Groups: You will work in a group of about three people. It is important that you choose a group of people with whom you can work well. You will have to meet outside class with your groupmates throughout the semester. If you are having trouble finding groupmates, discuss this with your professor.

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 17: Before class, email Prof. Chris an explanation of the project that you and your group will attempt. We will set up a time to meet to discuss your proposal. A polished version is due by email before you leave for Spring Break (on or before Wednesday, March 24th).
• Organizational Statement due Wednesday, April 7: Before class, email Prof. Chris a page-long description of your plan of attack for the project statement. This should include your mathematical model and any computing that you expect to need to complete. 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, see me before Spring Break and we can set up a meeting.
• Final Draft due Wednesday, April 28: I expect your project to be in a finished state. You should have completed all calculations and written up the entire report following the guidelines below. Bring in two printed copies of your draft to class on November 24 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.
• Final Written Project due Wednesday, May 5: You shall submit a polished final draft via Blackboard at this time.

Content: Your report will be 15-20 pages long. I expect your report to include the following sections. Your report may include additional sections.

• Abstract. A brief summary of the main content of your paper. Two paragraphs / 300 words at most!
• Introduction. This should provide the reader with the necessary background information about why your project is an interesting and worthwhile project, and where the project fits into real life.
• Project Statement. You will give a clear project statement.
• Mathematical Model. Explain in depth the model you are using to solve the problem.
• Analysis of the Model. This will constitute over half of the paper. You will use the mathematics we have learned in class to discuss what the math says and what conclusions you can draw in terms of the real-life problem.
• Strengths and Weaknesses of the Model. Every model makes simplifying assumptions. You need to elaborate on yours and explain what is good and what is bad about your model.
• Conclusion. Explain what you have learned.
• Bibliography. Cite the sources you use!

Grading: This project represents 35% of your grade this semester—25% for the written report and 10% for the presentation, descrbed below. Your written report will be graded on content and structure. Yes, even in a math class, you must use proper grammar and spelling and follow conventions for good paper writing. Your paper must include a proper bibliography. I recommend that you visit the QC Writing Center to go over drafts before peer review day.

Presentation: You will need to organize a presentation highlighting your work over the semester. You will have twelve to fifteen minutes for your presentation and you should make full use of your time. In order to do so, you will need to practice giving your presentation out loud at least twice before your presentation day. You will need to summarize the content and results from your paper in a way that conveys the information well to your classmates. This presentation will count for 10% of your grade this semester. You will be graded on clarity, organization, and how well your fellow students understand your presentation. Presentations will occur on May 12th, May 17th and during the scheduled final exam time. Attendance is mandatory as you will be grading your fellow classmates. You must be present each presentation day; if not, you will lose points on your own presentation.

Getting help: Long before the peer review day, it would be good to schedule an appointment with the Queens College Writing Center with whom you can go over your writing so far. They can take a critical eye to your writing to make sure that your paper is well written and that your message is conveyed clearly. If you have questions about the mathematics in your paper, you should schedule an appointment with Professor Chris.

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.