Course grading policy:

Grading scale.

  A  = [90,infinity)
  B+ = [85,90)
  B  = [80,85)
  C+ = [75,80)
  C  = [70,75)
  D+ = [65,70)
  D  = [60,65)
  E  = [0,60)

Notation: [a,b) means the "half-open" interval of real numbers x greater than or equal to a and less than b.  The cutoffs given are strict; even if you have 89.99, this is still only a B+, unless you can earn more points!!

Fortunately, there will be many and varied opportunities to earn points (assignments).  Your course grade is simply the sum of points earned on all material you have turned in up to 5 pm on the last day of classes (April 24).  (This and all deadlines in the course are firm; no exceptions.)  You could earn all your points on the last day, although it is probably easier to intersperse them throughout the semester.  There are 14 full weeks in the course, so you need to earn an average of 7.14 points per week.

Types of assignments.

• Homework problems (1-5 points each).  Each week we will give out a problem set containing at least 7 points' worth of homework problems, so you could get an "A" in the course by doing just these problems, and nothing else.  These problems will typically be in the form of a written calculation or hand-analysis, a simple programming puzzle or other simple design problem, or a simple numerical or computational experiment.  Solutions may be made available to these problems any time after 1 week after the assignment is assignmed, so these problems will have a firm deadline of 1 week after they are assigned (by 5pm that day), or whenever their solutions are first made available (whichever time is later). To be safe, you should turn them in within the 1-week 5pm deadline. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.

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• Short paper (7 points each).  This was the primary means of earning points last time the course was taught (Spring 2002).  See the top and bottom of this page for the guidelines from that class.  These guidelines are repeated and slightly updated for this class below.  If you choose this option, you may only turn in one such paper on each week's worth of course material.  This is not a race assignment, but if you cheat on it, it will be very easy for us to tell, due to the similarities in the writing and/or content.  DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.

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• Lecture notes (7 points each).  At the start of each lecture, I will ask for a volunteer to record the lecture and write up detailed lecture notes.  If you wish to do this, bring a small cassette recorder with you to class, so you will have a record of my voice and don't have to keep up with your writing, and can make sure you don't miss anything.  Write the lecture notes in the "Notes view" within the PowerPoint file for the lecture.  The notes should be complete.

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• Projects (5-50 points).  These are projects more substantial than most homework problems, that force you to dive into a topic in some depth.  Often they will be of the nature of programming projects or computational/numerical experiments, although simple physical experiments may also be done by students with access to appropriate facilities.  We will suggest project ideas, or, you can suggest your own and we will tell you their point values. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.

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• Presentations (5-25 points).  You may report the results of a research survey (above), a small project (above), or work you did on a research problem (below) in the form of a PowerPoint presentation to the class, in addition to a report.  The plan is to set aside one or a few days for these presentations at the end of the semester.  Points earned will be determined by length and quality of your presentation. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.

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• Research problems (10-100 points).  These will generally be "race" problems (see #4 under collaboration), where I specify some actual research problem (which may either be literature research, or real analytical or computational research) that I need solved.  New research problems will be listed in each weekly assignment.  You can turn in reports on these at any time up to the end of the semester, but the sooner you turn them in, the less your risk of being scooped by another group.  In its cut-throat competitiveness, this assignment simulates somewhat the flavor of real-world research.  DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.

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• Publishable research articles (100+ points).  If you produce a publishable-quality conference or journal article (with enough contributions from me to fairly include me as a co-author), either on a topic I suggest, or another that you suggest, and you actually submit the article for publication before the end of the semester, you can earn enough points by this one act to earn an "A" for the whole semester, or, if the paper is good enough, even an "A" for every member of your group.  A paper on a given topic is always a race assignment, but I will let you know if another group is working on it.  The paper can either be on your own research, or on research that has been done already in my research group that is not yet published (however, in the latter case, my previous collaborators must be appropriately credited). DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.

