Term Project - Guidelines

(Also see Term Project Ideas, Advice, and Actual Projects.)

Your term project is a chance for you to learn some aspects of the course material (i.e. computational physics in general, and Mathematica in specific) in greater depth than we have done in class. It is also a chance for you to think more about topics from previous physics classes--Phys 121, 123, 220--or some more about related physics topics presented in this class. (If you have an idea for a project that doesn't quite seem to relate to physics, please talk to me about it in person.) You should take this project seriously, but if you are stressed or are not having fun, then you probably don’t understand what I expect.

Your project may involve fitting/analyzing experimental data, symbolic mathematical derivations, a computer simulation, or anything along those lines. I expect you to pick a project which is not trivial – something that will require at least 6-8 hours of work per person. The bulk of your project should consist of in-class Mathematica coding, but if you want to take a couple of hours outside of class to do some real-world measurements, by all means do so. At the same time, I encourage you to pick a project which is not overly difficult or you may not be able to complete it by the end of the semester. You’d probably do well to pick a project which you think you can complete in about 4-5 hours, because projects generally take longer than one would expect. A good starting point might be one of the assignments from a lab, which you then analyze in a deeper fashion, but topics of your own choosing are also just fine.

As stated in the syllabus, you are required to work on the project in pairs. If there is some compelling reason why you need to work individually, or in a group of three, you must make your case to me in person before turning in your official proposal.

There will be three aspects of this project, which each have deadlines marked on the class schedule: the proposal, the main "show and tell" oral report, and a brief final report with the data and Mathematica code you presented. They will be graded according the rubric at the end of this document. I have tried to be specific so that you know exactly what you need to do to get the grade you want.

Proposal

The proposal is a short description of what you plan to do, along with a list of the group members involved. Send your proposal to me via email, with the proposal typed as text in the body of the email, not as an attachment. "CC" all group members on the email so that if I reply with comments/suggestions the reply can go to all members. It should be emailed to me by midnight on the date listed in the class schedule, and should be no longer than a couple of sentences.

"Show and Tell" Oral Report

The final lab period will feature project "show and tell" oral reports. This will be your primary report on what you did. This report should include things such as a description of the topic you chose, the results you expected, the methods you used, the results you found, and possible explanations for any discrepancies between what you measured and what you expected to measure. Visual aids are strongly encouraged--graphs, interactive graphs, even photos if you did any experimental measurements. Your main audience will be your fellow students. I expect your report to be at least a little practiced rather than completely "off the cuff". You will have 10-12 minutes for your presentation, with about 3 minutes for questions (i.e. 15 minutes total).

Final Brief Report

After you give your presentation, you will need to send me a final brief report. As with the proposal, send it via email with all group members CC'ed. Your write-up should be quite short, basically just a reminder of what you talked about in your oral report and a copy of your Mathematica code and any external data that you used (as attachements).

Physics 230 Term Project Grading Rubric

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