1. Write a four to five page paper on the life of a graph theorist who interests you. (This is the suggested project.)
2. Create a one-hour lesson plan that incorporates some topic in graph theory. (Suggested if you are currently or are planning to become a teacher.)
3. Write a four to five page paper on a topic from graph theory that interests you and that we have not studied in class.

I ask that you keep the following timeline for the project. Disregarding this timeline will negatively impact your project grade.

1. Project topic, due March 9: Email Prof. Chris a paragraph explaining: (a) Which project type you are choosing, (b) The anticipated subject of your project, and (c) what inspired you to choose this subject. For those writing a lesson plan, be sure to include the target audience of your project. For those of you who will be writing about the life of a mathematician, I suggest that you email me the name of your subject as soon as you have decided upon him or her in order to stand claim.
2. Outline, due March 30: Email Prof. Chris an outline of your report, with an extended bibliography that includes at least two sources that have been published in print form, such as books or journals. The copy of the source you consult may be on the internet, but they must have appeared in print form at some point. An extended bibliography includes not only the author, title, and publishing information, but also a two-to-three sentence explanation of the content of the source. I expect this bibliography to include a vast majority of the works you will use to write your paper.
3. Final Draft, due April 13: You need to have a final draft of your report. Bring in two printed copies of your draft to class on April 13 in order to discuss it in depth with your classmates. They will give feedback which will enable you to revise it to turn it in the following week. All previous students have found this peer review session extremely helpful in preparing the project for its submission.
4. Project Due, due May 5: The project is due for submission via Blackboard.

Just as with the other homework assignments, if you are running into trouble or you would like my input on your project, I suggest coming to see me earlier rather than later.

Content: Based on your project type, you have different goals for the content of your project.

1. For the report on a mathematician: Include some background history of the mathematician, where your mathematician worked, and who were some of his or her colleagues. Explain why this person is important in graph theory. Spend one to two pages explaining one or two major results and how they relate to graph theory in general. Make sure to state the result and elaborate upon it; if the math is unclear, I suggest coming to talk with me! Your paper must include a proper bibliography.
2. For the lesson plan: A lesson plan is based on a well-researched understanding of the background topic with an eye towards your target audience. Your lesson plan will conform to the specifications that you learn in teaching classes. In particular, you should map out the expected time to be spent on each part of the lesson plan and outline the concepts to be learned in each segment. The lesson plan should explain all parts of the lesson including the setting and the necessary props. If you will be using worksheets, they must be prepared and stapled to the final product. A bibliography must be provided in order to help other teachers supplement the lesson plan on their own.
3. For a topic from graph theory: You should include some background of where the topic arose and when most research was done on it. Explain what other topics from graph theory are related and how. Highlight some key concepts and theorems and explain when they were proved and by whom. Make sure to state results and elaborate upon them; if the math is unclear, I suggest coming to talk with me! Explain a question or two from the subject that seems like it would be interesting to study. You should provide a few references where interested people might learn more about the topics. Your paper must include a proper bibliography.

Grading: This project represents 15% of your grade this semester. You will be graded on content and structure. Yes, even in a math paper, you must use proper grammar and spelling and follow conventions for good paper writing. Your paper must include a proper bibliography. One quarter of your grade will be based on the structure and grammar of the paper, with the possibility of removing more credit if the paper is incomprehensible. The remaining points will be based on content, as described above.

SafeAssign: I ask you to submit your final draft through the SafeAssign feature of Blackboard. SafeAssign compares your paper against content from the internet and multiple large databases of past term papers. This helps detect if sources were copied directly into your project. If you have concerns about how to correctly use sources in a term paper, feel free to come and talk with me directly. Upon submission to SafeAssign, you will have the option to include your paper in Blackboard's Global Reference Database, which will allow Blackboard to keep a copy of your paper in a database for future comparison. You are not obligated to submit your paper to this database if you are worried about copyright or other issues.