Tips and Advice
Purpose of Assignments (In Order of Importance)
They are an extension of instruction: they guide the students through important points in the paper of the week, help them get insights on the topic of the paper, and lead them to carry out relevant calculations.
They offer practice in answering questions of the type that one will encounter on the qualifying exam.
They earn one credit towards the final grade for the course.
Academic Integrity (re-iterated from the Syllabus tab)
The formal policies about academic integrity are included in the Policies section of this web site. In the case of this course the important considerations are:
In their assignments students should always present work that is their own, following the instructions given in this syllabus and the detailed instructions associate with the assignments.
Students should cite the sources from which you draw information for your assignments.
The students may use Generative A.I. or other software to formulate your answers, but they should acknowledge that and give credit to the software used. Note the position adopted by the American Astronomical Society on the use of Generative AI. In the end, the students are responsible for the content of what they submit; any software tools used cannot explain their reasoning and cannot be held accountable for what they do.
In this particular seminar, students can discuss papers and questions with each other in the normal course of the seminar. However, they should keep in mind that, if this seminar is to provide good practice for the qualifying exam, they should not rely extensively on such discussions to figure out how to answer the questions. When it comes to writing complete and detailed answers to the paper they selected, students should work completely on their own without consulting other students in any way. This particular type of assignment is meant to emulate the qualifying exam.
Distribution of Assignmens and Submission of Answers
Written answers to assignments should be turned in electronically through Canvas; they should be submitted on time to earn students credit. The due date will be announced with the assignment. Typically, the students will have a week to read and contemplate each paper and one extra week week for putting together the written responses for each of the two papers that you choose.
The written responses should be submitted as a single, self-contained PDF file; they can be written by hand and then scanned or photographed (e.g., using Microsoft Lens or Adobe Scan), or they can be written on a tablet and exported to PDF, or they can be typed (or they can be produced by some other method that creates a PDF file). A PDF resolution of 200–300 dpi (dots per inch) is preferred because it results in readable text and files that are not too big to be unwieldy.
If you type your written responses, use 11-point Roman font, in single-column layout, and with 1-inch margins in all directions. This applies to all parts of the text. A simple LaTeX style file is provided through Canvas. Do not use the layout of journal papers (i..e, avoid small font sizes and 2-column layout).
How to Approach Mathematical Problems and Present Their Solutions
Always solve mathematical problems algebraically (without inserting numbers) to the maximum extent possible. Derive final formulae and insert numbers only at the very end. There are many good reasons for this:
It is very instructive and it allows you you to see how different physical effects come into play in the problem (this is a major goal of this course).
It reduces number crunching (which is more prone to error and more difficult to check).
It is easier to grade and increases the probability of earning partial credit, if you do not solve the problem correctly.
Carry the units around in all your numerical calculations. They provide a sanity check and can help you spot mistakes. And do not forget to attach units on your final answers.
Your solutions should be complete, clear, well organized, and neat:
Write neatly and spread out the text and equations.
Write text to explain your logic and the steps of the calculation.
Show all the details of your work. Do not skip any steps.
You are likely to loose points if your solutions are difficult to understand, if they are missing essential elements or steps, or if you do not express the answers in the appropriate form, format, or convention. Therefore, it always pays to read the problem carefully and follow the instructions therein.
Use proper, conventional scientific notation.
General Advice
Start working on assignments early! Some of the questions require a lot of thought and/or consultation with the instructor (by design). Be ready to come to office hours with your questions. Consulting with the instructors during their office hors is strongly encouraged!
Read questions carefully and understand what you are asked to do. Then, answer the questions completely (take care not to leave parts out).
Think critically about the answers you get at every step and ask yourselves if they make sense. This is a very important part of the exercise because (a) it helps you catch mistakes that are sometimes subtle and (b) it forces you to take a step back and look at the solution critically and test your general understanding of what is going on.
When carrying out numerical calculations keep at least 4 significant figures until you get a final answer. This improves the accuracy of your calculation and protects you from round-off errors and other numerical traps. You can truncate the number at the end, if you think you do not need to report that many significant figures.
When you get the "official" answers to the questions, study them carefully. They may show you a different way of approaching the questions/calculations than what you came up with and they may add to your understanding of the physical system that is the topic of the question. If you found the questions challenging, it is especially useful to study the official answers to understand the general approach and the methodology.