MAE 124 / ESYS 103 Spring 2011

Writing Assignment General Information Page

For the assigned papers, your arguments should be supported with details, examples, and citation of independent and reputable sources of information. The citations should be listed alphabetically by author at the end of the paper in a bibliography. Consider your sources of information carefully. For example, a high school student's blog is probably not a credible primary source, but a U.S. Department of Energy website probably is. You are particularly encouraged to used refereed journal publications as sources. You may use Wikipedia or print encylopedias as useful sources of references, but they do not count toward the required number of reputable, independent references (i.e. 4 for the first paper and 5 for the second). All sources must be cited using a standard citation format of your choice.  The bibliography should include full citations for all references. Examples of appropriate citation can be found at any of the following web sites:

• http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocChicago.html
• http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citama.htm
• http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/apastyle.html

The following are critical attributes of good reports; please keep them in mind as you write.

• Clarity of argument;
• Brevity;
• Accuracy;
• Quality of discussion;
• Evidence of research and reading;
• Synthesis of diverse sources;
• Independence of thought.

Any string of more than three words taken directly from any source must be placed in quotes. (It's also not acceptable to quote text directly but change every 4^th word.)  Long quotes are not encouraged; the thoughts expressed in the paper should be your own. If it is necessary to use a quotation of more than a line or two, it is preferable that the quote be offset in an indented paragraph of its own.

Writing assignments should be double spaced, with 12 point font and 1 inch margins at the top, bottom, left and right. Pages should be numbered.

Writing assignments will be submitted through Turnitin.com. Students agree that by taking this course that all required papers will be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the terms of use agreement posted on the Turnitin.com site.  Everything you need to get started for this class can be found at: http://www-pord.ucsd.edu/~sgille/mae124/Turnitin_instructions.html

If you have any problems using Turnitin.com, please notify UCSD Student Conduct Coordinator or Assistant at x40778.