The goal of the course project is to give you a chance to think about how graph theory integrates into the mathematical
community. There are two different types of projects that you may wish to pursue.
- Write a four to five page paper on the life of a graph theorist who interests you. (This is the suggested project.)
- Write a four to five page paper on a topic from graph theory that interests you and that we have not studied in class.
In addition to the writeup, I will ask that you prepare and present a 10 minute presentation about your topic on May 9, 14, or the date of the final exam. More information will follow on the presentation.
Topics: I have drawn up a list of mathematicians and a list of advanced topics that you might wish to
choose. I will keep track of which subjects have been chosen so that at most one student is working on each subject.
If you have any strong preference, you will need to email me early to claim your subject!
Timeline: In order to help your time management, I have broken up the project into pieces.
Disregarding this timeline will negatively impact your project grade.
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.
- Project Statement due Wednesday, March 14: Email Prof. Chris a paragraph explaining: (a) The anticipated
subject of your project, and (b) what inspired you to choose this
subject. I suggest that you email me your subject as soon as you have
decided in order to stand claim.
- Organizational Statement due Wednesday, March 28: Before class, email Prof. Chris a page-long description of your plan
of attack for the project statement. This will include the following:
- A title for your project.
- The scope of your project---what main points will you be focusing on? (This requires reading texts and deciding on what is important and what is not.) Break this down using bullet-points to clarify the major topics.
- You must also submit 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.
If you are having trouble getting started or would like guidance, meet with me the week before.
- Final Draft due Monday, April 23: I expect your project to be in a finished state. Bring in two printed copies of your
draft to class on April 23 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.
- Project Due, April 30: The project is due for submission by hard copy and via Blackboard.
Content: Your report will be 4-5 pages long (not including Appendices or Bibliography). Depending on your project type, I expect your report to include at the minimum the following
sections.
For a Mathematician:
- Introduction. 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 (or other math subject)
- Mathematical Result. Spend 1.5-2.5 pages
explaining one or two of the person's 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!
- Conclusion. End with a summarizing paragraph.
- Bibliography: Your paper must include a proper bibliography.
You
should highlight a few references where interested people might learn more about the person.
For a topic in graph theory:
- Introduction.
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.
- Mathematics of the subject. 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!
- Future research. Explain a question or two from the subject that seems like it would be interesting to study.
- Conclusion. End with a summarizing paragraph.
- Bibliography. Your paper must include a proper bibliography.
You
should highlight a few references where interested people might learn more about the topics.
Keep in mind why you chose the subject of the project in the first place; this will help guide you in finding material to cover.
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.
Here are the grading rubrics I will be following for the project: Mathematician and Graph Theory Topic.
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.
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