Grading

Students can also take the course with a pass/fail option. In that case, the midterm exam is waived. Homework assignments and the project are necessary for a passing grade.

Specific project requirements are listed here.

Policies on cheating and plagiarism

Every student should work on the homework assignments individually by reviewing the lecture notes and reading the textbook. Your solutions should show your own understanding and be based on your own conclusions. Copying from other students or other external sources is strictly disallowed.

You may discuss course material with others, but your writing in the project report must be your own. When in doubt, contact the instructors about whether a potential action would be considered plagiarism. If you do discuss material with anyone besides the instructors, acknowledge your collaborators in your write-up. If you obtain a key insight with help (e.g., through library work or a friend), acknowledge your source and write up the summary on your own. In most write-ups, we will expect to see citations. Occasionally you may want to borrow a graph or figure from an existing presentation for your in-class presentation. This is OK with proper citation. You should not, however, copy the majority of someone else's slides. You are presenting the paper from your perspective, not the perspective of the paper's author. You should point out the merits of a paper, but you should also point out the deficiencies and areas for improvement that the author did not consider.

Again, we cannot emphasize enough that you must cite all your sources properly. You must remove any possibility of someone else's work from being misconstrued as yours. We also consider the facilitation of plagiarism (giving your work to someone else) as plagiarism as well. Never misrepresent someone else's work as your own. It must be absolutely clear what material is your original work. Plagiarism and other anti-intellectual behavior will be dealt with severely.