Homework policy for Physics
& Astronomy 107
Each homework assignment is roughly
0.4-0.6% of
your grade, so missing one or two won't hurt
you too badly. The *real* payoff to doing
homework is learning how to do the
problems,
because 85-90% of your grade will be based on performance on quizzes
and tests. So, it's
in your interest to learn how to do the problems, and to
look over the answers once they're
posted. If you don't understand them, get
help from one of the tutors or Dr.
W.
Homework
grades depend on
attempting a question, not whether answers are right or not:
Your score will be the number
of questions attempted, and up to two additional
points can be given if a randomly chosen problem is done right.
(Which question that is will be announced after the homework is
collected.)
The lowest homework score will be dropped.
Be neat and keep one equals
sign per line, and keep track of units.
(It helps you to find when you make
a mistake!)
You are encouraged to work together,
but you must turn in your own
work. Copying is not permitted!
If you work with one or more
partners, please give their names.
Homework policy:
1) no frizzy
paper -- must have clean edge, not ragged from tearing out of a
spiral
notebook (this makes a mess as pieces come off, and makes papers stick
together)
2) must be on
standard
size 8.5x11 inch paper
3) multiple
pages must be stapled
4) name, due
date, homework set (for example HW4) on upper right
5) use the problem
numbering convention 1.7 for Chapter 1, problem 7
(so the grader and I
can easily tell which problem it is)
6) Please do *not* e-mail in your assignment or turn it in early unless
you clear it with me --
please hand it in on paper when it's due. The class is simply too big
to have assignments coming in at
different times and to have to open e-mails, detach attachments and
print them out for grading. I
can work out individual alternatives in emergencies if the need arises.
Please make arrangements
with me first.
7) Homework is due on time.
When homework is due, I post answers to the class
-- in class and soon afterward on the protected website. Late homework won't be accepted.
It's not fair to those who got it in on time to accept it late. To
soften the blow, the lowest
homework score will be dropped. You can e-mail it to me with
advance notice if
you can get it
(see above, pdf preferred, no Word or Excel or Microsoft format files),
fax it or send
it ahead with a friend if you can't make it. I can consider
excusing you from homework
past your one dropped homework only if you
have a written, verifiable
excuse (illness,
death in family etc., similar to excuses for tests.)
This is for your protection, to reduce the chance that papers
will stick
together,
someone else will take it, there will be a misreading etc.
It
is your responsibility to pick up your homework (and tests!) and to
check if
there is a grading error. (Despite our best efforts, if
there is a 1%
error rate,
someone will have a problem in a class of 150.) If a
homework set
is not in the proper format, then you may lose credit, and especially
so if
any sheets get lost. Homework
counts for enough of the grade to make a difference of 1/3 to 2/3
of a letter grade.
Homework sets and quizzes/tests more than one
week old may not necessarily
be brought to class, but may be picked up in my office.
Here are more homework policies from our
grader in Spring 2008, Jeremy Hornbeck,
which will be followed this semester:
1) Half hearted answers get
half credit (even if they are correct). It is YOUR
responsibility to show that you know how to do the problem, so SHOW
YOUR WORK.
2) Obvious copying will
result in half credit between the two
copiers (or a third between three,
etc.). Answer in your own words.
3) Excellence on homework
will be rewarded with an extra point.
4) Illegible or messy work
will be penalized (no staple, messy edges, can't
read, etc.).
5) Please TRY. If you
are unsure, try anyway. I can tell rather quickly
who put effort into the problems
and who didn't. A correct answer without
shown work might as well be a wrong
answer to me, and a wrong answer with
good work behind it will be counted
right. I want to know you are trying to
learn the material. Full
credit will be given to people who try hard on
every problem regardless of their
answers.