Overview

Teaching Assignment

There is no better way to learn something than by teaching it to others.  In pairs you will have the opportunity of presenting a 30 minute lecture and demonstration to the class on an assigned topic of learning the ArcGIS software.  In each case you will be able to use the text book and or one of the ESRI online courses for your material.  You can also use the powerpoint presentations that I have prepared from previous years as a starting point.  I would expect that it might take you about 2 hours to prepare the information.  I will be prepared to take 15 minutes if necessary to add important insights I feel might have been left out.  I will also help answer questions.

You will be graded by myself (or the TA if I am absent) and the rest of the class on the following scale:

50% preparation
25% presentation
25% overall effectiveness

This will be worth 5% of your grade.

Extra Module

You can pick from one of the two optional modules to complete.  These are the ones from our list that are highlighted in yellow.  This will be due by November 7th.

Applications Paper

The project and term paper can be one of the best or worst experiences of the class. So that it will be a good experience you will want to get mobilized early on in order to have enough time to do a good job.  Each person must do his/her own paper, although I encourage you to help each other out by sharing ideas.

Technical writing is one of the most important skills you can take with you and so as part of this class I'm asking you to write a 2-4 page article on interesting (or an interesting) application of GIS in civil engineering (or your major).   A draft of your paper/project is due by Nov. 14th.  A draft to be reviewed by a classmate is then due Dec. 5th (this really should be your final paper) and finally due to me by Dec. 14th.

You can treat the paper purely as a research paper, or you may wish to do your own experiment/project with an application of GIS data in civil engineering.  You may want to try something of interest, an extension of one of the assignments, or something related to your Master's thesis or project.  You can also choose to complete the GeoHazards on-line course, or the 3-D Analyst if you wish (highlighted in blue on our list).  If you are having troubles please come and see me to get ideas.

Instructions for preparing your paper

An initial draft of your paper is due on Nov 14th (this is more a rough draft of the final paper, not just an outline of what you plan to do).  At this time I will assign each of you to critically review and provide suggestions for another paper.  In order to make the reviews effective you will have to do this in a short period of time so the reviews will be due March 23rd.  You will then have one more week to turn in the final copy.

Please check the Paper Review Schedule to see who is supposed to review your paper. Make sure you CC the TA when you submit your paper to the reviewer AND when you submit your review back to the author.

Here are six suggestions to think about in writing your paper.  Use these suggestions as you prepare your own paper and as you review the paper of another student.  I will follow these same guidelines with roughly the weight given to each.

Ideas (50%)

Focus on clear, interesting, accurate information or details.  Support your ideas with appropriate references and or experimentation.  Your paper should have a focus and develop an important idea or point.  You should provide some kind of insight to your reader.

Organization (15%)

Make sure that your writing has effective beginnings and endings and a logical sequence of ideas.  Take a little time to make sure that your paper flows logically.

Word choice (10%)

Use language effectively so that your writing adds to the focus or point and effectively carries the intended message.  Avoid over use of words like "very."  Review your paper and make sure that the language is correct and powerful.  Don't be afraid to break out a thesaurus and search for new words which may carry more impact in your writing.

Grammar (10%)

This means that you should have effective sentence structure including: spelling, punctuation, paragraph division, and grammar.  Don't let these "easy" things detract from your paper.

Voice (5%)

Your paper should have a proper tone.  Your audience should be other engineers at about your same level (beginning) understanding of civil engineering processes/analysis and GIS.  I'm not too particularly about whether you use first person, third person, passive voice, etc. but be consistent and make sure that it fits with your intended message.

Convention (10%)

This is the miscellaneous item and to encourage creativity.  Your paper will be better if you are yourself and you try to make it interesting.  You can be effective by following some "template," but don't be afraid to get of the beaten path and use a little style.  Be sure that it contributes to your message and does not detract.

Past Projects

Suggestions for Getting Started on Your Paper