Short paper option - more details

The intent is to encourage people to do the readings.  Generally, for this class, don't feel that you absolutely must read every single reading. You probably won't have time. Skim through the readings, and read more thoroughly, at your leisure, the ones that you think you will get the a lot out of.

If you attend the lectures and pay close attention, you should already know most of what you need to do a satisfactory (though maybe not excellent) job on this assignment. But still, for each lecture, try to also read at least one or two of its corresponding readings, and as many of the others as you have time for.

Also, don't worry if you don't understand every bit of what you read. In this course we will be reading materials that span a wide range of levels of depth and sophistication, and not everyone will understand every phrase and formula in every paper. (Not even myself!) Just skim over any elements that you don't comprehend, and try to get what you can out of the remainder of the article.

Try to read some of the readings for each lecture either shortly before that lecture, or soon afterwards (before the next lecture), so that you can more easily relate the readings to the lecture in your mind.

The assignment is to write a short paper, at least 2 pages long (single-spaced, with reasonable font sizes & margins) in which you may do any of the following, at your option. Please indicate at the top of your paper which option(s) you are pursuing. Please also write concisely and neatly; computer preparation of papers is preferred.  You can email your paper to the TAs, or turn in hardcopy to them or in class.

Your grade on this assignment will be based primarily on our subjective assessment of your current level of participation, involvement, and effort in the course, as reflected by the content of your paper. Generally, the higher-numbered options below will be taken as indicating a greater level of involvement, although you can get full credit for any option, if you do an excellent job on it.

You may only turn in one short paper on the material from each week's worth of class.

Options:

   1.Summarize what you learned from this week's lectures and/or readings.
   2.Write a summary, review, or critique of one or more of the articles/chapters that you read.  Cite all sources!
   3.Describe and elaborate on any creative or interesting ideas/thoughts relating to the subject matter that might have been stimulated in your mind as you were
     listening to/reading/reflecting on the material.
   4.Set up and carry out any interesting analysis or calculation relating to any of the quantitative/technical ideas covered during the week.
   5.Teach me something that you know from your own background or prior studies that relates to this week's material, that was not covered in lecture or
     readings.   Cite your sources!
   6.If you think that some statement that was made in lecture or in one of the readings is wrong (or inaccurate), write a coherent argument explaining why it
     appears to be wrong, and suggest what correct alternative statement could be made instead.
   7.Do a bit of research on your own using one or two readings not specifically assigned, which relate to this material. (You may use the web and/or the library.)
     Summarize what you learned and cite your references.

On all of these options, to earn full credit, it is important for you to tie together ideas from more than one source (lecture, readings, external sources, your own ideas & background) into a coherent document, and cite all your sources clearly and explicitly.

Collaboration policy & Academic honesty.

1. The group of collaborators turns in a joint assignment with the names of everyone in the group on it.  (You can consider each problem on a problem set to be a separate assignment, and list the collaborators separately for each problem turned in, or you may group subsets of the problems together, under the list of people who collaborated on them.)
2. The assignment is scored according to a standard that ignores the size of the group that worked on it.
3. If there are n members of the group, each person earns 2/(n+1) of the points that the assignment itself scores.  E.g., with 2 people in the group, each person earns 2/3 = ~67% of the assignment's score.  But with 4 people in the group, each person only earns 2/5 = 40% of the assignment's score.  This formula is intended to encourage some, but not too much collaboration.  (There are diminishing returns as the group size increases.)
4. To discourage sharing of information outside your declared group, certain assignments will be declared "race" assignments.  You will receive 0 credit on these assignments unless either (1) you are the first group to turn in the assignment, or (2) the score on your group's assignment is higher than that of any groups previously submitting that same assignment, in which case your assignment's score is reduced by subtracting the highest score previously turned in.  If you consult outside your group on these assignments, you risk losing some or all of your points, if the people you consulted with turn in their assignment first!