Each homework receives a numerical score for Contribution (10 points) and Scholarship (5 points).
The scholarship component may seem unnecessarily burdonsome, particularly on earlier homeworks. However, it is important to make sure the expectations are clear before subsequent homeworks, the midterm project and the final project. Also, being extra-careful about attribution facilitates proper credit for work put into homework submissions while permitting and encouraging use of online materials and collaboration.
We encourage use of all sources, and therefore we require considerable care to explain a demonstrated original contribution going beyond the sources.
A source is anything or anyone you consulted (including classmates or office hours or any website you visited) to help you write or check your answers.
Scholarship points may be removed retroactively if at some later point it becomes clear that unattributed sources were being used.
(5 points). The howework is explicit about what sources were and were not used. The reader can easily tell which parts of the homework relate to which sources.
(4 points). Sources are explicit, but it is sometimes unclear which parts of the homework relate to which sources.
(3 points). (i) Sources are explicit, but no effort is made to describe which parts of the homework relate to which sources. (ii) First time failing to list sources explicitly, even if just to say that none were used.
(0 points). Subsequent failure to list sources explicitly, even if just to say that none were used. Evidently, if credit is assigned for being explicit about sources it is necessary also to be explicit about lack of sources. Otherwise, the grader cannot tell the difference between failure to list sources and the possibility that the work was done entirely independently of the notes, the internet and all colleagues.
This is standard homework grading except for an additional requirement to demonstrate contribution of original effort beyond any source you use.
(10 points). All solutions are correct. If checked against a source, the homework is explicit about how the individual solution differs from the source and what (if anything) was learned from the source. The student has found a way to show that they contributed beyond any source used. In particular, the two should not look too similar—by consulting a source, you acquire an obligation to differentiate your own work, which could be by adding original material going beyond the source.
Points subtracted for each error or omission.