Guidelines for Presentation of Homework Solutions

Grading homework is never an easy task, especially for such a large class. Please help the graders by making your solutions neat and clear. It is to your advantage to do so, as well, because the amount of feedback that the grader can give to you will depend on whether he or she can follow your work. Here are some points to keep in mind while writing your solutions. The graders will be instructed that they may take off points if you do not follow reasonably well these guidelines. Simply having the correct answer and solution does not necessarily deserve full credit.

1. Use standard unfolded 8½ by 11 inch paper, preferably not torn out of a spiral-bound notebook. If you do use spiral-bound paper, then please remove all of the little torn pieces along the edge after you rip it out.

2. Please staple together all of your pages.

3. Print your name and the number of the assignment at the top of at least the first page.

4. Present your solutions in the order that the problems are assigned. Number them sequentially, as in the assignment. You may also include in parentheses the problem number in the textbook, but that should not be used in place of the number given on the assignment sheet. Don’t make the graders waste time searching for your solution!

5. Each solution to a problem or answer to a question should begin at the left margin of the paper. In other words, do not work in multiple columns. Your work should flow neatly from left to right and top to bottom.

6. Do not use red ink or red pencil!

7. Show each step of your work, including intermediate results, when solving a problem. Often you will be given the numerical answer. Therefore, just writing down the answer will not be worth any points. We do not want your scratch work, however. If you cannot write out the solution neatly in one go, then please work the problem first on scratch paper and then transcribe the solution neatly to the paper that you turn in.

8. Dimensional results must be presented along with the correct units. As an example, the distance that a ball travels should be presented as 63 m. The 63 alone would not be correct. Angles are not dimensional, but it is necessary to specify either radians or degrees in order not to confuse the two.

9. Numerical results must be presented with the correct number of significant figures. Writing one too many significant figures will generally be accepted, but no more! Please do not just write down all 8 to 10 digits that appear on your calculator display! As an example, if you add 8.2 m to 3.168 m, then the correct result is 11.4 m. Or if you calculate the circumference of a 1.5 m diameter circle, then the correct result is 4.7 m, not 5 m, and not 4.71238898 m!

10. Responses to essay questions must be presented in complete sentences. They need not be lengthy, but do try to write them such that they would be acceptable to your English professor.

11. If a graph or plot is requested, then it should be done to proper scale on graph paper (computer generated graphs are also fine). The graph should be drawn such that it fills most of the page. Each axis should be clearly labeled with the values along the axis, the name of the variable, and the units. Points should be plotted to the full accuracy possible with the graph paper, but curves may be interpolated freehand, or with a French curve, between points. If only a sketch is requested, then graph paper is not needed. However, in either case please use a straight edge to draw straight lines and a compass or something circular to draw circles, and make 90º angles truly look like right angles.