Background
The Math Department has required writeups of multistep, nonstandard
problems (here referred to as "workshop problems") as part of the
general calculus curriculum since 1995. This requirement is a
consequence of our recognition that:
Written and oral communication of scientific work is
important and can be difficult.
What is a writeup?
A writeup is a small essay. It should progress logically and be easy
to read. It will be graded both on mathematical content and on
presentation.
- Explanations should be given in complete sentences.
- Include any information (such as pictures and computations)
that you think is useful.
- Label any pictures.
- You should not include straightforward computational details. For
example, you may just state that if
f(x)=3x7+25x4-19x2+5, then
f(-2)=-87. The details of substitution and evaluation should
not be shown.
- Neatness counts.
One very good reference on writing is The Elements of
Style by Strunk and White. It is quite brief. The fourth edition
is a thin, reasonably priced paperback ($8). An early edition is
available online.
Exposition is a skill which can be learned. Comments on your work are
intended to help this process.
The rules
While I encourage you to discuss the problem with other students and
with me, the written work you hand in must be your own. Please
acknowledge any quotes and reference any sources. I will ask that
small groups be formed to work on some of the problems and create a
joint writeup, but the default assumption should be that each student
will individually write a solution.
Example
Here
is an "official" example of a writeup of a calc 1 workshop problem.
The writeup is somewhat elaborate and lengthy to me, but the
principles displayed there are good. Generally I hope that
writeups will be at most a page or two long. My example of a
writeup is on the second page, along
with a few more comments.
Goal
Writeups should be correct and
easy to read.
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