim for a strong finish.