Jackels Spring
2003
Purpose. During the course of the term, we will discuss some ways in which
computerization and information technology affects the ways in which people
identify, understand, and solve important problems. The topics chosen for class discussion are only a few; there are
many aspects of this question that could be developed. They can include the ethical and social
aspects as well as the actual solutions to problems. The purpose of this project is to go further by exploring some
aspect of this question.
This
project will result in both individual research papers and classroom
presentations, which should give you
the opportunity to learn about your topic and to convey your knowledge to the
class. You will be expected to use the scholarly literature, text books, web
sites, and government reports to give the class an overview of the
subject. In some instances, popular
literature may be appropriate at least in part.
Format. These projects will be individual efforts, although
you are expected to be part of a writing group that gives its members peer
review and evaluation. We may use an
electronic peer review tool for this purpose.
There will be an written component worth 30% of your final course grade
and a presentation (lecture and question/answer session) worth 10%. There
should be appropriate handouts for the audience at the oral presentation.
Length. The “target” length of your individual paper should be 8-10
pages, not counting the title or bibliography pages. The format shall be double
spaced, 1 inch margins, and 12 pt fonts.
No large fonts or wide margins should be used. It is expected that there may be some modest sized figures, equations and tables in your paper. If such
material represents a significant amount of space, your paper should become
enough longer to accommodate it and still yield 8-10 pages of actual writing.
As you are making decisions about what to include, discuss it with me if you
are having difficulty working within these limits.
Breadth and
Depth.
The
depth of your research should be sufficient to give the class a pretty good
understanding of the problem and to allow a thorough presentation of it. Your
project may have technical content, but should also include other important
aspects of the problem. While it is not a goal of this paper to develop a
comprehensive bibliography of the subject, your citations should be sufficient
to allow the reader to pursue this topic independently as well as to provide
the necessary references for the material you have used.
You are to consider your classmates to be your
target audience. The paper is to be
written with sufficient explanation and clarification so as to be understood by
them. Do not assume that your reader is
a person highly trained or broadly read in these topics.
Citations. Most physical science
articles use an endnote style (Heath-ch24) of referencing; you should do the same. There are a number of variants of this style in the various
science journals. You should employ the
“Citation-Sequence” system in which numeric citations in the text, tables, and
figure legends are numbers that refer to the articles, chapters, books, etc.,
listed in a single list at the end of your section (chapter) of the document. As general references see: 1) Scientific Style and Format: the CBE Manual
for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (UWB Reference Desk); and 2) Heath
Handbook, Ch 24. The Chicago Style
Guide in the library also gives examples of satisfactory formats for the
endnotes. Within this general style,
there are many variations in the range of science journals. We shall refer to the journal Science, the leading interdisciplinary
science journal in the United States for the format to be used in this class; look over any issue in the library to see
good examples. Details will be
provided in a subsequent handout.
World
Wide Web documents may be used as your references only if they are the most
appropriate ones available. Their
citation should include the name of the author or sponsoring institution, the
title of the actual document, the date on which you read it, and the complete
URL ( e.g. http://faculty.washington.edu/jackels/css325.a02). In other words, it must be complete enough
for the reader to locate and read. As with any source, you bear the burden
of evaluating it for merit. As with
printed material, much of that on the web is simply opinion or worse and is
unrefereed. When feasible, a good
procedure is to verify that the web page author is also a recognized author or
scholar in the area. If possible, allow the web page information
to lead you into the related printed literature. Most serious authors want to place their work somewhere more
permanent and respected than their home page; look for their published work. One major exception is government reports,
which are often published on the web in official archival form.
If you use WWW sources that are not directly
available in the printed literature, you are expected to print those pages
actually cited and have them attached as appendixes to your final paper. If in doubt, attach the pages or ask me
about them. (Each term,
some students lose points for this omission.)
Preliminary
Submissions (for your individual paper).
·
Working
bibliographies will be handed in early in the process. These are not expected to be your final
bibliographies, but are expected to contain at
least four solid sources. Many WWW
sources will not be considered by me to be “solid.” These bibliographies are to be annotated in order to provide some
indication of what they contain, how you will use their information, and how
authoritative they are. See Heath 19c
and 19d for suggestions on these annotations.
·
Approximately
70% of the way through the process, a proposal of one page, a hierarchical
outline (Heath Ch 5d), and an expanded working bibliography will be due. The outline is to give a clear indication of
the proposed organization of your paper, recognizing that this may change as it
is completed. The proposal is meant to
explain to me what aspect of the subject you are covering and what limitations
you are placing on its scope. You can
present some rationale for the choice of subject. The proposal is your opportunity to get my formal feedback
concerning your subject definition. The
proposal should be carefully written in formal English. At this point, the working bibliography
should contain at least eight solid sources in most cases.
·
During
the ninth week of the term, you will hand in a “rough draft” of your
paper. This will be a snapshot of the
state of your paper at that time. You
will not be expected to spend time putting any finishing touches on it, but
rather just submit the entire document and bibliography as it exists at that
time
·
I
will comment upon the bibliographies, outlines, and proposals, giving specific suggestions as to the direction the
paper should take. In some cases I
will require you to resubmit these materials; these steps must be accomplished
satisfactorily and in a timely manner. The material presented will also
give me an example of your writing style, so that I can provide timely feedback
on it. The working bibliographies, outlines, and proposal statements will be
handed in electronically; I will retain
copies of these and the feedback I give to you. In general, I will not give detailed feedback on the rough draft
submission. These preliminary materials
and your responses to my comments are worth 20% of the assignment's
grade.
·
We
will use electronic submission of these materials.
Schedule.
·
Annotated
working bibliographies are due April 21 (electronically).
·
Outlines,
proposals, and enhanced working bibliographies are due on May 12
(electronically).
·
Rough
drafts of the partially completed papers will be submitted electronically on
May 27. These will not be returned to
you, but will be retained to help me evaluate your overall research and writing
process.
·
Preliminary
materials will be evaluated even if submitted late; but with a penalty of ¼
credit.
·
Final
versions of individual papers will be due at
the start of class on June 2 in electronic format. Papers will not be
accepted more than one week late (5:45 PM on June 9), and a penalty of 10% will be assessed if the final
version is at all late. Note
that disk crashes, printer failures, etc. do not qualify as excuses.
·
The
presentations will take place during assigned time slots on June 2 and 4.
During the third week of the term, you will take responsibility for a
particular presentation time slot.
Since this date represents a firm appointment, you need to give it top
priority and make sure that your extracurricular or job responsibilities do not
conflict with it.
Topics: They will be chosen beginning in the second week of
the term.
.
Presentation Schedule: To be chosen during the third class week.