JOHN WESTMAN INTRODUCTION FOR FACULTY TO THIS SEQUENCED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS When I think of all of the lessons that I learned in preparing the long writing assignment, the following is the most important to me: that I should care. The first time that I included a writing component in the Calculus course I did not take much time in describing the assignment or expectations, since I thought it was not particularly good use of my time. The results from the class mirrored my own lack of effort. The inclusion of the writing component of the course was not by my choice, but rather reflected a stated goal of the course from the common departmental syllabus. The kind of assignment I wrote for that class was essentially this: write up one of these problems and make it good. This approach is so flawed that the students turned in very marginal work; therefore the students, as well as myself, saw the writing assignments as busy work and nothing was really gained. The lesson that I learned during the Center for Writing Excellence/CELT Workshop on Improving Student Writing transformed the structure of these short assignments and I am hopeful that the work and effort that I have/will put into these assignments will lead to improved results. I hope to see better papers that have made the students think not only about mathematics but also about how this type of information needs to be communicated to others. I could probably write for a long time on this. But simply to summarize the experience, I have had a breakthrough and relearned the lesson that if you are going to do something, do it well.
JOHN WESTMAN SEQUENCED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS FOR STUDENTS
Writing Assignments for MTH 151 Introduction: In this course there will be several writing assignments. Each one of these assignments will be equally weighted and will be worth 10 points. The writing component accounts for 10% of your grade. So if there are 2 papers, then each is worth 5% of your final grade. Rationale: There will be a series of writing assignments throughout the term meant to enhance your learning experience. In these papers you will be asked to provide explanations, solve problems, and illustrate the methods of calculus in an applied setting. Therefore, you must completely understand the underlying mathematics in order to prepare these papers. It is strongly suggested that you solve the problems first and then formulate an outline for the written solution. Format: You must use a word processor that has equation capability to write the paper, for example Microsoft Word with Equation Editor 3.0 available in the computer labs on campus. Each of the assignments should be 1 to 4 pages in length double-spaced at 11 point Times New Roman. Note that you may draw figures in by hand. The style of writing should integrate words and mathematics in your write up. Make sure that you incorporate the mathematical notation with the guidelines provided for the class. The examples in the textbook are great illustrations of how you should structure your solutions. Pay particular attention on how mathematical symbols are presented. Proofread the paper for clarity, correct mathematics, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. General Criteria for Evaluation: The following general criteria will be used to determine your grade. For a given assignment, there may be additional criteria specified as well. * There should be a synergy between the words used and the mathematics provided. * Your paper should be technically well written, easy to read and understand, succinct, and accurate. You should make sure that your paper has correct mathematics, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. * Your paper should accurately use mathematics and appropriately include the mathematics in the text. * The paper should conform to the style specified including all considerations for the target audience. You should make sure to write your paper for the target audience specified and provide the appropriate level of detail. For example, if you write for the professor or a fellow student of this class, they would be very interested in the details of the process whereas if you write an explanation for a business person the level of detail should only highlight the necessary steps of the process in order to determine the solution and more importantly provide a recommendation for the action that should be taken. * The paper should meet all of the goals for the assignment and be presented in a logical and well-organized manner that develops the solution. Standards for Grading: The following guidelines are used to determine the grade for the paper and represent typical aspects for papers in a given range. * 9 or 10 points: An excellent paper that meets all of the goals for the paper with the correct target audience, proper format, correct mathematics presented appropriately, and the paper is free of grammatical errors and misspellings. This paper will be easy to read and understand. * 7 or 8 points: A good paper that satisfies the criteria for the paper but is lacking in some aspect. Typically, the presentation of the mathematics is not appropriate for the target audience, missing some necessary mathematics or discussion, or contains problems with grammar, misspelling, or format. * 5 or 6 points: A competent paper that tries to address the problem in the paper but falls short. Typically, minor problems with the underlying mathematics leading to incorrect or misleading discussion of the solution and contains problems with grammar, misspelling, or format. * 3 or 4 points: A weak paper that does not address the solution in a satisfying way. Typically, major problems with the mathematics and/or a paper that is confusing and difficult to read because of grammatical errors, misspellings, or poor organization. * 1 or 2 points: Poor papers that are lacking in all aspects. Typically, these papers are very difficult to read because of grammar errors and misspellings and contain incorrect mathematics. * 0 points: This grade will be assigned in cases of plagiarism, late or missing submissions, or exceptionally poor papers. Suggestions: * Work out the mathematics ahead of time for the problem. * Create a clear concept or outline of how the solution to the problem should be presented to the target audience. This should result in a clear and easy to read and understand paper. * If you are unclear about any aspect of a paper make sure to resolve this with me. * During office hours, I will provide feedback on working drafts of your paper. This information should then be used to revise your paper. * The following link provides available STUDENT RESOURCES for writing.
Assignments: * Assignment 1 Assigned ##.##.#### Due: in one week at the beginning of class One page paper explaining to someone who has never seen calculus what a limit means in terms of a delta-epsilon argument. * Assignment 2 Assigned ##.##.#### Due: in one week at the beginning of class Two to four page paper solving a related rates problem with some fun non math target audience. * Assignment 3 Assigned ##.##.#### Due: in one week at the beginning of class Two to four page paper written to a business person with a recommendation for action based on the solution of an optimization problem. * Assignment 4 Assigned ##.##.#### Due: in one week at the beginning of class Exploring the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus * Assignment 5 Assigned ##.##.#### Due: in one week at the beginning of class Two to four page paper written to a machinist, a non math person, describing the type of stock to be used to machine a given solid of revolution. This analysis should include dimensions for the stock, the amount of material to be removed, and how the piece should be machined in terms of orientation relative to the tool. The above assignments are meant to be placeholders for the short assignments described and will be made available as they are assigned. I am not sure how many papers will be assigned. The list above is the maximum. |