DORDT COLLEGE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT 
                       Fall Semester, 2004

                        HOMEWORK STANDARDS
                 For Professor De Boer's Classes 

0.) The overall goal of doing homework is to LEARN BY 
       EXPLAINING HOW PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED.  To do this you need 
       to present a clear and reasonably detailed sequence of 
       rational statements to show HOW a problem is solved.  The 
       correct answer is not the goal, learning is.  A fuzzy 
       presentation with too many skipped steps may be 
       interpreted as a lack of understanding on your part and 
       may be graded down accordingly. 
       
       Your grade will be based on HOW WELL YOU SHOW how to solve 
       the problem, not simply on the final answer.  Getting a 
       correct answer from the text or from a friend is not 
       educational, unless you fully understand how to get that 
       answer.  Similarly, grades are not based on what you were 
       thinking but instead on what you write that SHOWS HOW to 
       solve the problem.  This concept--that you learn by 
       SHOWING HOW to solve problems--is numbered "zero" because 
       it comes before everything.  (Of course correct answers 
       are also required in addition to the explanation of how to 
       get the correct answer.) 
       
       Some texts give some answers so that you may check your 
       method of solution.  Especially when the answer is in the 
       textbook, be sure your homework solution demonstrates how 
       to solve the problem.  Given answers will not count toward 
       the grade.  Only the quality of the description of how to 
       get a given answer will count.  If you write only a given 
       answer, you get zero points even if the answer is right.  
       (After all, you could have just copied the answer.) 

       It is no good coming to my office after you get a 
       disappointing grade to argue that you knew how to solve 
       the problem and deserve a better grade because the answer 
       was correct and you just forgot to write down the 
       intermediate steps or forgot to mention a principle or 
       theorem.  (This applies whether or not the answer was 
       given).  You must EXPLAIN HOW PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED. 
       
1.) TYPE OF PAPER:  Use 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper 
       (or nearly that size). 
     --Legal size paper is not acceptable. 
     --Paper ripped out of a spiral binder is not acceptable 
       unless you use a scissors to neatly cut the ragged edge 
       off. 
     --Engineering paper is recommended but not required. 

2.) ONE SIDE ONLY:  Use only one side of each sheet of paper (do 
       not write on the back side of the paper).  Exception: 
       computer-printed pages may be printed on both sides in 
       order to conserve paper. 

3.) PAGE LAYOUT AND NEATNESS:  Start each new problem at the top 
       of a new page.  (Exception: if the problem is short enough 
       to finish it on the same page you started it.)  Write 
       legibly.  Consider using white space to set off 
       important parts of the problem or answers.  Boxes and 
       underlining can also be helpful for the grader.  You may 
       be graded down if the grader has difficulty deciphering 
       what you have written or finding an answer. 

4.) WRITE WITH A PENCIL, USE A GOOD ERASER:  Mistakes are 
       expected.  By using a pencil you can erase your mistakes 
       and save the grader the effort of looking through 
       scratched-out lines.  You will spend enough time on the 
       homework to justify good quality equipment.  A 0.5 mm 
       mechanical pencil (e.g. Pentel brand or equivalent) and a 
       white plastic eraser (e.g. Pentel "Click") will pay for 
       themselves with time saved.  This equipment is available 
       at the Dordt Bookstore and at other local merchants such 
       as The Pencil Box and Walmart.

5.) PROBLEM SUMMARY:  Start each problem with a summary of the 
       problem statement.  As an alternative, you may photocopy 
       the problem statement page, cut the problem statement 
       out of the photocopy, and paste it onto your homework.

6.) UNITS:  When the problem statement includes units (seconds, 
       volts, etc.) then the answer should include appropriate 
       units. 

7.) NUMBER FORMAT:  Use an appropriate number of significant 
       figures for your answers (usually 3 unless the answer is 
       obviously an integer quantity) and use engineering or 
       scientific notation appropriately.  Do not allow leading 
       decimals.  (Right: 0.125    Wrong: .125) 

8.) GRAPH FORMAT:  Graphs should be an appropriate size.  If the 
       graph is an answer, this usually means at least two inches 
       high and 3 inches wide.  It is also necessary that the 
       graph be appropriately scaled.  If you can cover the 
       interesting area of the graph with your thumb, the graph 
       is either too small or not scaled appropriately.  

       Title the graph and label both axes with quantity and 
       units where appropriate, example labels shown below: 


                           Fuse Current vs. Time 
                   50 
                      
                      
                   40 
                      
          Current     
                   30 
            (mA)      
                      
                   20 
                      
                      
                   10 
                      
                      
                    0 
                     0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8 
                                 Time  (s) 

9.) USE OF CALCULATORS AND COMPUTERS:  
       Use calculators and computers appropriately to perform 
       routine and tedious operations and calculations.  If you 
       will not be allowed to use a calculator during the tests, 
       consider doing more calculations by hand so that you are 
       prepared better for the tests.
       
