Weekly Questions

Weekly questions are posed and turned in via Canvas assignments.

Read or turn-in the weekly question (links to Canvas)

Writing Expectations

Just because these weekly questions are short does not mean they should not be high-quality. In writing for this class, ARGUE your case, provide GROUNDS for your claims, be PRECISE in thought and expression, and GIVE CREDIT where your thought is indebted to the work of others. Originality of thought, depth of analysis, and felicity of expression will weigh in your favor. You are expected to follow standard style, reference, and bibliographic conventions where they apply. Your assignments must be thoroughly professional in ALL respects, including appearance. Late work will not be accepted. No excuses.

Writing Style

For written work, to do well you should ask a friend who is not in this class to proofread your work before you hand it in. If you have questions about writing style and grammar, please refer to William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, The Elements of Style (New York: Macmillan, 1979).

Citing Your Sources

In this class you may use any system of citation as long as you use it consistently throughout your weekly question or final project. You might use Harvard Style, Chicago Style, Turabian Style, American Psychological Association (APA) Style, or another style. If you do not own a citation guide you can find rules for most citation styles on the Web. For instance, see:

Material from the Web must be cited. Include author, date, title, publishing organization (if applicable), place of publication (if known), access date, and URL -- as instructed by your style guide. The above reference is an example. There is one exception: In weekly lecture questions if you are citing one of the required readings, you may use a shortened informal style as long as the reader can tell which reading you are citing (e.g., "Gillespie, The Relevance of Algorithms, p. 112").

Avoiding Charges of Plagiarism

Assignments and examinations are opportunities for genuine and rigorous inquiry and learning. Plagiarism is the use of another person's code, formulas, ideas, language, research, strategies, writing or other material that is not common knowledge without giving credit to or acknowledging its source. Suggestions to avoid charges of plagiarism:

Sources / For Further Reading


"algorithm (n.): A word used by programmers when they do not want to explain what they did."
    --anonymous