In the MIT Department of Mathematics’ Undergraduate Seminar in Theoretical Computer Science, which is taken primarily by juniors and seniors, students write a term paper on a topic of their choice. To do so, they must find and read sources, including mathematics research articles. Attached are a suggested reading strategy (student resource) and an in-class activity designed to introduce students to the reading strategy and to familiarize them with some of the common features of mathematics papers that facilitate the finding of information within the paper. Course lead: Zachary Remscrim Communication lecturer: Susan Ruff
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This revision checklist was written for MIT’s Project Laboratory in Mathematics in the Spring of 2014, to provide students with strategies for revising their research paper drafts. By Susan Ruff and David Jerison.
Read more →The article “Maximum Overhang” by Mike Paterson, Yuval Peres, Mikkel Thorup, Peter Winkler, and Uri Zwick won the 2011 David P. Robbins Prize, an MAA Writing Award. This pdf of the article is annotated to point out to students how to write a mathematics paper. The annotations address the structure and content of an introduction, how to integrate equations, text, and figures, how to guide the audience through the content, how to cite, etc. The article addresses the question of how far a stack of blocks can extend from the edge of a table. It was published in the American
Read more →This brief handout provides some sound advice for the process of writing a term paper. From Olivier Bernardi’s Undergraduate Seminar in Discrete Mathematics.
Read more →LaTeX2e style file for theorem and proof environments, by Glenn Tesler
Read more →LaTeX2e style file for papers in M.I.T.’s Undergraduate Journal of Mathematics (no longer published), by Glenn Tesler modified by Thomas Mack 1999 and Steven Kleiman 1999, 2004–5, 2007
Read more →These sample peer critiques of writing are used to generate discussion about effective critique, to prepare students for critiquing each other’s mathematics papers. From MIT’s communication-intensive offering of Real Analysis.
Read more →This annotated proof illustrates how to format a theorem and proof and how to use guiding text to communicate the structure of the proof. Comments about formatting assume that students may not be using LaTeX. The text is an excerpt from the lecture notes for M.I.T.’s Principles of Applied Mathematics, on the topic of the pigeonhole principle.
Read more →This three-page handout gives guidance for designing a mathematics presentation based on the needs of the audience. For example, strategies are provided for giving the audience reminders when they may wish they could look back to an earlier part of the presentation, giving the audience time to think when they may wish they could slow the presentation, and telling the audience what’s coming when they may wish they could fast-forward to see why you’re doing what you’re doing. Advice addresses both how to give a research talk and how to give a class lecture.
Read more →This brief handout provides sound advice for the process of preparing a presentation. From Olivier Bernardi’s Undergraduate Seminar in Discrete Mathematics.
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