Model Essay Policy

Within these castle walls be forged Mavens of Computer Science ...

— Merlin, The Coder

Overview

For those of you traveling our journey with a guide, below is a potential essay policy. Be sure to ask your guide for confirmation and/or variations from this policy.

Rules for Essays

• The outline must include at least twenty bullet points; all of the following rules (other than word count) apply
  • Use two carriage-returns between bullet points; do not use carriage-returns within a bullet point
• The essay must be written in plain text using emacs
  • Use two carriage-returns between paragraphs; do not use carriage-returns within a paragraph
  • Set fill-column to between 80 and 100
• The essay must be stored in your Journals directory
  • Specifically, the entire text must be stored in your Journals directory. Links to external repositories (e.g. Google Docs) are not acceptable.
• Be sure to cite all sources, listing each at the end of the document. No fewer than three sources are required.
• The essay must be at least 1,000 words (and no more than 1,250 words)
• There must be a minimum of one substantial revision pushed to GitHub per week (from the week assigned until the week it is due)
• The essay must be pushed to GitHub on or before the due date
• For all outlines and drafts, use a single document, labeled as Ennnn.txt, where nnnn is the number of the experience.
• Commit comments MUST be meaningful
• Tag the versions which you intend for submissions
  • Tag your outline as "Ennnn.Outline" (where nnnn is the number of the experience)
  • Tag your drafts as "Ennnn.Draft.#", (where nnnn is the number of the experience and '#' is replaced by the draft version)
  • Tag the final version of your essay as "Ennnn.Final" (where nnnn is the number of the experience)

Grading Abbreviations

B

(Bibliography) Sources not specified

CF

Confusing flow

FE

Factual errors

G

Grammar

GA

Awkward

IF

Incorrect file structure

II

Insufficient improvements from previous draft

IT

Incorrect tagging

IR

Inadequate reference

LL

Low Level of Language

MT

Missing required topic

NS

Non-sequitur

P

Overly long quotes / padding / Repetition / Unrelated topics

PN

Punctuation errors

S

Spelling

T

Lack of professionalism / appropriate tone

TF

Text formatting

UA

Unsupported arguments

UC

Unclear conclusion

V

Vagueness

WC

Insufficient word count