Guidelines for Written Assignments

Please follow the guidelines below for your written assignments.

1. Each assignment should be stapled and clearly labeled with your name, course number (25), instructor's name (Wagner), and assignment number.
   
   
2. Please work problems in order down the page, and avoid using columns. You may use both sides of the page if you wish.
   
   
3. Use pencil for your work on the problems. Write neatly and legibly.
   
   
4. You are expected to show a reasonable amount of work and explanation. Show each step clearly (no big mystery jumps). Answers without work are not sufficient.
   
   
5. Make a good sketch of a graph or diagram, when applicable, using graph paper. You can either do your entire assignment on graph paper, or you can tape or paste in a piece of graph paper where it is needed. Also, use a ruler to make straight lines. Indicate pertinent features (use color), and label the scale used on the axes.
   
   
6. On application problems, be sure to write down what each variable represents.
   
   
7. Use equal signs to show equality appropriately (in other words, between two expressions that are truly equal). Marks indicating cancellation must be correct. That is, if you read an equation before the marks and after the marks, the equation should still be true.
   
   
8. Do not use equal signs between items that are not really equal.
   
   
9. When solving equations, write each equivalent equation clearly, rather than loose expressions. Each equation should be followed by a simpler equivalent equation.
   
   
10. Notation: Be careful to use correct symbols, and to make them the right size (e.g., make fraction bars and radical symbols large or long enough to include all that should be included).
    
11. Use units throughout the problem when they apply.
    
    
12. Check your answer if possible, and state your answer clearly in a manner appropriate to the context.
    
    
13. Reflect on the problem. For example, consider whether your answer seems appropriate (not just that it is mathematically correct), and look back over your work to see what worked well or if you might have done something differently. Learn from this experience what is good and what could be better, to help you do future problems.