Short Paper Assignment
Math 380W
Your job is to research, prepare, and write a short paper on the topic according to the following
basic instructions.
Deadlines
This will be done in stages. Each is submitted on Crowdmark.
1. Feb. 16: A title, abstract, and 3-5 initial references are due Feb. 16. (one page).
2. March 9: A Plan/outline, complete reference list. This should contain HEADINGS,
SUBHEADINGS, and a discussion either in a few sentences or in point form of what will go in
each section.
3. April 6: COMPLETE paper with all references, illustrations, written in sentences with
citations (footnotes or endnotes).
4. Date of final exam: If required, revisions (this usually affects about 25% of the papers.)
Format
• The pages should be numbered.
• The paper should be single-spaced in US letter or A4 portrait format. It will be uploaded
to Canvas.
• It should be in a 12-point standard font such as Times New Roman or Computer Modern.
• The paper should have no cover page.
• The first page should contain the title, your name and student ID, and an Abstract
describing the content of the paper.
• The Abstract should be one paragraph of three to six sentences.
• The body of the paper should follow beginning on page 2. It should be approximately
1500 words. Do not exceed 3000 words, please.
• The body should contain sections with an appropriate heading for each section. The first
section should be an introduction. The last section may be a conclusion, but we do not
need a conclusion that says "And so you see, we did what we said we were going to do"
followed by a repetition of the introduction. Use a conclusion to actually draw
conclusions. If that has already been done, you don't need it.
• After the body of the paper there should be a list of references. This does not count in
your word count. We say more about this below.
• Illustrations as a rule also do not count in the word count. They should be sourced. This is
not a publication, so they do not need to be public domain -- this is ``fair use''.
• Equations count in the word count, but I will not give a rule. An expression like 2x+5 is
only one word, and most equations would count as one or 2 words.
Everyone is expected to do their best at writing. One sign of this is, very certainly, that you do a
spelling and grammar check. Please note that these do not catch all mistakes: it's versus its,
there, their and they're, etc. will not be caught.
Students whose first language is not English are urged in particular to try to get someone to read
over the paper before they submit it. That will not be me, though I am happy to answer
questions.
Typing
You may use MS-Word, Open Office, or any word processor you like, really. It should be
formatted: don't just use Emacs or some editor. If you are using more than a few equations your
effort will be repaid if you learn to use LaTeX - the Word equation editor is too punishing. This
will be discussed in tutorial. This is useful in general and an online version can be found at
overleaf.com.
Citations and Bibliography Style
Sources should be given for anything that is not general knowledge at the level of the course.
Hence the birth and death dates for individuals need not be sourced, nor does the idea that
Ptolemy used epicycles, or that Elizabeth was queen of England in the late 1500s.