       You may be graded down for using a calculator or computer 
       to do a trivial operation.  (For just one example, you 
       should know that sin(0) = 0 without needing a calculator.)  
       Your professor's experience is that calculators and 
       computers are sometimes used inappropriately for 
       non-routine symbolic work--work you don't know how to 
       explain--and underutilized for producing clear and 
       accurate graphs. 

       If you use a computer (e.g. Mathcad) to help you solve a 
       problem, print the file and staple it to your homework. If 
       you write a program (Visual Basic, Java, Matlab, etc.) 
       print the source code (use a fixed pitch font if you have 
       a choice) and print the output of the program.  No 
       printout?  Credit may be denied! 

       If you use an unusual feature of your calculator, say an 
       equation solver, definite integral solver, or matrix 
       inverse operator, make a marginal note.  (e.g. "Used 
       matrix inverse on my TI-89 calculator.")  If you use such 
       a feature repeatedly, you only need to note your method 
       once, near the first instance. 

10.) NO TEAMWORK:  
       I require you to do your homework individually.  For  
       example, you may not divide the homework assignment into 
       pieces, assign the pieces to a group of friends, and then 
       get together to copy what the others did.  You must do all 
       of each assignment yourself.  

       You may talk with others to share answers and discuss 
       solution methods.  This helps you discover how to solve 
       problems.  Such communication about homework ought to be 
       verbal, not in writing.  It ought to be person-to-person, 
       not a group meeting (Exceptions: for meetings outside of 
       class that are arranged by your instructor or for e-mail 
       or written notes which function in lieu of a verbal 
       conversation.)  In your discussions you may mention 
       answers you have arrived at, and you may mention 
       techniques and equations that you used, and sections of 
       the textbook, lectures, or other reference materials that 
       you found useful, etc.  You may also share in writing and 
       compare previously graded homework from your class (NOT 
       from previous offerings of the class) with your 
       classmates. 
                            
       Teamwork is a technique for doing more work than one 
       individual acting alone can do.  Homework is for your 
       individual study, thus teamwork is not appropriate for 
       doing homework.  We use teamwork in the lab, partly as a 
       necessity, and partly as an introduction to the type of 
       working environment found in industry.  Do not confuse the 
       goals of the lab work with the goals of homework. 
       

11.) PLAGIARISM:  
       You can go too far with discussions on homework.  For 
       example, working directly from another student's paper, or 
       from an e-mail or a computer file that essentially 
       contains the solution, is plagiarism.  Using someone 
       else's computer file that contains a solution or a portion 
       of a solution (e.g. a Mathcad file could be of this type) 
       is also plagiarism.  Using someone else's graded homework 
       from a previous offering of the course is plagiarism.  I 
       count giving such information as plagiarism also.  Keep 
       your computer files private.  For more details, see 
       Dordt's general policy on "Academic Dishonesty" in the 
       "Student Life and Housing Policies" section of the Student 
       Handbook. 

12.) REFERENCE BOOKS:  If you use a table of integrals or trig. ID 
       or a theorem or other such material from a reference book, 
       you need to cite the source.  (e.g. "Used table of 
       integrals in calc. book by Edwards & Penny, 4th edition."  
       Subsequent citations can be even shorter, e.g. "Integral 
       Table.")  Since this is homework, a full citation (such as 
       in a bibliography) and the format of the citation is not 
       important--just so that a reader knows you did not pull 
       something out of thin air, and that you could go back to 
       the source. 

13.) PROOFS (ALSO "SHOW," "EXPLAIN," "DERIVE," ETC.):
       Engineering is about people, ideas, creativity, etc.  It 
       is not simply applied math and science.  This means that 
       an engineering proof needs to expose the thought process 
       used to establish the believed truth of some statement.  
       Generally, you cannot do a proof by computer because the 
       computer does not expose the thought processes, it only 
       gets "the right answer."  When you are asked to prove 
       something, be sure to name the appropriate principles and 
       theorems and show how they fit together to establish that 
       which is to be proved.  Note:  words like "show," 
       "explain," "derive," etc. usually mean the same thing as 
       "prove." 

       Just for contrast:  The difference between a regular 
       homework problem and a proof is that for a regular 
       homework problem you may assume that your reader 
       recognizes the common axioms, theorems, laws, etc. that 
       you are using (name only the unusual ones).  For a proof, 
       you must tell the reader what all the significant axioms, 
       theorems, etc., are, even if they are routinely 
       recognizable. 
       
14.) PAGE HEADING:  Put your name, course number and problem set 
       number on each page.  Staple in the upper left corner.