Paper Drafts – Some Overall Comments

I’ve just completed reviewing all the paper drafts and returning them with comments.  Most of you selected interesting topics and pursued them well – the overall quality was good.  There are, however, some issues that are worth addressing

• A few of you were under the required length – not many.  Be sure not to try and “pad” the length with extensive quotes.  They don’t count.
• A few of you attempted ambitious projects involving programming Revit or something similar.   In those cases I suggested deciding on fall-back strategies of how to complete the paper if the project couldn’t be carried to completion.
• As always, citing literature sources is important at the point you use it, not just at the end of the paper.  I fed several documents through the TurnItIn process to check that there weren’t problems and indeed found one (fairly minor).  I will do so again with the final draft.
• Creating subdivisions (sub-headings) of the paper can be very helpful both to the reader and the author.  They usually mark a major change of thought.
• In several cases there did not seem to be an overall objective for the paper, a “question” or “thesis” that was being addressed.  Just providing a summary of other people’s work isn’t enough.
• Please note that I did my best to be lenient and evaluate where you were “going” with the paper rather than look at it as a finished document.  I will be significantly tougher when looking at the final draft, applying the grading criteria firmly.

Jim Mitchell