`Homework Guidelines`

STEP ZERO: Before doing anything else, make absolutely sure you understand the campus policies on citations and plagiarism. All stages of the paper must be sent in as searchable text files, 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.

Try to be convincing. Original clear arguments, rather than rehashed class material, are looked upon favourably. A good general procedure for answering our questions (and others) is to start with the strongest and clearest arguments, falling back to weaker or more obscure ones only as necessary. Most of us will agree on something like this ranking:

Common experience, and simple logic, including easy mathematics.
Easily accessible observation and mathematics.
Harder mathematical reasoning and observation, directly available only to specialists.
Intuition.
Authority.

It is not necessary to cite some prior author for every argument. However, when you employ some possibly unfamiliar observation, you should cite some source accessible to the reader.

Use a topic paragraph. It's much easier to understand a paper that announces where it's heading at the start. Don't digress from the topic. If you find yourself writing conflicting statements, at least acknowledge the conflicts. Never substitute big words for reason. Never pad the essay with flattery of science.

Each body paragraph should make a distinct point and, if possible, should build on the previous ones. In a paper of this length, you should usually have 2-5 body paragraphs.

Your concluding paragraph should summarize your arguments and show how they support your conclusion.

We are not picky about the detailed format of papers (margins, etc.) However, please use a word processor with 12 point font and 1.5 line spacing, so that it will be easy for us to read and for you to revise.

`Homework Assignments`

Assignments should generally be 2-3 printed pages long, unless otherwise specified. However, if you find that you can complete your argument in fewer words, do not pad the paper. Brevity is a virtue!

Late homework will be penalized 5% per day. No homework will be accepted later than a week after it is due.
Grading of Homework: All homework will be graded out of a total of 20 points. Both the grammar and the content will be graded. For the first 3 assignments, grammar will count for 60% (12 points) and the content for 40% (8 points). In the remaining 4 homework assingments, the point distribution will be reversed: 12 points for content and 8 points for grammar. Note the grading of the grammar will be strictly quantitative. A single point will be deducted for each grammatical error including spelling; so please use spell-check. In the first 3 assignments, points will be deducted until 12 errors are found. Beyond that, no deductions will be made. Hence, there will be no negative scores in grammar. A grammatical error will be defined as anything that is not in line with the usage in a standard handbook of English. For example, subject-verb disagreements, run-on sentences, two sentences joined together by a comma, misplaced semicolons, non-parallel constructions, mis-placed commas, etc. are all instances of grammatical errors. You should consult the text on the web: H. Willis, A Brief Handbook of English Grammar.
Here's a COMMENT from Vishnu on the first HW assignment.
Assignment 1 , Due on Tuesday, January 25
Choose one of the following two topics.
Topic 1: Does the Earth go around the Sun or does the Sun go around the Earth?
How do you know? Give some evidence to support your argument.
Topic 2: Claims of intelligent design of the universe seem to quite popular at least in this country. Recently, President Bush stated that intelligent design should be taught in biology classes in high school. I have included several articles that comment on evolution and intelligent design. You are to write an essay addressing the some of the questions raised by these articles, For example, 1) is intelligent design science or equivalently, can it be properly viewed as a scientific theory in the same sense that evolution is? 2) Do you agree or disagree with the Judge ruling in the first article, and 3) Regarding the second article should intelligent design be given equal time in the classroom with evolution. Be precise. Page 1 Page 2 NYTP1 NYTP2 NYTP3 NYTP4: State your position clearly and be specific. Use the text of the NYT article as a reference.
Because this is the first assignment, you do not need to cite reading material. If you remember some fact but cannot recall where you saw it, use it anyway.



Assignment 4, Due on Tuesday, March 1
Assignment: Richard Taylor in ``Causation'' Monist, vol. 47 No. 2, p. 287 (1963) argues that there are many instances in which cause and effect are simultaneous. He cites examples of an engine pulling a caboose and the wind blowing and a leaf fluttering. Once the cable between the engine and the caboose is taught, Taylor argues that the motion of the caboose and the pulling by the engine are simultaneous. You are to analyse his argument in the context of special relativity. Pick one of his examples and analyse whether special relativity places restrictions on the simultaneity of cause and effect. If it does, what does this say about Taylor's argument? In particular, is Taylor's claim about the difference between cause and effect still valid? You will find the Taylor article at Taylor on Causation

Assignment 5. Due on Thursday, March 10
You are to write an essay on what is left of the Newtonian world after Special Relativity (SR) and General Relativity (GR). For every feature of the Newtonian world that is ruled out or allowed by GR and SR, you are to present a clear argument as to why.

Assignment 6. Choose topic 1 or topic 2 Due 1:00pm on Mar. 17. Topic 1: T. S. Kuhn has argued that theories are ``man-made interpretations of given data.'' Popper has argued that the falsifiability of scientific theories removes the man-madeness about them. You are to address three questions: 1) Does falsifiability solve the man-madeness problem? If not, how can the man-madeness problem be resolved? and 2) What does the man-madeness problem say about experimental observations? .Topic 2: In either "Galilean" relativity or Special Relativity, it is impossible to say whether you are "in motion" without making a comparison with other objects, i.e. specifying "in motion" with respect to what. The question of whether the Earth or the Sun moved becomes a question not about instantaneous velocity but rather about who is doing most of the accelerating. Our actual world is described by General Relatvity, at least on the planetary scale. Explain carefully whether the Earth goes around the Sun or the Sun goes around the Earth, what you mean by your assertion, and what the evidence for it is. If you decide that this is really just a convention, tell what would be different if we were to choose the earth as the center.

Assignment 7. Due 1:00pm on Apr. 5.In class we have covered a number of interpretations of quantum mechanics that deal with the collapse of the wavefunction. Are you convinced by any of them? That is, are you convinced that when we deal with the very small, we must give up the notion that objective reality exists? An equivalent statement of this is, are you content with the fact that quantum mechanics purports that we lose objective reality as the wavelength increases from zero?