Posts Tagged Writing

Sample proof of correctness

This (fabricated) draft student paper is designed to start a class discussion about when conceptual explanations are needed in mathematical writing. The paper is about an algorithm for finding square roots. The first proof shows that the algorithm is correct, but the point of the second proof is never clearly stated (it shows that the algorithm is efficient). Written by Joel Lewis for M.I.T.’s communication-intensive offering of Real Analysis, based on Rudin’s Exercise 16 in Chapter 3.

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Sample coded comments

Educators who find themselves writing the same comments on multiple students’ papers may find it to be helpful to use comment codes to simplify giving feedback and to de-emphasize less important comments so more important comments will receive more attention from students. This two-page pdf presents an example of such coded comments from a course on Micro/Nano Processing Technology. Some students also appreciate having the code list to use as an editing checklist.

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Rubric for term paper drafts

Guidance for TAs for how to assign grades on a term paper draft. Includes a single-category rubric for the draft (based on effort and completeness) as well as a single-category rubric for the final paper (based on quality). This second rubric was used to supply an “advisory grade” in addition to the first-draft effort/completeness grade. From MIT’s Principles of Applied Mathematics.

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