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

• A header must be included at the top of the essay, formatted as:

Name: Jane Williams
Essay: E____
Date: 01-Jan-2023

• The outline must include at least twenty bullet points; all of the following rules (other than word count) apply
  • There must be one blank line before each bullet point; do not use carriage-returns within a bullet point
  • Each bullet point must begin with an asterisk followed by a space
  • Preserve your outline at the end of the essay, prior to your list of sources, beneath the title "OUTLINE:"
• 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

MC

Missing commit (for example, tag pushed but without repository push)

MT

Missing required topic

NO

Not original (recycled prior essay)

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