help with radio buttons

I have a few groups of radio buttons that I need to evaluate using JavaScript before i submit it to another page using the GET method in my code.
the question I have is that my radio buttons are initally unchecked how do i go about evaluating my form to find out if the client checked one of my radio buttons.
here is my code so far:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>none</TITLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
function check(){
var value = false;
if (document.pro1.namez.value == ""){
alert("Your name is required");
document.pro1.namez.focus();
}
else if (document.pro1.idz.value == ""){
alert("Your Student ID is required");
document.pro1.idz.focus();
}
else if (document.pro1.major.value == ""){
alert("Your Major is required");
document.pro1.major.focus();
}
else if (window.document.pro1.classes.checked == false){
alert("You must pick a class");
document.pro1.classes.focus();
}
else if(document.pro1.comment.value == ""){
alert("You must supply a comment");
document.pro1.comment.focus();
}
else {
value=true;
}
return value;
}
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="ffffff">
<H1>Project 1</H1>
<FORM NAME="pro1" ACTION="A:\submit.html" METHOD="GET" onSubmit="return check()">
Name: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="namez" SIZE="80" />
<P />
Student ID: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="idz" SIZE="80" />
<P />
Major: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="major" SIZE="80" />
<P />
Minor: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="minor" SIZE="80" />
<P />
Degree: <SELECT NAME="degree" VALUE="degree">
<OPTION></OPTION>
<OPTION>Associate's</OPTION>
<OPTION>Bachelor's</OPTION>
<OPTION>Master's</OPTION>
<OPTION>Doctorate</OPTION>
</SELECT>
<P />
Proffesor:<BR />
 <SELECT NAME="prof" SIZE="15" VALUE="prof">
 <OPTION>Russell J. Abbott</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Vladimir N. Akis (Advisor)</OPTION> 
 <OPTION>Raj S Pamula (Chair)</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Behzad Parviz</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Jiang Guo</OPTION> 
 <OPTION>Carlos Amaya</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Jen Chen</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Ed Gean</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Jeffrey Miller</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Henry Liao</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Shubangi Falnikar</OPTION> 
 <OPTION>Smita Mittal</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Dennis Molgaard</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Bapa Rao</OPTION>
 <OPTION>Rod Villanueva</OPTION>
</SELECT>
<P />
Classes:<BR/>
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS101�>CS101Intro. to Higher Education<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS120�>CS120Intro. to Web Site Development<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS122�>CS122Using Relational Databases & SQL<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS160�>CS160Intro. to Computers<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS190�>CS190Basic Progr. (Visual Basic). <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS201�>CS201Intro. to Progr. (Java) <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS202�>CS202Intro. to OOP (Java) <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS203�>CS203Progr. with Data Struct. (Java) <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS240�>CS240Comp. Org. & Assembly Lang. <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS242�>CS242C/C++ Programming<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS245�>CS245Using Operating Systems & Networks for Programmers<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS290�>CS290Intro. to Fortran Progr. <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS312�>CS312Data Structures & Algorithms<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS320�>CS320Internet Prog. (Server Side) <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS332�>CS332Programming Lang. Paradigms<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS340�>CS340Assembly Lang. & Systems Progr. <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS342�>CS342Object Orinted Progamming (for non CS majors) <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE="CS345�>CS345UNIX & Shell Progr. <BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS350�>CS350Computer Graphics  I<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS370�>CS370Parallel and Distributed Prog<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS386�>CS386Intro. to Automata Theory<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS390�>CS390Software Architecture<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS422�>CS422Principles of Data Base Systems<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS432�>CS432Progr. Language Semantics<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS434�>CS434User Interface Mgmt. System<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS437�>CS437Software Engineering<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS440�>CS440Intro. to Operating Systems<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS422�>CS442Advanced Operating Systems<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS477�>CS447Computer Networks<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS450�>CS450Computer Graphics  II<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS454�>CS454Topics in Advanced CS<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS460�>CS460Artificial Intelligence<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS461�>CS461Machine Learning<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS486�>CS486Grammars, Lang. & Automata<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS488�>CS488Compilers<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS490�>CS490CS Recap. & Progr. Master Class<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="classes" VALUE=�CS499�>CS499Undergraduate Directed Study<BR />
<P />
Quarter:<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="quarter" VALUE=�SUMMER�>Summer 2003
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="quarter" VALUE="FALL">Fall 2003
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="quarter" VALUE="WINTER">Winter 2004
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="quarter" VALUE="SPRING">Spring 2004
<P />
Professor Rating:<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="prating" VALUE=�EXCELLENT�>Excellent
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="prating" VALUE="GOOD">Good
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="prating" VALUE="AVERAGE">Average
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="prating" VALUE="BAVERAGE">Below Average
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="prating" VALUE="POOR">Poor
<P />
Class Rating:<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="crating" VALUE=�EXCELLENT�>Excellent
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="crating" VALUE="GOOD">Good
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="crating" VALUE="AVERAGE">Average
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="crating" VALUE="BAVERAGE">Below Average
<INPUT TYPE="RADIO" NAME="crating" VALUE="POOR">Poor
<P />
Remain Anonymous: <INPUT TYPE="CHECKBOX" NAME="anon">
<P />
<TEXTAREA NAME="comment" ROWS="4" COLS="80"></TEXTAREA>
<BR />
<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Submit Evaluation">
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Could i possibly just have a lot of small forms for each individual group of radio buttons?

Look in my sig
Eric

Unlike most other form elments, the reference to the radio buttons by name evaluates to a collection rather than a single element.
So in your page document.pro1.classes references a collection of the radio elements named 'classes'. You can loop through this collection looking for which one has a 'checked' attribute set to true.
hth,
bear

Thanks for the help! i did not know about the checked attribute. That makes everything clear.