Notes on Final Project Requirements and Final Grade

FINAL GRADE
* 50% of the weighted average of two homeworks (~ 5% each) and two programming assignments (~ 20% each).
* 50% of the Final Project grade 

HOMEWORK GRADE
* Each homework has a core of questions/problems and set of optional questions.  
* Everybody must answer the core questions to get a baseline grade (usually around B). 
* Answering the optional questions will provide a differentiation and push you towards a A. 

FINAL PROJECT (THE METAPHOR): 
Imagine that you are writing a paper for a conference proceedings: you have a maximum of 
8 pages, with maybe two additional extra pages for which you would typically pay an extra 
page fee - NO, this is not a bribe!  You can use the two extra pages in your project, 
but they better be worth it!

PAGE LIMIT. 
        About 8 pages (7 8 0 2) - (remember fuzzy numbers)

NOTES: 
 * References and appendices are not included in the page count.
 * Do not go to a smaller point size than 10 pt to stay within the page limits!

PROJECT GRADE ASSIGNMENT:
Each project is graded from 1 to 5 for each of the following six parameters.
The total, divided by 30, represents the project grade (on the scale [0,1]).

PARAMETERS USED TO GRADE THE PROJECT:
        Problem Originality/Description (Problem domain, scope, related work)
        Solution Originality
        Solution Difficulty (Non-trivial)
        Solution Structure (Architecture)
        Solution Correctness (Compare against specs. If it does not work, explain why)
        Overall Document Organization (Article legibility)

EXAMPLE OF THE STRUCTURE FOR A GOOD FINAL PROJECT:
        Abstract                                [EXECUTIVE SUMMARY]
        Problem description                     [WHAT, WHY?]
                Specifications
                Performance functions
                Validation criteria             [HOW WILL I KNOW IF IT WORKS?]
        Related work                            [WHO, HOW, WHY NOT?]
                Other solutions and their pro & cons 
        Solution Description                    [HOW DOES IT WORK?]
                Assumptions and design choices
                Design Architecture (block diagram)
        Solution Analysis (of computer runs)    
        Post-mortem Remarks                     [HOW SHOULD IT WORK?]
                What you would do differently, next time
        Conclusions and Possible Future Work    [WHAT'S NEXT?]
        Appendix: Source code and sample runs   [THE PROOF]

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bonisson
Thu Aug 31 22:42:49 EDT 1999