Rules on the homework and getting the most value of doing it
Why we assign homework
The homework questions are intended to enhance the material presented
in class and in the textbook in several ways:
- Some of the questions reinforce the concepts presented in class and
in the textbook by asking you to apply them to specific, concrete
examples and scenarios.
- Some of the questions extend the material by asking you to
consider variations of concepts presented in class and in the textbook.
- Some of the questions are intended to sharpen your problem-solving
skills by asking you to solve problems that use the concepts taught in class
and in the textbook but may also require some additional thought or insight.
These questions may be useful practice for the types of questions that
are often asked in technical interviews.
Do the homework yourself
You will get the most out of these questions if you attempt them
yourself. Over the long term, skill at problem solving is far more
important than knowing the solution of a specific problem through memorization
or passive learning.
Rules on the homework
Here are our rules for doing the homework:
Collaboration
You are allowed to collaborate with other students in the class
PROVIDED YOU DO THE FOLLOWING:
- List all students in the class with whom you collaborated on the
homework paper that you turn in. These students should list you as well.
If you do collaborate with other students, we still recommend that you write
up the solutions yourself.
Copying solutions from other sources
Copying solutions from other sources and turning them in as your own work
(even with minor modifications) is plagiarism, and is
neither recommended nor allowed.
If you turn in work written by a ChatBot it is still plagiarism.
Even if you make minor modifications to the text, it is still
plagiarism.
We may not catch all instances where this is done, but we
do discover some of them.
For what happens if we discover you doing it, see below.
If you are copying solutions from some other source rather
than answering the questions yourself, even if you "get away with it,"
what is the net benefit to you?
You may receive a few more points on an assignment
that is worth a small fraction of the grade.
In the process you have avoided learning what you could have learned
from that assignment. This leads to the larger question: if you are
not here to learn the subject matter, why are you here?
What happens if we discover you violating these rules?
Depending on the specific circumstances (e.g. frequency, egregiousness)
our response will be one of the following:
- A warning from a TA, a Reader, or the Instructor
- A score of zero on questions within an assignment or perhaps
the assignment, depending on the circumstances.
- In truly egregious cases,
we will treat this as Academic Dishonesty and proceed accordingly.
Last modified: January 8, 2024