Course policies

Grading

The focus of the class is on reading, discussing, and writing about research papers. All work must be your own, original work. You may discuss the papers with other students in the class, but you must write up all final submissions on your own unless otherwise specified. You are expected to maintain the utmost level of academic integrity in the course.

Class participation (17%)

  • All students are expected to ask questions and participate in paper discussions in person. Please email the course staff if you are unable to attend class in person.

Paper reflections (17%)

  • We will cover 17 pairs of papers in class. For each pair, submit paper reflections through Gradescope by 11:59pm the day before class.
  • The reflections for each pair of papers is worth 1% of the total grade and will be graded on a pass/fail basis.
  • Presenters still need to submit reflections for thme papers they are presenting.

Paper presentation (16%)

  • Students will pair up to be presenters for a class. Each class will have one pair of student presenters. During the quarter, every student is expected to present at least once.
  • Presenters should email their slides to the course staff by 11:59pm two days before class.
  • Both students will get the same grade, barring exceptional circumstances.
  • Because we have more papers than students, some students will present twice. Students who present twice will receive up to 10% extra credit.

Course project (50%), broken down as follows:

  • Proposal (5%), due 11:59pm February 2
  • Project presentation (10%), in class on March 8
  • Writeup (35%), due 11:59pm March 11
  • Students are encouraged to form groups of up to 3 students. All members of the group will get the same grade, barring exceptional circumstances.

Late submissions and accommodations

  • Each student has three late days that can be used to submit paper reflections late. However, they must still be submitted before class. In practice, using a late day means that you can submit them any time before class, instead of by 11:59pm the day before.
  • Other late assignments will not be graded by default. The due dates have been set to being as late as possible while allowing for feedback on the presentation slides and prompt grading of the course project. For extenuating circumstances, please contact the course staff as soon as you can.
  • If you have DRS accommodations that the course staff should know about, please contact us at the beginning of the course.