INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS

Explicitly label the beginning of each section of your assignment (for example, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, …).
2. If you want me to insert substantial comments into the chapter summaries that I grade, write “comments” below the other information at the top of the first page; otherwise, your processed chapter summaries will contain only rather cryptic marks.
3. Submit all required assignments as Microsoft Word documents by e-mail attachment to 200online@teleport.com before 5:00 pm on their due dates. If you are using a word processor other than Microsoft Word, such as Microsoft Works or WordPerfect, use the “Save As” and “Save as type” (on the “Save As” window) options to save the assignment as a Microsoft Word file and then attach that file to your e-mail. The name of each assignment file must be distinct and must include your last name and the assignment number (for example ashby1, ashby2, etc.).
4. Always retain a copy (a backup file) of each assignment that you turn in.
5. For most chapters, you will need about 50 lines (and maybe even a few more) to come close to doing justice to the contents. 50 lines are comparable to approximately two and a quarter pages (formatted as in #1 above). There will be a grade penalty if you go substantially over 50 lines (5% for more than 70 lines, 10% for more than 80 lines, and I will stop reading at 90 lines).
6. I expect detailed and comprehensive chapter content coverage. Assume that the reader of your assignment is your boss, that he has no intention of reading the chapter itself, and that he has asked you to fill him in on the chapter’s contents. Your job
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depends upon the quality of your summary! Likely boss responses are Advancement, Bonus, Continuation, Demotion, or Fired.
7. Do NOT begin your assignment with an overview, and do NOT end it with a summary. Those are for essays, and you are not writing essays. Also, there is absolutely no value in simply mentioning topics that I discussed. I want your interpretation of what it is that I wrote about the key topics in the chapters. Remember: your job is to convey to your reader an abbreviated but thorough and accurate summary of the contents of each chapter. So, jump right in and use every bit of your assignment for chapter content.
8. USE PRIMARILY YOUR OWN WORDS, but do not attempt to replace the terms used for economics concepts with synonyms. If you cannot explain something in your own words, then you do not really understand it. It is NOT OK to compose your assignments by simply (and probably mindlessly) rearranging the same words as in my sentences! For example, DO NOT just use sentences taken from the textbook in which you have replaced every fifth word by a synonym. More often than not, such paraphrasing yields nonsensical results. If you do this sort of thing, I will assign a very low “distinctiveness” factor (as low as 0.2 if you have written only every fifth word!), and you will receive a very low grade. (See explanation of the “distinctiveness factor”).
9. NO QUOTATIONS: Any sentence or phrase that contains five or more words in the same sequence as in the text or any other source constitutes a quotation. Because quotations provide no clue as to what they mean to you, your assignments are to contain no quotations. This includes definitions; they too must be rewritten in your own words. I will discount your score substantially (using the “distinctiveness factor”) if you include quotations enclosed in quotation marks or commit plagiarism by failing to use quotation marks.
10. GRAMMAR PROBLEM DEDUCTIONS: Care enough about the quality of your work to proofread and correct it. Remember, I do expect you to use the grammar and style checker, proof reading, as well as my Writing Guide to find and correct problems. I will mark syntax, spelling, and other grammatical errors that I notice. No college-level paper should have more than a few; so, I will award a low “grammar quality” score if there are very many. (See WRITING STANDARDS.)
11. Some people write to impress, using complex sentences filled with exotic terminology. Do not do that in this class. Write to communicate efficiently and effectively. Except for economics terminology use common vocabulary, write simple sentences that require little punctuation, and use your best formal writing style.
12. Do not use the expression “vice versa” in your assignments. Its meaning is usually ambiguous. See the Writing Guide for an example.
13. Do not make references to diagrams that are not included in your summary. A copy of any diagram to which you refer must be included within or attached to your
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summary (as explained in #14 below); otherwise, the reference will be meaningless.
14. I encourage you to support your arguments in your summaries by copying diagrams from my chapters and pasting them onto pages attached at the end of the body of your summary. To capture material from a PDF document, you must “take a snapshot.” To do that in Adobe Reader X, click on Edit and then select “Take a Snapshot” from the drop-down menu. Then place the cursor just to the left and above the material that you want to copy. Depress the left mouse button and hold it down as you drag the cursor from the upper left-hand corner to the lower right-hand corner of the material that you are copying. You will see a box forming around the material. When you let up on the left cursor button, the material will be copied to the Windows Clipboard. From there, you can insert it onto a page in your assignment. Note: diagrams without explanations give me no assurance that you understand them; so, you must explain them. Explanations in captions to diagrams do not count toward the 50 line limit.
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