6.001 Spring 98: How should I write up my problem set?

Your TA will examine your problem set solutions and offer you feedback on them. It's your responsibility to provide clear, convincing answers that are easy to verify. If your work is very messy or disorganized, it will not get full credit even if, after painful examination, it turns out to be mostly correct. You will also need to organize your work for yourself so that you can present it in tutorial and use it for review later. Here are some guidelines:

• Common sense:
  • Put your name on your problem set.
  • Staple the pages together.
  • Answer the questions in order.
  • Make it clear when the answer to one exercise stops and the next one starts.
  • Print out code in a fixed-width font, so that the indentation lines up properly.

• Tutorial exercises do not require written answers (unless your TA specifically asks for some).

• Leave yourself time to write literate, clear answers to the exercises. Do not simply submit transcripts of your Scheme sessions.

• Make it clear what you are claiming about each program you submit. Attach a clear status description to them, e.g.,
  • "thoroughly tested using these examples, no known bugs"
  • "worked on this simple example, no known bugs"
  • "looks correct to me, but not tested"
  • "worked on these examples, but failed on these others"
  • "syntax error, but I think it's fixable"
  • "there's a bug, but I think it's fixable"
  • "this is a partial draft"

• Do not include verbatim copies of code that we gave you. Include it only if have changed a portion or had to incorporate some of it into your own work.

• Learn how to use Edwin buffers to develop your code, and how make extracts from the Scheme transcript buffer, as described in Problem Set 1. It will save you a lot of time.

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Last modified: January 28 1998, 5:33 PM