There have been questions about how homework assignments are evaluated. We've made up these guidelines in the hopes of reducing any confusion.

You can think of any work you do as comprising two parts: form and content. These are the two primary factors by which we will evaluate your work. More specifically:

To have good form means:

• You've written in complete sentences.
• You've employed good composition skills, including concise expression, correct spelling, correct grammar and correct punctuation. We place a high value on concise expression.
• Your answer conveys the question you've answered and makes clear how your answer is connected to the question.

To have good content means:

• The ideas you've expressed make sense to a reasonably intelligent reader who has a non-technical understanding of the background for your answer.
• Your answer expresses valid reasoning.
• Your answer answers the actual question asked.

A question's answer will be evaluated like this:

Bad form or no content ......................................................... 0%

Good form and so-so content ............................................... 50%

Okay form and good content ................................................ 75%

Good form and good content ................................................ 100%

Example of bad form (and no or bad content): 1. True. 2. Yes. 3. Yes because I randomly picked them.

Example of good form and so-so content: 3. Yes, the four circles I selected on page 18 by the method of dropping a pencil is a simple random sample. For a sample to be simple and random the process by which it is chosen must ensure that each sample of the same size has the same likelihood of being chosen. Dropping a pencil into the circles on page 18 until four different circles are selected gives every collection of four circles the same chance of being drawn.

The answer on the right has good form because it employs good grammar and syntax, makes clear what question is being answered, and sets out the conditions that must be satisfied.

This answer has so-so content because, at the end, it makes an invalid claim. If circle A has twice the area of circle B, then circle A is twice as likely to be chosen by this method as is circle B. So, the method is not a SRS of circles. (But it is a SRS of areas.)