NOTES ON THE TERM PAPER
The comprehensive overview of the term paper project is in this document. Further notes below.

For students enrolled in PHYS or PHIL 419 only. 419 obtains ACP credit and requires a term paper; 420 students are not required to submit any element of the term paper. For 419, the term paper is worth 50% of your grade.

You are to write a critical essay of about 3300-5000 words (~10-15 pages, but go by word count) on some aspect of the interpretation of physics/ scientific theories.





Warning!
It is an unfortunate historical fact that students tend to put off their term paper work until too late in the term to do a good job. To encourage you to meet the deadlines, there will be a 10% late penalty for the final term paper grade for failure to submit an outline by the due date, and there will be a 10% penalty for the final term paper grade for failure to consult with him at least once in the writing of the paper. The final paper will not be accepted after the due date (unless you have a written medical excuse).


Step zero!
Before doing anything else, make absolutely sure you understand the campus policies on citations and plagiarism. Every stage of the paper must be submitted via SafeAssign on Compass to facilitate routine plagiarism checks. All significant special information, wording, illustrative examples, etc., must have specific in-text references, not just general bibliographic notes. We are not picky about the exact format, but the style must allow a reader to find the source for any material easily and must specifically identify quotes and paraphrases.

Milestones
The term paper project has four milestones. Meeting each of these milestones is necessary if you are to receive a good grade.
  1. You must choose a topic by 10 October -- preferably sooner -- turning in a tentative topic paragraph with a list of your main references on Compass. Unlike other assignments, this one must be revised until it is acceptable. It's better to spend an extra round of work finding a good topic and approach at this early stage than to waste time writing a dead-end paper. At least one in-person consultation with Prof. Leggett must be held while the paper is being written. Electronic consultations are also encouraged.
  2. An outline with topic paragraphs is due 24 October. We need to see that you know what the structure of your paper will be. You should write an introductory paragraph for each of the (usually 3-4) major sections of the paper. You should list the working bibliography (the books you're actually using). We will endeavor to return comments quickly, at least within a week; however, given the short turnaround, it's recommended that you continue fleshing out your paper, even before comments are returned.
  3. A complete rough draft is due 14 November. It does not need to be well-polished; the point is to help you create a document with structure, that presents your fleshed-out argument, and that will resemble your final draft. We will endeavor to return comments within a week.
  4. The final revised paper is due 12 December.
Help

If you need help with your paper, Prof. Leggett is available to meet with you during office hours, or you can email him. You can also email Charles at any time, or arrange a meeting with John. Please also consider utilizing the Writers Workshop, an invaluable resource for writing help.