This one-page note raises questions about how to comment effectively on student writing. The note describes various issues to consider when writing comments, such as the focus of the comment (the paper vs the student), whether the comment indicates problems or solutions, whether the comment describes the form of the writing or the effect of the writing, the level of detail of the comment, the quantity of comments, and whether some comments are given greater emphasis than others. Based in part on an article by Kerry Walk.
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In this assignment from M.I.T.’s communication-intensive offering of Real Analysis, students develop and evaluate various definitions for the notion of a “gap” in a set. The assignment was developed by the 18.100C team, especially Craig Desjardins and Joel Lewis, with modifications by Kyle Ormsby and Susan Ruff. This is the first assignment of the term that requires students to use LaTeX, so students must submit at least one LaTeXed page two days before the assignment is due. This “draft” due date ensures that they devote time to figuring out the basics of LaTeX early enough that they can devote time
Read more →This worksheet, compiled by Susan Ruff, is used after a mini-lecture on information order and connectivity. The worksheet enables students to check and solidify their understanding of how to order information within sentences to strengthen connectivity between sentences. From M.I.T.’s communication-intensive offering of Real Analysis.
Read more →Two samples of the same writing, labeled # and %, are used to start a discussion about audience preferences and to illustrate how to order information to create connectivity. Students then test their understanding by revising the third sample. This file is set up so that if it is printed 2-sided, the samples # and % appear on separate pieces of paper for ease of comparison. Written by Joel Lewis.
Read more →This handout for a workshop on writing a math paper presents three versions of the same paragraph. The writing samples are designed to illustrate how ordering information within sentences can strengthen connectivity between sentences, thus creating flow and making the logic easier to follow. From Pedro Reis’ Undergraduate Seminar in Applied Physical Mathematics at MIT.
Read more →This assignment guides students to choose a term paper topic that will enable them to “add value” beyond what is provided in their sources (e.g., explaining the material clearly to an audience of students, synthesizing the presentations in multiple sources, etc.). The assignment, which is from M.I.T.’s Principles of Applied Mathematics, includes a list of suggested topics in discrete applied mathematics.
Read more →This proof of the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality is used to start a discussion about proof elegance. The class compares this proof with the proof of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality given in Proofs from the Book by Aigner and Ziegler. The class discusses which proof one would discover first and how it’s a good idea, after having proved something, to think about rewriting it. This writing sample was developed by Mohammed Abouzaid and Peter Speh.
Read more →This assignment from M.I.T.’s communication-intensive offering of Real Analysis asks students to explain a statement of their choice from analysis to three (substantially different) audiences of their choice. This assignment was developed by the 18.100C team, especially Susan Ruff, Joel Lewis, and Craig Desjardins. This version of the assignment is from Kyle Ormsby.
Read more →Guidance from Steven Kleiman for how to write a math paper, written for a now defunct writing requirement but with much good general guidance. Because the guidance is written in the form of a journal article, the text file can act as a template for students to use to create their own papers. This zip file includes supporting style files (from M.I.T.’s Undergraduate Journal of Mathematics, no longer in publication). Before use, the extensions for math2e and thmp2e must be changed from .txt to .sty
Read more →This one-page handout about acknowledging sources in mathematics papers addresses how to avoid using wording from sources and how to cite information or wording. Examples are included (with citation).
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