DORDT COLLEGE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
Spring Semester, 2005
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: Professor C.S. Lewis was once asked by another
professor what he did about plagiarism. Here is his
advise, which Prof. De Boer follows:
I only once detected a pupil offering me someone
else (Elton) as his own work. I told him I was
not a detective nor even a schoolmaster, nor a
nurse, and that I absolutely refused to take any
precaution against such a puerile trick; that I'd
as soon think it my business to see that he washed
behind his ears or wiped his bottom. He went down
[dropped out] of his own accord the next week
and I never saw him again. I think you ought to
make a general announcement of that sort. You
must not waste your time constantly reading me and
Dowden and Churton Collins as a sort of police
measure. It is bad for them to think this is "up
to you." Flay them alive if you happen to detect
them; but don't let them feel that you are a
safeguard against the effects of their own
idleness. What staggers me is how any man can
prefer the galley-slave labour of transcription to
the freeman's work of attempting [the assignment]
on his own." --Letter from Lewis to
Dr. Alastair Fowler,
December 10, 1959.
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 a general statement, see
Dordt's 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.
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